Norman Lear's satire is more fun than funny. Dick Van Dyke is a minister in small dying Eagle Rock, IA who rallies the townspeople to quit smoking for one month in order to win $25,000,000. The town goes crazy, eating everything in sight, bickering and even kicking dogs. Van Dyke is stoic rather than funny but it helps a lot that the town is populated by clowns likes of Vincent Gardenia, Jean Stapleton, Barnard Hughes, Graham Jarvis and Tom Poston (very funny as the town dipsomaniac). Pippa Scott is pretty fetching as Van Dyke's wife. Bob & Ray pop up from time to time as hilarious newscasters and Bob Newhart is the shifty tobacco company man who starts it all and then tries to stop the town from winning. Randy Newman's music score, his first, remains one of his best.
Review of Cold Turkey
