The Film Thugs Movie Show

And we are back with our continuing look at one of the biggest cinematic mistakes of all time.

For those who missed last week show, we are in the process of giving the first public performance of Jerry Lewis's baffling awful concentration camp comedy, "The Day The Clown Cried." In this part things go from bad to worse. What simply began as a poorly written, misguided film is beginning to turn into a blatantly exploitative, cheaply manipulative, and completely reprehensible collection of wrong minded and offensive... I don't even know what to call it.

Again, please note that we are not making light of the subject matter in any way, shape, form, or fashion. To do so would be monstrously wrong. What we are doing is waging war on the unfettered ego and painfully obvious Oscerbating that is "The Day the Clown Cried."

Please note that this performance is intend as satire and parody, and is presented in a transformational way for both critical and educational purposes.

That being said, we are very sorry. And may God have mercy on our souls.

The wait is over!

Don't get too excited.

Sometimes a bad idea transcends simple awfulness and achieves such a baffling level of... wrongness... that it defies explanation.

We found something that perfectly epitomizes this idea.

In 1972 Jerry Lewis, for reasons that only he could possibly fathom, decided to make.... well, a concentration camp comedy. About a clown named Helmut Doork. In a concentration camp. Who entertains children. Children in line for... I wager you can finish the rest of that sentence.

The result was a movie so profoundly wrong that it has, to this day, never been released. Lewis swears to have the only copy, and that it will NEVER be released.

After reading the script, which is available online, I can understand why.

Over the past 42 years there has been one public screening. Harry Shearer was present for a screening of the rough cut in 1979. He described this way
...
With most of these kinds of things, you find that the anticipation, or the concept, is better than the thing itself. But seeing this film was really awe-inspiring, in that you are rarely in the presence of a perfect object. This was a perfect object. This movie is so drastically wrong, its pathos and its comedy are so wildly misplaced, that you could not, in your fantasy of what it might be like, improve on what it really is. "Oh My God!" — that's all you can say.

Well, after finding the script Jim decided that the world needed to know about this.

So, in a special mini-series event, The Film Thugs present the first public performance of the most notorious unreleased film of all time.

Over the course of the next few weeks, join us as we delve into a work that should not exist as we try and figure out how and why this thing happened.

Please note that we are not making light of the subject matter in any way, shape, form, or fashion. To do so would be monstrously wrong.

What we are doing is waging war on the unfettered ego and painfully obvious Oscerbating that is "The Day the Clown Cried."

Please note that this performance is intend as satire and parody, and is presented in a transformational way for both critical and educational purposes.

That being said, we are very sorry. And may God have mercy on our souls.

There are some people who influence your life profoundly without you even realizing it. For some, the influence is undeniable. Bill Murray, Mel Brooks, Robin Williams... you get that. You understand that they are part of your lives.

But what about those who aren't so much in the forefront. The people who are responsible for the movies that made up your childhood, but who were in a position that didn't put them in the forefront.

Enter Harold Ramis. Yes, he was an actor. Yes, you recognized him instantly, or not. He was always there, and you knew he was important.

This week we look into just HOW important he was. Join us as we talk about a man who made a habit of writing the funniest movies ever made.

Remember, you can be a part of the show any time you wild like. How's that? All you have to do is call or e-mail us. If you live in the US, or any place that makes calling the US easy, just dial 512-666-RANT and leave us a voicemail. We will read the Google Voice transcript and play your message. It's both funny AND informative.

If you live outside the US you can call us on Skype at The_Film_Thugs. You can leave a message, or someone might actually answer.

E-mail us at thefilmthugs@gmail.com and we will read/play whatever you send us, or you can e-mail thugquestions@gmail.com to be part of  an upcoming "Ask the Film Thugs" show, where we answer questions on any subject without having heard them first.

Also, we are on twitter @thefilmthugs and on Facebook and Vine.

You can also click on one of our sponsor links below and THEY will pay us. That's right. You won't have to pay a PENNY extra, and Amazon/Onnit/Teefury will give us a little taste.

Thanks for listening, and until next week...

Few, if any, filmmakers epitomize the spirit of independent cinema quite like Robert Rodriguez.

No budget? No problem. No equipment? We can make our own. No time? We'll make it faster.

This week we discuss the films of the man who showed us all what real independence looks like.

Remember, you can be a part of the show any time you wild like. How's that? All you have to do is call or e-mail us. If you live in the US, or any place that makes calling the US easy, just dial 512-666-RANT and leave us a voicemail. We will read the Google Voice transcript and play your message. It's both funny AND informative.

If you live outside the US you can call us on Skype at The_Film_Thugs. You can leave a message, or someone might actually answer.

E-mail us at thefilmthugs@gmail.com and we will read/play whatever you send us, or you can e-mail thugquestions@gmail.com to be part of  an upcoming "Ask the Film Thugs" show, where we answer questions on any subject without having heard them first.

Also, we are on twitter @thefilmthugs and on Facebook and Vine.

You can also click on one of our sponsor links below and THEY will pay us. That's right. You won't have to pay a PENNY extra, and Amazon/Onnit/Teefury will give us a little taste.

Thanks for listening, and until next week...

Superlatives are thrown around with wreck-less abandon these days. As people we are very quick to label something as "the greatest ever," or someone as "the best living" at something. Normally, these are titles that people throw out without thinking and will little actual meaning behind the words. Granting the title of global and temporal supremacy has grown to mean little more than a simple statement of appreciation.

That being said, the funniest man in the world took his own life a week ago.

Nobody really knows why or what was going on in his head or anything like that. All we know is that Robin Williams is gone. Lost forever.

Although body of work is far from perfect, it is impossible, literally impossible, to overstate the importance of this man. An entire generation grew up knowing the only certainties in this life were death, taxes, and Robin Williams will make you laugh.

So this week sort through our feelings. That's the only way to describe it, because we are both still in a slight state of shock. We sort through our feelings and talk about the funniest man in the world.