Americathon (1979, Neal Israel)

You’ll never walk alone.

This is the fourth and final entry in my American Dystopias series. Hope you enjoyed it! Stay tuned, because next week I’m beginning a new summer series about killer wildlife, titled… oh I don’t know, let’s go with Animal Apocalypses. Hey, I just made that up right now, that’s not bad. Anyway, minor spoilers for Americathon follow, but it’s not really that kind of movie anyway. Still, read with care. Thanks!

What is it? Americathon, directed by Neal Israel, written by Neal Israel & Michael Mislove & Monica Johnson, based on the play by Phil Proctor & Peter Bergman, and starring Harvey Korman, John Ritter, Peter Riegert, Fred Willard, Nancy Morgan, Chief Dan George, Allan Arbus, George Carlin, Meat Loaf, Elvis Costello, and introducing Zane Busby as Mouling Jackson.

First viewing? Yes; first viewing was 5 February 2025, and a second viewing on 11 April 2025.

What’s it about? In 1998, President Chet Roosevelt (Ritter), with the help of PR specialist Eric McMerkin (Riegert), throws a telethon to raise $40 billion to get America out of debt to businessman Sam Birdwater (George), all the while dealing with egotistical host Monty Rushmore (Korman) and the machinations of traitorous cabinet member Vincent Vanderhoff (Willard).

What are your thoughts about it? One of the major inspirations for Against the ’70s is Damnation Decade, a ttrpg supplement released in 2006 by Green Ronin for the True20 system, a derivative of Dungeons & Dragons 3rd edition. It presents a gameable alternate 1976, where players can fight evil supercomputers, government conspiracies, Satanic cultists, robot duplicates, and every other sort of 1970s cinematic antagonist. It’s fantastic and brilliant and befuddling and sui generis, and one of these days’ I’ll write a proper review of it. Today, however, is not that day. Instead, I want to draw attention to the book’s “Appendix I: Inspirations,” where author Robert J. Toth lists the films and TV shows that went into the delicious Damnation Decade gumbo. For years now, I’ve been making my way through the list, because it’s a good list, but also as an attempt to understand why Toth chose these movies and, by implication, not others.¹ I’ve finally made it to one of the more curious choices on the list — the fairly-obscure Americathon from 1979.²

It’s 1998 and America’s gas is gone, kaput, outta here, and being a four hundred billion dollars in debt, can’t afford to buy any. The film opens with a pretty amazing image: a Los Angeles park filled with dead cars, now being used as homes. The morning sun has risen, and everyone gets up and heads to work, freeways now crammed with cyclists, joggers, rollerskaters and skateboarders. That’s a potent image, especially for an energy-anxious 1979, and I love it to pieces, even if it does raise questions. (Theres no indication that there’s anything wrong with the millions of houses and apartments that presumably still exist, so why are people living in cars? There’s no indication of a population explosion, and the lack of gas, I think, would drive a decrease in population.) Regardless, however nonsensical the idea is, it’s the film’s reality, and the image of people living in cars looks like homelessness. That’s the metaphor: America is homeless, decentered from both the world and itself. While the United States is sliding into irrelevance, all of its rivals and allies appear to be thriving. The UK has thrown off their monarchy and reduced Elvis Costello to performing in the streets. Mexico has bought San Diego and renamed it Tijuana II. China destroyed the Soviet Union. Vietnam is now a wealthy country and cultural juggernaut. The billionaire that’s going to foreclose on America is, somehow, some way, an Indigenous American. (From a realism standpoint, ridiculous, but thematically on-point.)³ The most shocking development is the union of Israel and the Arab countries into the United Hebrab Republic, a comedic vision of dystopia so hilarious I want to sob.

Why is Elvis Costello in this? No idea. At one point, he’s bopping around so erratically the camera can’t keep up with him, almost as if he was trying to get out of the film.

One thing that’s obvious to the 2025 viewer is that this is the most “I’ll have what she’s having” cinematic dystopia ever. Everything that’s “bad” is a result of America not being the top dog anymore. If everyone had to bike and jog everywhere, can you even begin to imagine the health and climate benefits? The story’s stakes are that if the telethon fails, the country will somehow become the property of an 80 year old member of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation.⁴ No indication what that means in real terms, why that would be bad, other than the symbolic nature of the land returning to the original peoples. (To be both clear and fair, I’m fairly certain the writers understand how nonsensical this all is. The satire here is about America’s insecurities, not Indigenous People. Still, stakes is stakes.) The President is depicted as a kind of average American dolt, able to be seduced by both New Age philosophy and the raw sexuality of Vietnamese rock stars. A President who doesn’t have an Ivy League air about him is intended to show, again, how America has “fallen.” Yet, he’s… likeable? Relatable? Normal, even? I mean, whatever his faults, he doesn’t seem malicious. A President that isn’t malicious. Wonder what that’s like.

A President who keeps his main base of operations, not in the White House, but in a private residence on the coast? Get outta here with your fanciful bullshit.

Unfortunately, while there’s a lot of interesting stuff here in terms of themes and science fictional trappings, as a comedy, it never builds up a head of steam. It’s a not a complete waste; there are some terrific gags. I’m partial to the unremarked-upon detail that nearly all clothing, including business suits, cop uniforms, and tuxedos, are now sweatsuits. In a fun, proto-Idiocracy bit, Meat Loaf literally fights a car. My favorite joke is a throwaway line when the telethon voiceover guy announces, in a jovial tone, “Mouling Jackson was voted in high school as ‘Most Likely to Take a Life.’”⁵ (More on Mouling Jackson below.) Nevertheless, a great deal of it consists of conceptual set-ups that don’t go anywhere surprising or even interesting: Japanese visitors taking an intrusive tour of the “Western White House” while meetings are in session; a kid skateboarding across the country to raise money for the telethon while his father flogs him; the constant stream of uninspired acts paraded in front of the TV camera. (Yes, that they’re uninspired is part of the joke, but that doesn’t make it any more fun to watch.)

Meat Loaf fights a car. Not the car from THE CAR, but what my imagination presupposes is. Oh, btw, this movie is based on a play by Phil Proctor and Peter Bergman of Firesign Theater. You can get the play, or at least the “skits behind the play” in a 94 page book. I was going to read it for this post, but I couldn’t get a copy through my library system, nor could I find it at a reasonable price, at least not for something I was going to read once. I would do anything for AGAINST THE ’70S, but I won’t do that.

Yet, despite being a mediocre comedy, it’s very watchable, and superior in nearly every way to the more critically-lauded Sleeper. The surprising reason: the performances, which are quite good across the board. You might think this is because the actors are funny; you would be wrong, because the actors aren’t given anything funny to do or say. But what they are is committed. Ritter’s part calls for someone who can play charismatic enough to be elected President and dopey enough to be terrible at the job and craven enough to cheat on his wife with a rock star; he nails it effortlessly. Willard’s role is barely there, but he always communicates how much his weaselly character has at stake. Nancy Morgan doesn’t have much to do as the hippy dippy First Lady, but she is given a moment to register deep pain when her husband lies to her face about his infidelity. It’s not funny, but it is real. I’d always thought of Harvey Korman as that funny guy on The Carol Burnett Show when I was a kid;⁶ now I see him as a massively talented actor who, despite winning four Emmys, was likely pigeonholed and even underappreciated in his time. Korman’s Monty Rushmore is written as an egotistical jerk, but Korman finds different ways to give that archetype some shading, by showing his dramatic chops. When McMerkin (Riegert) sarcastically suggests they kill someone on live TV to goose the donation numbers, Rushmore coldly agrees to it, then demands it. You can practically see the Columbo episode from another reality trying to manifest itself. Then there’s “Both Mother and Father,” the incredibly problematic sitcom that introduces Rushmore. The premise is that Rushmore’s character is AMAB but acts as his only child’s mother, dressing in women’s clothes, and it’s implied that the character’s wife has passed. (Trans? “Merely” cross-dressing? The writers didn’t put any thought into it other than “drag” so I’m going to recuse myself as well.) The audience is expected to guffaw at the absurdity of a man in a dress being a mother. Yet the one person not laughing is Korman, who takes it very seriously, playing it as tenderly as he can.

A moment from BOTH MOTHER AND FATHER. Both more and less problematic than you’d guess.

And then there’s Zane Busby as Mouling Jackson. Oh God, where to start. Busby is a white Jewish woman who is playing a (half?) Vietnamese rock star. (The film says her genre is “puke rock,” which I think is supposed to be a swipe at Alice Cooper.) Not a great start, and not helped by her music segment during the telethon which is full of Orientalist clichés. But when you get to her actual performance… I can’t recall one as intentionally grating as this. Busby seems to be saying, “You want an Other? I’ll give you an Other!” and delivers a performance of full-body rancor, pure chaos and hatred, so out there as to barely register as human behavior. It’s possible she’s supposed to be, ironically or not, a “dragon lady” stereotype; regardless, I think it fails. (Her accent is unplaceable; the closest analogue is Pacino’s in Scarface.) Like everyone else, Busby commits to the premise, possibly at the expense of the movie, probably at the expense of her career. (She eventually transitioned to directing television.) That said, her energy, as misapplied as it is, propels the film through narratively rocky moments. But it’s a lot.

Feel like Busby’s body language here works as a synecdoche for her whole performance.

Finally: why is this film on the Appendix I list? I imagine Toth limited his list to 35 films and 35 alternates due to space considerations. Yet, here are some films that fit easily into Damnation Decade’s lane that aren’t included:⁷ The Food of the Gods, Phase IV, The Car, The Devil’s Rain, The Last Wave, The Hills Have Eyes, Brewster McCloud. Furthermore, the Appendix includes zero vampire movies, so no Blacula, no Count Yorga, not even The Night Stalker. So why this tepid, memory-holed comedy?

Throughout the film, Korman goes harder than necessary, including the opening telethon number.

In the Appendix, Toth notes that one of the major literary influences was Walker Percy’s Love in the Ruins. I haven’t read that (yet), but a quick scan suggests that maybe this film is the closest the ’70s had to offer in that vein? But there’s potentially another answer. The idea behind Damnation Decade is to combine all these disparate kinds of ’70s movies — science fiction, horror, disaster, Blaxploitation, etc. — into one complete, coherent world. So that if the PCs want to visit the domes of Logan’s Run, or the mean streets of Taxi Driver or tackle the swarms of zombies from Dawn of the Dead, they can. (Is it successful in that regard? Look for the review, coming eventually.) But how do you do that when mushing together all these films creates the exact opposite of a complete, coherent world? You need a widescreen vision of America, one that can act as a container or frame for all those specific pockets of weirdness — something distinct, yes, but at the same time with a kind of blandness, as to not distract from those weird bits. Americathon, far as I can tell, is the only film in the Appendix that could work in this fashion. Damnation Decade doesn’t use Americathon’s details of zero-oil and massive debt, but it does (if I remember correctly) present its America as kind of wacky backdrop for shenanigans, one that, like Americathon, suggests odd details without making them the end-all, be-all of the setting.

Gold coin-operated phone in the Western White House. Everybody gotta pay.

Or maybe, maybe Toth included it just cuz he thought it was funny, who knows.

How many stars out of five? Two and half gold coins out of five. I think it’s worth watching, but, to be clear, not for the comedy.

Where can I stream it? As of this writing, you can rent or buy it from Amazon, Apple TV, and Fandango at Home. FWIW, I just went ahead and bought a used DVD. Physical media — catch it!

What can we take from it? Taking inspiration from the only non-problematic part of Mouling Jackson, I’ve written up a new focus for the Cypher System for shock rockers, called Shock Rocks, natch.⁸ (Foci names in the Cypher System can read a little weird when separated from their function. If you’ll recall, in the Cypher System, a character is built using a type, a descriptor, and a focus, so it looks like [Descriptor] [Type] Who [Focus]. So, for example, Mouling Jackson might be a Belligerent Speaker Who Shock Rocks.) It is, basically, a revised take on the Entertains focus, with different abilities swapped in and some re-skinning. Shock rockers, and rock n’ roll musicians in general, deserve a more bespoke writeup for an AT70s game, and I hope to one day provide that. Until then, I present you with this.

SHOCK ROCKS

You perform rock music that offends and frightens parents, school administrators, and religious officials.

Tier 1: Music Lessons and Rock Star Aura

Tier 2: Better Living Through Chemistry

Tier 3: Hello Cleveland! or Groupies

Tier 4: Great Expectations

Tier 5: Crowd Control

Tier 6: Rockin’ All Over the World or Stories from the Road

GM Intrusions: The authorities arrive during your performance, on a tip that your songs are obscene. Your pyrotechnics malfunction. A disgruntled tech guy is making you and the band sound like shit on stage.

• Music Lessons: Choose any two noncombat skills related to music (singing, playing an instrument, songwriting, etc.). You are trained in those skills. Enabler.

• Rock Star Aura: You are trained in all social interactions, whether they involve charm, learning a person’s secrets, or intimidating others. Enabler.

• Hello Cleveland! (4 Intellect points): You have been to so many different backstages in so many cities, you can unerringly blunder into where the shortcuts, secret entrances, and emergency escape routes are in any building. Action.

• Feel Good Hit of the Summer (4 Intellect points): You have access to the good stuff. This is exactly the same as the ability Better Living Through Chemistry on page 115 of the Cypher System Rulebook 2nd Edition. Action.

• Groupies: Four level 2 followers join you (and your first follower, if you have one). This is exactly the same as the ability Retinue on page 177 of the Cypher System Rulebook 2nd Edition. Please treat your groupies with kindness and respect! Enabler.

• Great Expectations: For as long as you pefrorm, you keep the attention of all level 2 or lower NPCs who can hear you. Action to initiate.

• Rockin’ All Over the World (6 Intellect points): You’ve been all over the place and seen and done enough for several lifetimes. Ask the GM one question, and you’ll receive a general answer. Action.

Stories from the Road (3 Intellect points): You tell a short story to an NPC that can understand you about some crazy shit you witnessed while touring that beggars belief. The NPC is dazed for one minute, during which time its tasks are hindered. Action.

NEXT TIME, ON AGAINST THE ’70S: Prophecy (1979, John Frankenheimer)