Review of Honky Tonk Freeway (1981) by D G — 19 Jan 2012

John Schlesinger has directed some great films over his distinguished career. "The Falcon and the Snowman", "Midnight Cowboy", "Marathon Man". What drew him to an early 80's drive-in flick like "Honky Tonk Freeway" is a mystery that maybe only the man himself would be able to solve.

I can't argue that there is a gem of a good idea here, but the vast majority of this is filler material. It spends most of the movie on a vast array of supporting characters that sort of reminded me of an Irwin Allen disaster picture. There are some good actors here, and some laughs along the way, but the whole thing just feels like an exercise in excess.

Why couldn't it just be about this small town in Florida fighting the system to get an off-ramp? I don't know. Every other thing in this picture is kind of unnecessary, despite the smattering of good moments along the way. Beau Bridges has some funny moments here as quite possibly the worst children's author ever, and the couple of Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy are also fun in their roles.

However, another thing that concerned me is that for a "PG" rated flick there are a lot of unsavory moments in this. David Rasche plays a pimp who apparently converts waitresses into prostitutes and Daniel Stern peddles cocaine throughout the whole thing. That kind of stuff just doesn't fit in well with the tone of the rest of the movie.

I did kind of like some of the hokey country songs, however. It's weird but true, but they sort of fit in with the weirdness that is "Honky Tonk Freeway". You have to wonder just what the point of it all is.