THE SPIRIT OF ‘76
Released in 2000
Directed by Lucas Reiner
Written by Lucas Reiner
David Cassidy: Adam 11
Olivia D’Abo: Chanel 6
Geoff Hoyle: Heinz 57
Jeffrey McDonald: Chris Johnson
Steve McDonald: Tommy Sears
Leif Garrett: Eddie Trojan
Liam O’Brien: Rodney Snodgrass
Rob Reiner: Dr. Cash
Carl Reiner: Dr. Van Mobil
Barbara Bain: “Hipster”
And a cast of ‘70s and ‘80s favorites
DVD extras include full-length audio commentary with Lucas and Carl Reiner, a behind-the-scenes featurette, the original movie trailer, additional scenes and outtakes, and a music video featuring Red Kross singing “1976.” Easter eggs can be accessed by pressing on the flame for Miss Liberty and the Happy Face sign; Easter eggs include various celebrities talking about their experiences in the ‘70s.
Ah, the 1970s. The decade that gets no respect. The decade of frighteningly bad clothing, bizarre fads, and some of the cheesiest entertainment ever to grace pop culture. While the ‘50s is looked back at as sort of an innocent time, the ‘60s is lauded as THE decade of pop cultural relevance (musically, historically, and sociologically), the ‘90s is seen as a time when new technologies became increasingly more commonplace in everyday life and the alternative scene hit the mainstream (though I don’t think the latter is necessarily a good thing), and even the ‘80s, the other decade that gets very little respect, still hasn’t gotten quite the ribbing on TV and in the movies that the ‘70s have. Granted, there have been some serious takes on the decade in cinema with movies such as Boogie Nights and wistful reminiscing in Dazed and Confused; plus the ‘70s have several films considered to be part of the new Golden Age in film, with the new upstarts Coppola, Scorsese, Spielberg, and Lucas releasing masterpieces for the ages, plus much of the music is still a staple on classic rock stations and the decade helped bring about the punk/alternative and hip-hop movements, which would play out in later decades. But let’s face, people still remember the ‘70s as the decade of polyester, disco, pet rocks, platform shoes, crazy bellbottoms, est. and other bizarre “self-improvement” scams…er, programs, and “The Brady Bunch.”
“The Spirit of ‘76” displays all the silly clichés of the Me Decade. There really isn’t much of a plot and there’s no exciting cliffhanger, so there’s nothing that’s going to exactly surprise and amaze the viewer. It is a fun movie, though, which should be watched without over-analyzing.
The movie starts off in the U.S. in the year 2176, which is gray in color, nothing but concrete, and quite abysmal. The future inhabitants are extremely pale and look completely dejected with life. Apparently, a magnetic storm has erased all of recorded history, which seems to have been all stored electronically, so, essentially, history is over. America is in a crisis, with the suicide rate overtaking the birth rate and the ozone layer increasing in size over the Earth. The Ministry of Knowledge (played by New Wave pioneers Devo) decides to talk to Dr. Van Mobil (incidentally, all of the future characters are named after companies and products), the only person old enough to remember life before the magnetic storm. Dr. Van Mobil (a very funny cameo by the legendary Carl Reiner) starts talking about the Fourth of July, the birth of the nation, and the Spirit of ’76 (incidentally, he gets the Pledge of Allegiance and the Miranda rights statement mixed up together) right before he passes away. The Ministry, along with Psychohistorian Heinz 57 (professional clown/actor Geoff Hoyle) and Anthrosociologist Chanel 6 (“The Wonder Years” costar Olivia D’Abo) seek out Adam 11 (‘70s teen idol icon David Cassidy), who has requested the rare chemical Tetrohydrozalene 6 to fuel his homemade time machine in order to travel to “Ikiki Beach” (which is actually a torn postcard of Waikiki Beach). However, the Ministry will only grant his request if he takes Heinz and Chanel back to 1776, to the birth of the nation, to retrieve the nation’s heritage. Adam isn’t too thrilled about doing that, until he takes a look at Chanel, who is quite the knockout even in a drab gray dress and pale lipstick, and, well, you know how men are.
So, the brave threesome is on their way. The clock in the machine showing the year seems to be malfunctioning, though Adam fixes it with a mild tap. And back in time they go, until they reach 1776. However, after they step out of the machine, the malfunctioning clock clicks from a 7 to a 9, meaning that instead of going back to the birth of the nation, they went back to the Bicentennial instead, the year 1976. And so the mayhem begins.
The first characters from 1976 we run across are Tommy Sears and Chris Johnson, two typical high school kids from the ‘70s (played by power pop band Red Kross members Chris and Steve McDonald). The two friends confront the time travelers, at first not believing their story but wondering what the hell that contraption (the time machine) is. Along comes Rodney Snodgrass (played by San Francisco stage actor Liam O’Brien) the stereotypical “science whiz, UFO buff” geek, who believes the time machine to be a UFO. The teenagers feel that it’s not safe for our time travelers to be out in the open, so they decide to help them out by hiding the time machine in Chris’ “crash pad” (his family’s garage). It is here that we run across Chris’ “enlightened” (or more likely typical ‘70s self-centered and overly permissive) parents, the Johnsons (but don’t call them Mr. and Mrs. Johnson, please call them Bob and Jean) driving up in their new Pacer, who of course don’t notice the weird contraption in their driveway and even give Chris permission to store it in their garage. Talk about oblivious! In the “crash pad,” the time travelers record items such as rock posters and other ‘70s paraphernalia, calling them “artifacts.” It’s here, where Adam opens up the time machine to show thousands of dollars lining the machine (cash is worthless in the future), that Tommy and Chris finally believe their story. However, here comes Rodney, who seems to have a direct line to law enforcement and the CIA, so the crew decides they need to disguise themselves, meaning they have to get some new duds to “fit in.” And here’s where our future time travelers are then dressed in some typical ‘70s fashions (including Adam’s silver platform boots and Heinz’ too-tight leisure suit; in the store, we run across another cameo, ‘80s Valley Girl Moon Zappa as astrology buff Cheryl Dickman, in her cutoffs and tube top, as the object of lust for Tommy and Chris). Outside of the store, two members of the CIA (played by comedy team The Kipper Kids; incidentally, member Martin Von Haselberg is married to Bette Midler, who was featured in the last DVD review) are waiting outside of the store, apparently tipped off by Rodney of aliens in their midst. Our gang then heads to a restaurant, and here is where Tommy and Chris learn what the mission is, finding the Constitution. When it’s mentioned that any library would carry information on this document, plans are set to retrieve this document and the gang prepares to leave, only to confront several police cars waiting outside the restaurant for them. It’s here where our heroes get separated and the craziness really kicks into gear.
Chanel ends up running into a head shop (and into stoner icon Tommy Chong). She also meets stud (in his own mind) Eddie Trojan (who is actually Eddie Snodgrass, Rodney’s brother, played gleefully by another ‘70s teen idol icon and infamous “Behind The Music” subject Leif Garrett), who whisks Chanel off to his bachelor “room” (he’s still living at home) and teaches her the Hustle while he’s also trying to get a piece of ass. Heinz is lured into a cheap girlie show, where “Miss Liberty” is being featured (Miss Liberty is played by ex-MTV personality, comedienne Julie Brown), who, despite being part of an exploitive girlie show, is actually very knowledgeable about ‘60s and ‘70s politics and who proceeds to inform Heinz of what she knows. After being found by the cops, he then stumbles into a “Be Inc” seminar (similar to an est. seminar). Also in the meeting are a fellow “hipster” (played by stoic “Mission Impossible” and “Space 1999” actress Barbara Bain in a completely against-type performance), an interpreter for some Japanese businessmen (played by Don “Father Guido Sarducci” Novello), and, in the most hilarious performance of the movie, seminar leader/speaker Dr. Cash (played perfectly smugly by Rob Reiner). Meanwhile, Adam hangs with Tommy and Chris, where it’s discovered the tetracel (which fuels the time machine) has been stolen by Rodney, so now comes the quest to rebuild (incidentally, the ingredients to rebuild consist of Tetrohydrozalene 6 and carbon dioxide (stoner accessory eye drops and Pop Rocks). From here on out, there’s a dance contest; a science fair; a meeting with another icon, Iron Eyes Cody (he was the character of the crying Indian in those ‘70s public service announcements regarding littering); and, finally, a trip back to 2176, with a Constitution shirt and ‘70s artifacts in tow and “Saturday Night” by the Bay City Rollers as a soundtrack, thus transforming the otherwise bleak future into a Day-Glo paradise of goofy clothing and product decals like STP and Pringles on all buildings. And America is saved!!
Okay, so I pretty much explained the whole movie. But honestly, it really doesn’t matter with this movie. The conclusion is pretty much foretold early on. But wow, what a far-out ride it is to the end!
Now, to give the lovers of “serious” movies their due, let’s discuss the major holes in this story:
Doesn’t it seem inconceivable that once the magnetic storm hit, nobody would have thought to re-input all information regarding history that they remembered (and they couldn’t have forgotten ALL of it!)?
Even with all of recorded history lost, why would the words “freedom” and “liberty” all of a sudden lose their meaning; these words were around before Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were ever written.
The team has exactly 12 hours to retrieve the historical information and return back to the future, yet it seems to remain daylight that entire 12 hours; hey, the location they went to wasn’t above the Arctic Circle!
Even with all of their new ‘70s-inspired “artifacts” incorporated into the new future, while this may have boosted morale and improved the quality of life, would this really have solved the ozone layer problem, which was also considered a potential threat to future civilization?
Just remember, though, that this clearly isn’t meant to be a serious movie, but rather a live-action cartoon. You’re not supposed to read too much into all of this. To quote a classic ‘70s movie, Up In Smoke, when the cops who have inhaled marijuana smoke come to the realization they’re stoned, one cop says to the other, “Just go with it.” And that’s what you should do with The Spirit of ’76, just go with it and have a good time. There really isn’t a weak performance in the film, considering it’s not exactly Oscar material (though it seems Cassidy isn’t quite sure sometimes what to do with the sending-up of his ‘70s persona, while Garrett clearly relishes delving into the role of the wannabe swinger, much to the audience’s delight). Geoff Hoyle uses his experience as a clown to add physicality to his humorous performance. Rob Reiner, in particular, shines as Dr. Cash, with his consistently calling his audience “assholes” (a technique apparently used in the real-life est. seminars, where the audience would be constantly insulted, for some reason, in order to gain self-esteem) along with his patronizing phrase “just be, be, beeeeee!” Barbara Bain also sheds her serious persona as the Dr. Cash addict who proudly states, “The last time I was here, I shit in my pants and got a raise the very next day!” (it’s also rumored that est. seminars were so long that people actually went to the bathroom in their pants because they were not allowed to leave to use the restroom). Liam O’Brien has developed the perfect squeaky voice and spastic manners of a proper geek. And last but not least, the McDonald brothers, who, while appearing in other movies, are primarily musicians, do a wonderful job with their roles, with Tommy and Chris having the same somewhat air-headed appeal of ‘80s iconic slackers Bill and Ted. Plus, the movie features many classic ‘70s pop, rock, and disco hits, which intertwine themselves in the movie’s scenes so perfectly (keep in mind that, at the time, the ‘70s revival had not yet begun, so many of these songs hadn’t been heard for several years). The main drawback of the movie is that it’s so obviously low budget and looks almost like an amateurish production (Lucas Reiner, in the director’s commentary, did mention he only had a $1,000,000 budget to work with). Also, and this is a minor quibble, while the clothing did reflect that time period overall, Chris and Tommy’s jeans were just a little too straight legged for that year (that style didn’t really become popular again until a couple of years later, where it remained throughout the ‘80s; flares were still very “in” in 1976). Finally, the movie’s cast consists of two Brits (D’Abo and Hoyle), yet Hoyle adopts an American accent (this is supposed to take place in America, after all) while D’Abo maintains her British accent (for the record, she did use an American accent playing Karen Arnold in “The Wonder Years,” so obviously that’s not a problem for her). Again, though, that’s a minor quibble.
All in all, if you remember the 1970s and would love to reminisce about this far out and fun decade, or if you simply love to make fun of the time period, I do believe you’ll get a kick out of The Spirit of ’76. Granted, it’s the least smart of the dimwits-who-change history/become-successful movies (with 1992’s Wayne’s World being the best of the bunch); however, it’s still a fun ride. Just remember, try not to think too much about it ;).
*Be sure to watch the extras. The deleted scenes are gems, particularly one controversial scene depicting cocaine use. The commentary with Lucas and Carl Reiner offers many insightful and funny moments (Lucas deliberately didn’t want to include the more relevant music by the likes of David Bowie and Patti Smith in order to keep the cheesy vibe; also, it’s pointed out how much family and friends helped out on Lucas’ first film, with his brother and father participating; with Francis Ford Coppola’s son, Roman, helping come up with the story and daughter, future director Sofia, helping with the costuming (look for Sofia at the end in the parade scene, carrying a large-sized replica of a Sno-Cone), and with producer Susie Landau getting her mother, Barbara Bain, involved with the project). Also noted is because of the low budget and question about copyrights, certain brand names had to be altered (Chanel 6 instead of 5, Adam 11 instead of 12)*
Overall Rating: ***½
Strong Points:
The performances, in particular Rob Reiner, Leif Garrett, Barbara Bain, Geoff Hoyle, and Jeff and Steve McDonald; overall fun feel of the movie
Weak Points:Cheap production, fairly cheesy storyline
COOL LINKS
CONCLUSION
Well, there you have it: the first Boutique for 2005. Like I said before, it’s good to be back, and I promise to bring you more entertaining tidbits from the Boutique in the near future.
MADAME TIZZY
