| The Gong Show Movie | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Chuck Barris |
| Written by |
|
| Based on | The Gong Show by Chris Bearde |
| Produced by | Budd Granoff |
| Starring |
|
| Cinematography | Richard C. Glouner |
| Edited by |
|
| Music by | Milton DeLugg |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 89 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $6.6 million [1] |
The Gong Show Movie is a 1980 American slapstick film starring, co-written and directed by Chuck Barris, host of the game show of the same name. [2]
The film shows a fictional week in the life of Chuck Barris as the host and creator of The Gong Show , through a series of outrageous competitors, stressful situations, a nervous breakdown (which compels him to run away and hide in the Moroccan desert) and other comic hijinks in his life and work on the TV show. Among the highlights included a group of men dressed as a Roman Catholic priest and three nuns lip-synching Tom Lehrer's song "The Vatican Rag", a man blowing out a candle with flatulence, and the uncensored version of Jaye P. Morgan's infamous breast-baring incident.
The film premiered in May 1980 alongside The Empire Strikes Back and The Shining , beating the latter at the box office in its opening weekend but losing to the former. The film received uniformly negative reviews and was withdrawn from most theaters just days after its release.
Among the many bad reviews at the time was one from George Burns, who, after seeing the movie, went on the record and said, "For the first time in 65 years, I wanted to get out of show business." [3]
The movie was occasionally seen on cable television during the 1980s but was long out of print until it achieved cult status; it was released on Blu Ray in 2016. [4]
Cast Away is a 2000 American survival drama film directed and produced by Robert Zemeckis and starring Tom Hanks, Helen Hunt, and Nick Searcy. Hanks plays a FedEx troubleshooter who is lost on a desert island after his plane crash-lands in the Pacific Ocean, and the plot focuses on his desperate attempts to survive and return home. Initial filming took place from January to March 1999 before resuming in April 2000 and concluding in May.
The Gong Show is an American amateur talent contest franchised by Sony Pictures Television to many countries. It was broadcast on NBC's daytime schedule from June 14, 1976, through July 21, 1978, and in first-run syndication from 1976 to 1980 and 1988 to 1989, and was revived in 2017 for broadcast on ABC. The show was created and originally produced by Chuck Barris, who also served as host for the NBC run and from 1977 to 1980 in syndication. Its most recent version was executive-produced by Will Arnett and hosted by Tommy Maitland, a fictional character performed by Mike Myers. The Gong Show is known for its absurdist humor and style, with the actual competition secondary to the often outlandish acts presented; a small cash prize has typically been awarded to each show's winner.
Cornelius Crane "Chevy" Chase is an American comedian, actor, and writer. He became the breakout cast member in the first season of Saturday Night Live (1975–1976), where his recurring Weekend Update segment became a staple of the show. As both a performer and a writer on the series, he earned two Primetime Emmy Awards out of four nominations.
Carlos Ray "Chuck" Norris is an American martial artist and actor. He is a black belt in Tang Soo Do, Brazilian jiu jitsu and judo. After serving in the United States Air Force, Norris won many martial arts championships and later founded his own discipline, Chun Kuk Do. Shortly after, in Hollywood, Norris trained celebrities in martial arts. Norris went on to appear in a minor role in The Wrecking Crew (1968). Friend and fellow martial artist Bruce Lee invited him to play one of the main villains in The Way of the Dragon (1972). While Norris continued acting, friend and student Steve McQueen suggested he take it seriously. Norris took the starring role in the action film Breaker! Breaker! (1977), which turned a profit. His second lead, Good Guys Wear Black (1978), became a hit, and he soon became a popular action film star.
Charles Hirsch Barris was an American game show creator, producer, and host. Barris was known for hosting The Gong Show and creating The Dating Game and The Newlywed Game. He was also a songwriter who wrote "Palisades Park", recorded by Freddy Cannon and also recorded by the Ramones.
Anna Kay Faris is an American actress. Known for playing comedic roles, she rose to prominence with the lead part of Cindy Campbell in the Scary Movie film series (2000–2006). Her film credits include The Hot Chick (2002), Lost in Translation (2003), Brokeback Mountain (2005), Just Friends (2005), My Super Ex-Girlfriend (2006), Smiley Face (2007), The House Bunny (2008), What's Your Number? (2011), The Dictator (2012), and Overboard (2018).
The Newlywed Game is an American television game show. Newly married couples compete against each other in a series of revealing question rounds to determine how well the spouses know or do not know each other. The program, originally created by Robert "Nick" Nicholson and E. Roger Muir and produced by Chuck Barris, has appeared in many different versions since its 1966 debut. The show became famous for some of the arguments that couples had over incorrect answers in the form of mistaken predictions, and it even led to some divorces.
Charles Stuart Kaufman is an American screenwriter, film director, and novelist. Having first come to prominence for writing Being John Malkovich (1999), Adaptation (2002), and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), he went on to direct films based on his own screenplays: Synecdoche, New York (2008), Anomalisa (2015), and I'm Thinking of Ending Things (2020). In 2020, he released a novel, Antkind.
Akshay Hari Om Bhatia, known professionally as Akshay Kumar, is an Indian actor and film producer working in Hindi cinema. Referred to in the media as "Khiladi Kumar", through his career spanning over 30 years, Kumar has appeared in over 150 films and has won several awards, including two National Film Awards and two Filmfare Awards. He received the Padma Shri, India's fourth-highest civilian honour, from the Government of India in 2009. Kumar is one of the most prolific actors in Indian cinema. Forbes included Kumar in their lists of both highest-paid celebrities and highest-paid actors in the world from 2015 to 2020. Between 2019 and 2020, he was the only Indian on both lists.
The Dating Game is an American television game show that first aired on December 20, 1965, and was the first of many shows created and packaged by Chuck Barris from the 1960s through the 1980s. ABC dropped the show on July 6, 1973, but it continued in syndication for another year (1973–1974) as The New Dating Game. The program was revived three additional times in syndication afterward, with the first from 1978 to 1980 as The All-New Dating Game, the second from 1986 to 1989, and the third from 1996 to 1999.
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind is a 2002 American biographical spy film depicting the fictional life of game show host and producer Chuck Barris. The film was George Clooney's directorial debut, was written by Charlie Kaufman and starred Sam Rockwell as Barris, as well as Julia Roberts, Drew Barrymore, and Clooney. It is based on Barris's 1984 "unauthorized autobiography" of the same name, in which he claimed to have been an assassin for the CIA in addition to his show business career. These allegations have been denied by the CIA, while Barris throughout his life generally refused to say whether the claim was true or not.
Mithun Chakraborty is an Indian actor, film producer, screenwriter, entrepreneur and politician who predominantly works in Hindi and Bengali cinema. In a career spanning over five decades, he has done 350 films, mostly in Hindi and Bengali languages, and a few in Odia, Telugu, Kannada, Punjabi and Tamil. He is a former Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament. He is the recipient of three National Film Awards and Four Filmfare Awards. In January 2024, Chakraborty was awarded Padma Bhushan, the third-highest civilian honour by the Government of India. He was also awarded India's highest accolade in the field of cinema, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award for the year 2022, whose announcement came from the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in September 2024.
Jaye P. Morgan is an American singer, actress, and game show panelist.
Akkineni Nagarjuna Rao is an Indian actor and film producer known for his work primarily in Telugu cinema, as well as in a few Hindi and Tamil films. He has appeared in over 90 films and is a recipient of two National Film Awards for Ninne Pelladata (1996) and Annamayya (1997). Nagarjuna has also won ten Nandi Awards and three Filmfare Awards South.
Three's a Crowd is an American television game show. It was created by Chuck Barris and originally packaged by Chuck Barris Productions. The first version aired in syndication from September 17, 1979, to February 1, 1980, hosted by Jim Peck. The show featured a host asking questions of a man, then his wife and secretary, to determine which of the latter two knew him better. The show was met with negative reception for its format, leading to the demise of both it and other shows created by Barris. A revival for Game Show Network, titled The All-New 3's a Crowd, aired on Game Show Network between 1999 and 2000. Hosted by Alan Thicke, this version featured a friend or family member instead of a secretary.
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