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LOOK: Hot and Cold Therapy, Cold Packs, Hot Packs, Ice Packs, Hot Cold cristiamedicalsupply.com |  Running a hospital: Blackberry Cold Turkey runningahospital.blogspot... | X-ray Film Processor|China X-ray Film Processor|X-ray Film Processor... industry-medical.com |  |
Cold Turkey is a 1971 satirical comedy film. It stars a long list of comedic actors, several of whom are well-known to North American television audiences. The film was directed, co-produced and co-written by Norman Lear and is based on the novel I'm Giving Them Up for Good by Margaret and Neil Rau. Cold Turkey features original music by Randy Newman including "He Gives Us All His Love", a ballad with a gospel influence that serves as the film's theme song. This was Newman's first film soundtrack. The film was made in 1969, but was shelved for two years by the distributor due to concerns about its box-office potential. It was only released on VHS and EP LaserDisc (1993) in the pan-and-scan format. As of 2009 no plans have been made to release it on DVD, but it is still occasionally shown on various cable and satellite channels.
[edit] PlotAs part of a public relations and marketing strategy to compare the empathy of Big Tobacco to the nobility of the Nobel Peace Price, Merwin Wren (Bob Newhart), an advertising executive, convinces the Valiant Tobacco Company to propose a challenge: they will give a tax-free check for $25,000,000 to any city or town in America that can stop smoking, or go cold turkey, for thirty days. According to Wren the idea is that the offer will generate them worldwide free publicity putting them in a humanitarian category but that no town in America would ever be able to successfully sign up, especially since cigarette smoking is so addictive who would stop? The Reverend Clayton Brooks (Dick Van Dyke), a kindly but fearful minister of the Eagle Rock Community Church, takes up the challenge as a spiritual call to the town, and leads the economically-depressed fictional community of Eagle Rock, Iowa (population 4,006) to accept the challenge, spurred on by the thought of all the money and what it can do for the town, striving to help them find the strength to succeed. The town council had been trying to woo back the military ever since it closed a military base a few years back, hoping its return would help the local cash flow but that has not happened. People and families have been moving out almost on a monthly basis and the town center is almost deserted. Reverend Clayton eventually gets every smoker in the town to sign up, and after being needled for not smoking himself (he used to but quit) he even began again to show solidarity with "his flock". Finally, at midnight, the challenge begins and for thirty days no smoking is permitted, Eagle Rock being the only town or city in America that got all of their smokers to pledge. As the thirty days begin, the tobacco company sends Merwin to report the progress of their inability of the townspeople to commit, in other words wanting to see anyone in the town fail. Among the weakest of the townspeople: alcoholic Edgar Stopworth (Tom Poston) , the elderly Doctor Proctor (Barnard Hughes), who must always have a cigarette before surgery, and the anxiety-ridden wife of the Mayor, Mrs. Wappler (Jean Stapleton) who counts the small gherkin pickles she eats as the hours pass. Eventually the attention of the nation's leading newscasters at the time (all played by the comedy duo Bob and Ray), turns the small community's efforts into a matter of highly-publicized failure or success. With the impending popularity also comes buxom 'massage therapists', beer vendors, souvenir shops, and for Rev. Clayton, a Time magazine cover, which leads him to another epiphany: if he can save the town, he will be the hero. As the few remaining days approach, however, Merwin is told by the board members to undermine their efforts at all costs, doing whatever he can to get anyone to smoke before the thirty days are up, leading to hilarious results as the clock ticks down. [edit] SettingAlthough most of the film's action takes place in "Eagle Rock, Iowa", much of the film was actually filmed in the small town of Greenfield, Iowa and many local people were used as extras. Some portions of the film, mostly neighborhood scenes, were shot in Winterset, Iowa. The Methodist church in Orient, Iowa and the bank in Macksburg, Iowa were used as well. The Grayson Mansion scenes were filmed at Terrace Hill located in Des Moines, Iowa. Parts of this film were also taped in a small town called Columbia located in South Central Kentucky [edit] Quotes
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