1981 Directed by John Schlesinger
Ticlaw, a small town in Florida, has only one attraction: a safari park. The government constructs a freeway that passes near Ticlaw, but decides not to put an exit into the town. The people of Ticlaw, leaded by its Mayor, will do anything in order to convince the governor to alter the project.
Beau Bridges Beverly D'Angelo David Rasche Paul Jabara Howard Hesseman Teri Garr Peter Billingsley Daniel Stern Celia Weston Deborah Rush Geraldine Page George Dzundza Joe Grifasi Ann Coleman Hume Cronyn Jessica Tandy Frances Lee McCain William Devane John Ashton Alice Beardsley Davis Roberts Frances Bay James Staley Nancy Parsons Renny Roker Ron Frazier John C. Becher Loretta Tupper Rollin Moriyama Show All…
公路風雲, Магистралата Хонки Тонк, Da steht der ganze Freeway Kopf, Crazy Runners - Quei pazzi pazzi sulle autostrade, 홍키 통키 프리웨이, Uma Estrada Muito Doida, 高速公路大疯狂
USAPG
USA
1981 In Review - August
#15
When a tiny town in Florida is passed over by the new interstate highway, corrupt Mayor Kirby (William Devane) and his cronies plaster the freeway with illegal billboards that draw unsuspecting tourists to the mayor's tacky amusement park. The unwilling visitors include squabbling suburban parents Snapper (Howard Hesseman) and Ericka (Teri Garr), despondent waitress Carmen (Beverly D'Angelo), aspiring children's book author Duane (Beau Bridges) and a drug-addled hitchhiker (Daniel Stern).
Honky Tonk Freeway is an ensemble movie in search of a charismatic lead actor, Burt Reynolds would have been perfect. It’s a riff on the large cast ensemble movies such as It’s a Mad Mad Mad World and The Cannonball Movies, only this has…
I'm not all that picky as a movie watcher, I think (luckily I'm not so well known by anyone to risk a fact-checking of that claim), so it defies common sense that the genre whereby a million stars get to be wacky on a long race never works for me. I mean, I'm partial to comedy, am always in the mood for a carefree romp, familiar casts are often the biggest selling point in me deciding whether to see a movie, tying it all around some gimmick sounds like a perfectly good time, yet it's a hard no on all the following: "It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad Mad World", all the "Cannonbal Run"s I've seen, "The Gumbally Rally", "Rat…
Da steht der ganze Freeway kopf
Florida
Bei bau des neuen Freeways bekommt die Stadt Ticlaw keine Abfahrt. Bürgermeister und Anwohner wehren sich dagegen. Zeitgleich machen sich eine schar verschiedener Leute unabhängig auf den weg nach Ticlaw.
Actionkomödie aus dem Jahr 1981 unter der Regie von John Schlesinger (u.a. Asphalt-Cowboy). Im Cast sind u.a. vertreten: B.Bridges, Beverly D'Angelo, D.Rasch und noch eine Anzahl anderer bekannter Gesichter.
Typische 80er Actionkomödie, die ihren eigenen "Charme" besitzt. Manches ist drüber, aber das gefällt einem weil es passt. Ab und an auch ein wenig "Langeweile", die aber gar nicht so auffällt.
Die Handlung verfolgt ein Sammelsurium verschiedener Charaktere, die jeweils ihre kleinen Storys haben. Hier ist vieles halt typisch 80er Komödie. Es werden halt…
This movie is insane. Who was on what drug and at what time is a question we'll never have an exact answer to. It's John Schlesinger doing comedy, which is a bold paradox to explore, seeing as most of the broad humor falls flat, but I still think it's well directed. The film juggles so many characters, populated exclusively by a laundry list of likable character actors, but they're all given equal screen time to be individually weird, and the framing and composition and editing from any given moment is clearly composed by a veteran filmmaker. It's like if John Boorman directed The Cannonball Run. It may not have traditional comedy timing, but you're going to seeing some apeshit weird…
Opened 40 years ago next week. One of the biggest box-office bombs of 1981, HONKY TONK FREEWAY hasn't improved with time, because there's absolutely nothing there. Easily the worst film of director John Schlesinger's career, this loud, obnoxious fiasco tries to be an Altman-inspired NASHVILLE-esque satire by way of IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD, with generous helpings of '80s slob comedy vulgarity, all culminating in a comically destructive 100-car pileup like Schlesinger suddenly decided to invite Hal Needham to direct the last five minutes. Hell, nothing else has worked for the preceding 100 minutes, so why not end the movie this way? It's a mix that never gels as line after line and joke after joke lands with…
Oh the road trip movie. Assemble a cast of stars, throw them in various cars that fit their character personalities and throw in a catchy theme song. This formula was followed to a T with Honky Tonk Freeway.
Aside from having an amazing poster, HTF also featured perhaps the best 1980's theme song that is lip-synched by a character in the movie. You've also got a town painted pink, a water-skiing elephant, and Daniel Stern as a cocaine fiend who snorts ashes.
By now you're intrigued. I don't blame you. Take a trip on the Honky Tonk Freeway.
After piping a slurry of horror shlock and mutilation montages directly into my brain stem for the duration of October, I needed something different. Something weightier, with more on its mind. I needed Honky Tonk Freeway.
I wandered through beautiful Mount Dora, Florida a few weeks ago with a coworker who’d grown up in the town. He recalled a film being shot there when he was a child, but his memories were hazy. The town had been painted pink for a few key scenes, he knew. There was something about a water-skiing elephant, and a busful of Asian orphans.
The last film Dan and I watched in our connect-a-thon challenge was Sunday, Bloody Sunday, a British kitchen-sink drama directed by…
Man, if they had just given that town their damn ramp!
Crazy ensemble road comedy chock full of interesting characters from naughty nuns to boozy old ladies. Wasn't sure it was going to work for me, John Schlesinger's made some good films, but I never saw a comedy from him. He nailed it though, guy was multi-talented!
"The international house of pancakes is the one consistent thing in my life"
an occasionally successful attempt at the tone of contemporary early snl/national lampoon comedy + the director of midnight cowboy (et al) = the platonic ideal of an Uncanny Florida movie, apparently
Very bad movie with a very bad title. This attempt at a comic social statement falls flat in all regards. It concerns a small town in Florida which is bypassed by a freeway and the efforts of the townspeople to get people to come to their town. A fairly good cast is completely wasted, and it was a huge box office flop, losing millions of dollars. It's got to be the only movie with a water skiing elephant though.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah for Ticlaw!
What happens if you make a hilarious, well directed, well acted, very well shot comedy with great sets, great costumes, and too many set pieces to count?
Apparently you lose about $20 million.
I can’t believe the reviews on here are so bad. I’d have guessed that letterboxd users would (rightfully) salvage this film’s reputation.
I can admit that some characters could’ve been more strongly motivated. But... this is really funny!
