- Handle with Care (1977 film)
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Handle with Care Directed by Jonathan Demme Produced by Freddie Fields Written by Paul Brickman Starring Paul Le Mat
Candy Clark
Bruce McGill
Roberts Blossom
Richard BrightDistributed by Paramount Pictures Release date(s) September 29, 1977 Running time 98 min Language English Handle with Care is a 1977 comedy movie set in a small town in Nebraska and loosely based on the wide popularity of citizens' band radio, usually called "CB", at the time. It was directed by Jonathan Demme.
The movie was originally released as Citizens Band was later released in an edited version as "Handle With Care". In the film, all of the cast of characters are known by their CB "handles" (nicknames.)
A paperback novelization of the film written by E.M. Corder was published by Pocket Books in 1977.
Plot
Paul Le Mat plays "Spider", a young man who makes a meager living repairing CB radios and spends his spare time volunteering with REACT International. He lives with his father, an irascible retired truck driver (Roberts Blossom) whose CB handle is "Papa Thermodyne".
"Chrome Angel" (played by Charles Napier) is an interstate truck driver named Harold passing through the outskirts of town during bad weather, when he is injured in an accident. After Chrome Angel issues an emergency call over CB Channel 9, Spider rescues him, taking him to the hospital. During his recovery in town, Harold visits by a local prostitute Debbie (alias "Hot Coffee"--played by Alix Elias), who solicits customers over the CB radio. Chrome Angel has two wives, Connie (Marcia Rodd) who calls herself "Portland Angel" as she is from Portland, Oregon and the other, Joyce (alias "Dallas Angel"--Ann Wedgeworth) who lives in Dallas, Texas, neither of whom know he is married to the other, and both of them arrive in town at the same time to visit him while he is recovering. They not only discover that he has been seeing Hot Coffee, but during a conversation the two strike up in the bus station, both meeting for the first time they discover for the first time that they are married to the same man.
Spiders' former fiancee, Pam ("Electra"--Candy Clark) is a cheerleading coach and physical education teacher who, unbeknownst to Spider, has a hobby of her own, striking up erotic conversations over the CB with teenage boys. She is also romantically interested in Spider's older brother, Dean, (Bruce McGill) who goes by the CB handle "Blood".
After Spider's activities with REACT are seriously disrupted by a gang of local kids holding a frivolous conversation on Channel 9, which is reserved for emergency communications, he decides to go on a singlehanded county-wide crusade to shut down disruptive and illegal CB stations, such as those using unlawful linear amplifiers. Spider's targets include "The Red Baron," played by Harry Northup, a neo-Nazi who uses a high-powered CB base station to broadcast white supremacist monologues; "The Hustler", a teenage boy who reads pornography aloud over the air, and several others. Spider and a partner from REACT begin a spree of cutting antenna cables, intimidating offenders by visiting their homes and claiming to be Federal Communications Commission (FCC) officials, and other vigilante acts in the hopes of cleaning up the CB airwaves.
As Chrome Angel's two wives learn they are both married to the same man, and Spider learns that his former fiancee is the infamous Electra, much of the last part of the film consists of the myriad complicated friendships and odd romantic relationships that finally come to a head. Finally, the whole town comes together in a search and rescue effort after Papa Thermodyne suddenly disappears.
Cast
- Paul Le Mat as Spider
- Candy Clark as Electra
- Bruce McGill as Blood
- Roberts Blossom as Papa Thermodyne
- Charles Napier as Chrome Angel
- Ann Wedgeworth as Dallas Angel
- Marcia Rodd as Portland Angel
- Alix Elias as Hot Coffee
- Richard Bright as Smilin' Jack
- Ed Begley Jr. as The Priest
- Michael Rothman as Cochise
- Michael Mahler as The Hustler
- Harry Northup as The Red Baron
- Will Seltzer as Warlock
- Leila Smith as Grandma Breaker
External links
Films directed by Jonathan Demme 1970s Caged Heat (1974) • Crazy Mama (1975) • Fighting Mad (1976) • Handle with Care (1977) • Last Embrace (1979)1980s Melvin and Howard (1980) • Who Am I This Time? (1982) • Swing Shift (1984) • Stop Making Sense (1984) • Something Wild (1986) • Swimming to Cambodia (1987) • Married to the Mob (1988)1990s The Silence of the Lambs (1991) • Cousin Bobby (1992) • Philadelphia (1993) • Storefront Hitchcock (1998) • Beloved (1998)2000s The Truth About Charlie (2002) • The Agronomist (2004) • The Manchurian Candidate (2004) • Neil Young: Heart of Gold (2006) • Man from Plains (2007) • Rachel Getting Married (2008) · Neil Young Trunk Show (2009)1960s Un sudario a la medida (1969) · Juliette de Sade (1969)1970s A Man, a Woman and a Bank (1979) · The Seduction of Joe Tynan (1979) · Rocky II (1979) · Goldengirl (1979) · Dreamer (1979) · Five Days from Home (1979) · Uncle Joe Shannon (1978) · Slow Dancing in the Big City (1978) · The Big Fix (1978) · Paradise Alley (1978) · F.I.S.T (1978) · An Unmarried Woman (1978) · Handle with Care (1977) · Rocky (1976) · Next Stop, Greenwich Village (1976) · Pacific Challenge (1975) · Harry and Tonto (1974) · Blume in Love (1973) · Liquid Subway (1972)1980s Lock Up (1989) · The Karate Kid, Part III (1989) · Lean on Me (1989) · Cohen and Tate (1988) · Betrayed (1988) · Le grand bleu (1988) (US version) · A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon (1988) · For Keeps? (1988) · Broadcast News (1987) · Baby Boom (1987) · A Prayer for the Dying (1987) · Masters of the Universe (1987) · Happy New Year (1987) · I Love N.Y. (1987) · The Boss' Wife (1986) · The Karate Kid, Part II (1986) · Big Trouble (1986) · Nomads (1986) · F/X (1986) · Niagara: Miracles, Myths and Magic (1986) · Beer (1985) · Gotcha! (1985) · Mass Appeal (1984) · The Coolangatta Gold (1984) · The Bear (1984) · The Karate Kid (1984) · Unfaithfully Yours (1984) · The Right Stuff (1983) · Bad Boys (1983) · That Championship Season (1982) · Split Image (1982) · Rocky III (1982) · I, the Jury (1982) · Neighbors (1981) · Carbon Copy (1981) · Victory (1981) · For Your Eyes Only (1981) · The Formula (1980) · Private Benjamin (1980) · Gloria (1980)1990s Inferno (1999/II) · The Thomas Crown Affair (1999) · The Real Macaw (1998) · Wrongfully Accused (1998) · Entertaining Angels: The Dorothy Day Story (1996) · Spy Hard (1996) · Bushwhacked (1995/I) · Napoleon (1995) · The Scout (1994) · The Next Karate Kid (1994) · 8 Seconds (1994) · Yellowstone (1994) · Rookie of the Year (1993) · Bound by Honor (1993) · The Adventures of Huck Finn (1993) · A Captive in the Land (1993) · By the Sword (1991) · Necessary Roughness (1991) · Year of the Gun (1991) · Rocky V (1990) · Backstreet Dreams (1990) · The Fourth War (1990)2000s Small Town Hero (2010) · The Perfect Game (2009) · Moonlight Blade (2009) · Rocky Balboa (2006) · The Gospel of Lou (2003) · 2 Birds with 1 Stallone (2002) · Avenging Angelo (2002) · G (2002) (music by) · Boys on the Run (2001) · Tortilla Soup (2001) · FX (2001)Categories:- English-language films
- 1977 films
- Films directed by Jonathan Demme
- 1970s comedy films
- American comedy films
- Vigilante films
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