The Gong Show Movie Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		2.0

The Gong Show Movie Blu-ray Movie Review

If only someone had gonged this.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 30, 2016

Though filtered through a traditional kind of Charlie Kaufman-esque hallucinatory ambience where fact and fiction commingled without much actual differentiation, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind sought to peel back the curtain and expose the daytime television wizardry of Chuck Barris as something akin to a certain Oz impresario’s penchant for fraud. Whether intentionally or not, Barris himself probably provided more than ample proof on his own with The Gong Show Movie, a rather discomfiting faux verité look at the man who gave the world its daily dose of teenaged prurience (The Dating Game), boneheaded spouses (The Newlywed Game), and of course the series for which Barris provided hosting duties, The Gong Show, a daily trip through collective schadenfreude which was perhaps incredibly made even more bizarre by the tic filled Barris’ weird antics. For a brief and frankly not all that shining moment, The Gong Show was a broadcast sensation, making Barris a household name and offering an onslaught of questionably “talented” folks willing to share their ultimate humiliation with millions of disbelieving viewers. The fact that the “judges” on The Gong Show weren’t exactly A-listers themselves only added to the patently freakish ambience of the show. The Gong Show was either close to or at the end of its original broadcast run (I haven’t been able to definitively determine its last air date) when The Gong Show Movie premiered in May 1980, and as “pop culture historian” Russell Dyball mentions on the commentary included on this Blu-ray as a supplement, there’s no truth to the widely held perception that the film put the kibosh on not just its progenitor, but a swath of other Barris enterprises as well. That fact may actually be akin to pouring salt in a gaping wound, for The Gong Show Movie makes a couple of things pretty clear: first, The Gong Show probably earned the revulsion it engendered in a lot of people, and, second, Barris was not exactly an auteur able to fashion a cinematic masterpiece.

Several people have pointed out the perhaps unexpected similarities between The Gong Show Movie and The King of Comedy, which is a little like saying that Millard Fillmore and Abraham Lincoln were alike because they were both Presidents. That cheeky observation aside, there is a resemblance between the two films that document the obsession with celebrity that seems to define large swaths of the American zeitgeist. Jerry Langford may have “only” had Rupert Pupkin to deal with in Martin Scorsese’s darkly comic fantasy, but in The Gong Show Movie, Barris seemingly can’t escape from virtually every person he meets, all of whom want their 45 seconds of fame (infamy?) on The Gong Show.

That part of the film actually works, at least in dribs and drabs, as Barris is frequently accosted by virtually everyone who sees him on the street (or anywhere else, for that matter), not to mention the teeming hordes who hang out in the Barris offices. Barris’ long suffering secretary Mabel (Mabel King, The Wiz) tries to run interference for him, usually ineffectively, perhaps because her elderly and seemingly pretty addled mother accompanies her everywhere she goes. Less successful are elements featuring a typically harried network executive named Didlo (James B. Douglas). (For those not anagram conversant, switch the interior “d” and “l” in the surname for an obvious “joke”.) Didlo is concerned that The Gong Show is beginning to tank in the ratings, supposedly due to a number of racy elements like the increasingly blue banter between Barris and judge Jaye P. Morgan.

There’s an ongoing subplot involving Barris and his girlfriend Red (Robin Altman), which is where Barris (who co-wrote the screenplay with original director Robert Downey, Sr.) tries to go all Annie Hall on the audience, down to Red’s apparel choices. Watching Barris attempt to tone down his evidently inherently manic proclivities is not exactly an exercise in Laurence Olivier level thespian acuity. This part of The Gong Show Movie is therefore pretty squirm worthy, albeit in a completely different way than so-called “too hot for broadcast television to handle” excerpts from actual auditions and/or performances for The Gong Show.

What’s left is the very definition of a vanity project, one which evidently tanked spectacularly back in the day. What’s kind of interesting, though, is there are some fairly coherent ideas and even moments wafting through The Gong Show Movie which would seem to indicate Barris had at least glimmers of (relative) sanity every now and again. The commentary quotes Barris about his firing of Downey as director early on in the production process and how that probably doomed the project from the get go. That quote suggests a level of self awareness that the film unfortunately never attains.

The Gong Show Movie Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Gong Show Movie is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Shout! Factory with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. Perhaps at least a little like Barris himself, this transfer is a bit schizoid at times. The actual film elements (as opposed to those sourced from video elements taken from the actual show) look surprisingly good, at least once the long optical sequence that starts the film gets over with. Colors are nicely accurate looking and are well saturated. Elements have surprisingly little wear and tear, and clarity and sharpness are generally very good as well. That said, there are occasional sequences where things look considerably rougher (contrast screenshot 13 with many of the other non- video sourced screenshots and you'll see a noticeable difference). However, there are a lot of video elements from the show (and/or auditions) ported over into the film, and those often look pretty haggard, afflicted by combing artifacts, ghosting and other vestiges of their source (video screenshots include numbers 11, 15 and 19). I've therefore split the difference in a manner of speaking and graded this as an overall 3.5.

The Gong Show Movie Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Gong Show Movie offers a nicely bright and vivid sounding DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono track. The film is stuffed with musical moments, either from the many "auditioners" or courtesy of longtime Barris musical director Milton DeLugg. (Regular readers of my reviews know I have a fondness for a certain kind of musical kitsch, and no one comes more highly recommended from me than DeLugg, a virtuoso accordionist —yes, there are such things—who wrote the wonderful classic "Orange Colored Sky" and who was briefly the conductor of The Tonight Show band. Barris game show lovers will know that a certain faux mariachi band's music was utilized on The Dating Game, and DeLugg himself went the "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery" route with some fun albums under the name Trumpets Olé which are worth seeking out if you're fan of that mid-sixties style.) Dialogue is also rendered cleanly and clearly, and while there's not a lot to write home about with regard to this track, it's problem free and is reasonably full bodied.

The Gong Show Movie Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary features pop culture historian Russell Dyball. This is an appealing commentary which covers a wide swath of background and biographical material, but it's marred by a really annoying low frequency hum every time Dyball speaks.

The Gong Show Movie Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Gong Show Movie is unabashedly horrible some (most?) of the time, but it's that rare release in this general quality category that I actually can recommend to a certain segment of the population, as a training exercise if nothing else. The level of hubris it must have taken to have gotten this thing made is pretty astounding, and as a time capsule back to a perhaps ignominious era for Barris, it's fascinating, in a "can't take your eyes off the train wreck" kind of way. The commentary on this disc is also worth a listen. Technical merits are generally strong for those considering a purchase.