To Kill a Clown

"To Kill a Clown" is a really strange movie, one that could have only come out of the 1970s. For starters, it doesn't seem to know what kind of movie it wants to be. It starts off being really goofy (even the opening credits are comic), but the movie ends with a climatic sequence that seems to have been inspired by the previous year's "Straw Dogs". Throughout there are bizarre touches like the many freeze frames the movie uses when moving from one scene to another. And there is the atypical casting of Alan Alda as someone who is mentally disturbed. All this may make the movie sound like it's a gold mine for people who are into bizarre cinema, but it isn't that much entertaining. It starts off slow and soon gets to be pretty boring; you have to wait until an hour has passed before some juice starts to flow. And even when that happens, what follows is not really worth the wait. Ultimately, there seems to be no point to the movie; what writer/director George Bloomfield was trying to say or accomplish, I'm not sure. It's no wonder why this movie hasn't been given a DVD release. By the way, while the movie was slapped with an "R" rating, what's displayed barely gets to "PG" status by the standards of today (or even back in 1972.)

Okay. I have very little to say about this "movie" since I understand very little of what went on. But I will say, if you see this piece of crap on the shelf at your local video retailer, put it back and rent Strawdogs. This movie had a nonsense plot, a horrible script, bad acting, and the worst tanline this side of the pacific. Blythe Danner can act, but she must have been dealing with some personal issues during this movie (probably working on her clone, the one we now call Gwenyth). Alan Alda as a sadistic, cripple Vietnam Vet. Sorry, I just don't buy it. And you won't either. Please, do me one favor, don't subject yourself to this "psychological thriller". You'll just end up playing Scrabble anyway.

This movie would frequently appear on late-night TV in the late 1970s. Years later, in the home video rental days, this movie would appear on the video rental shelves waiting for a rental.

The one thing I remembered about this film was that the film was edited with a chainsaw. It seemed that big chunks of the film were left on the cutting room floor, making the movie almost senseless.

I found a used copy of the video at a thrift store. I immediately snapped it up. I put the video in my trusty VCR player, and it was the same version I remembered when I would watch this on late-night TV. This version may be the late-night TV print that played back in the days of the Movies-'til-dawn programs of yesteryear.

I did some research on the film's background. The film was over 100 minutes, not eighty-two minutes as stated on the Media VHS tape. The TV prints seemed to be edited to fit ninety-minute time slots.

If this is true, what is missing?

I got a kick out of Alan Alda playing a deranged Vietnam vet terrorizing a Bohemian couple on his island, played by Blythe Danner and Heath Lamberts.

I would like to see the unedited version so I can see what is missing, and would the original edit make a difference?

It's not a very nice or friendly way to begin a user-comment, I know, but ... what a boring movie! Personally, I never liked Alan Alda (can't stand his voice), but he's still the only reasonably qualitative factor here. I usually adore Blythe Danner, but her character is one of the most lamentable ones of the entire 70s decade. And, finally, I never heard Heath Lamberts before, but he's a poor actor and gives a weak imitation of Dustin Hoffman in the previous year's hit "Straw Dogs".

Please don't ask me to describe "To Kill a Clown" too much in detail. I constantly got distracted because the film is SO boring and SO incredibly uneventful. Lamberts is an untalented painter who occasionally paints his own face. He and his wife Danner struggle with marital issues and rent a cabin next to the sea, hoping to resolve them. Their neighbor and landlord, Alda, is a weirdly eccentric Vietnam veteran with two frisky Dobermans. What happens next, plain and simple, is that these three people attempt to talk each other to death. Talk, talk, talk, ... dull, dull, dull. And with a horrendous ending.

In TO KILL A CLOWN, a couple (Heath Lamberts and Blythe Danner) rent an ocean beach house, in an attempt to resurrect their crumbling marriage. It's pretty obvious that a lot of the spark has gone out of their relationship. When they meet the man from whom they rented the property (Alan Alda), he seems like a nice enough chap, in spite of his intimidating Dobermans. As the days go by, it becomes evident that this man might not be as harmless as he appears to be.

This is a slow-building film that doesn't really get going until around the halfway mark, which is right in line with many movies from this era. So, having some patience is required, and will enhance the viewing experience.

Mr. Alda is outstanding in his unbalanced role, going from congenial to sadistic in a natural, believable way. If you've only seen him in M*A*S*H, or other comedic fare, then you really need to see him here! He's actually scary, making what starts out as a lighthearted story, wind up in horror-thriller territory.

Highly recommended, along with other horror outings from Mr. Alda, like THE MEPHISTO WALTZ and ISN'T IT SHOCKING?...