Lot of other bloggers noticing this too. Here's a clip:
My reaction to Obama’s speech last night? John Ritter and Harvey Korman. ... No, friends, what jumped into my mind is a film most people have never heard of, let alone seen. Americathon was made 30 years too early–in 1979. John Ritter plays the president in a future America (1998) when we’ve run out of oil and cash. Among the hilarious–and insane–predictions for America 20 years into the future were that China would embrace capitalism and become a global economic superpower. Nike, then a fledling little shoe company in Oregon, would become a multinational conglomerate. The USSR would collapse. People would buy expensive, specialty coffee drinks. And America would be deep in debt to foreign investors.
So what does the president do? He decides to hold a telethon in order to prevent wealthy Native Americans from foreclosing on America.
And this:
I think my favorite part of Americathon is Harvey Korman’s tour de force as Monte Rushmore. His megalomania is only matched by his paranoia and bloated sense of self worth. There’s a great running gag he had with a Shirley Temple clone who winds up stealing his toupee after he’s shot. But my favorite scene is when they are falling way behind on donations, and when a kid who skateboarded across the country collecting donations arrives, Harvey welcomes the bruised and tired kid with a hug. But when it's revealed that he only collected about $36 bucks in change, Monte screams at him, then shoves him off the stage where he crashes in a heap.
They just don't make them like that any more. I loved that whole opening scene where everyone was riding a bicycle on the freeway.
Posted by: Descartes | 03/02/2009 at 05:21 PM