The Jet Benny Show

Infobox Film
name = The Jet Benny Show


image_size =
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director = Roger Pugh Evans
producer =
writer = Mark Feltch
narrator =
starring = Steve Norman (as Jet Benny)
James Black
Kevin Dees
Steve Garfinkel
James Luedemann
Polly MacIntyre
Richard Sabel
Mark Walz
music = Marianne Pendino
cinematography =
editing =
distributor = United Entertainment
released = 1986
runtime = 77 minutes
country = USA
language = English
budget =
gross =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website =
amg_id = 1:26117
imdb_id = 0265242

"The Jet Benny Show" is a 1986 science fiction parody film, in which the title character is a spoof of Jack Benny. The plot is a broad parody of the "Star Wars" films, and is deliberately low-budget in appearance.

ynopsis

Opening

At the start of the film, we see a black-and-white television show, which appears to be "The Jack Benny Program", although it’s never called this by name. The host (Steve Norman) welcomes his special guest (Polly MacIntyre), and introduces the sketch for the evening (which is the body of the film, and in color).

The “sketch”

Jet Benny (Norman), a self-proclaimed “intergalactic soldier of fortune,” is traveling through space in his ship — the "Maxwell", piloted by the android Rochester (Kevin Dees) — when the vessel loses power and crashes down on an unfamiliar planet. After Jet regains consciousness, Rochester and the "Maxwell" are nowhere to be found; Jet spends the next few years living in the woods like a hermit.

One day, Jet sees a woman (MacIntyre) being whipped and beaten by a thug, and he uses his raygun to scare the thug off. The woman turns out to be Princess Miranda; her family and people have been tyrannized by the forces of General BoB (James Black) for the last few years, with the aid of Rochester whose memory had been damaged by the crash.

After freeing Rochester and restoring his memory, the reluctant Jet is persuaded by Miranda into breaking into BoB’s castle and freeing her brother, Prince Carmen (Richard Sabel). After escaping from the castle, the heroes take the "Maxwell" (which was in BoB’s possession) to help Miranda’s father, the King (Mark Walz); he and his people are in a walled city, which is being besieged by BoB’s forces. The heroes win the battle, and the members of the royal family are reunited.

Jet is getting ready to leave the planet when Miranda catches up to him and kisses him; as a result, Jet, who had been eager to get away from the planet, is now reluctant to leave.

Closing

On the television show, the host thanks the guest and cast members for their work, and starts talking about next week’s show.

Low-budget look

Unlike the science fiction movies this film parodies, "The Jet Benny Show" was given a deliberate low-budget appearance; “outer space” was a black backdrop with large white lights poking through it, the spaceship had visible wires, action figures were used for a chase scene, et cetera. In one scene, the action was replaced with rotoscoped animation.

Notes

* The names of the prince and princess were taken from Carmen Miranda, a fact that was made clear to the audience near the end of the movie.

* Rochester was named after Eddie Anderson’s character from "The Jack Benny Program"; besides the name, however, the two characters have nothing in common.

* Jet’s vessel, the "Maxwell", was named after the Maxwell automobile that Jack Benny claimed to own during sketches on his show.

Availability

This movie has been released on VHS videocassette, but not on DVD.

External links

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* [http://www.mango-a-gogo.com/inmyimage/imaglink.htm#benny In My Image] : Roger Evans talks about the making of "The Jet Benny Show" (October, 2001)