Forgotten Film Friday : Carny

A retrospective by Brooks Rich

I'm back from hiatus. Had to regroup and find my creative center. Let's kick the blog back off with a weird romantic drama from 1980 that stars Gary Busy as a dunk tank clown and Robbie Robertson from The Band as his partner at a carnival.

Frankie is a dunk tank clown. Patches sells the balls people throw to dunk Frankie. Donna wants to escape small town life. Together the three of them form an odd love triangle set among the carny life of early '80s America.

Sometimes we feature a film on Forgotten Film Friday that is forgotten for a reason. I get why this film has faded into obscurity. It is a weird little movie with an unsettling tone. Gary Busey is a dunk tank clown and this is not part of the slasher movie boom of the '80s. The sexual politics of this film have not aged that well either. Jodie Foster was around eighteen when she made this movie and although that's not illegal it still has an ew factor.

But there is something about this movie. Busy and Robertson are both outstanding as Frankie and Patches. The friendship between them is intriguing and we get these are two men who have been working together for years. Donna sometimes is made to seem like the third wheel. A part of me wants her to go away and let Frankie and Patches be bros again. The film also gives us a fascinating look at carny life. We see that these people are family and will stand up for each other.

The side plot of the film shows the problems the carnivals faces in each town. In one town some local is causing a scene after he was screwed out of two hundred bucks. Another scene shows the local authorities shutting the carnival down because their states forbids the display of human oddities for profit. Both times it's Patches who smooths things over, usually with a well place bribe or striking a deal.

Carny is not a forgotten masterpiece. It is an oddity that is both a love triangle and a film about carny life, Only a certain type of film fan will like. Most people will either think it's boring, too weird, or borderline creepy. But there are some who will get something out of this. If you think this at all sounds interesting, give it a try. Who knows?

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