My Breakfast with Blassie

This is Kaufman's attempt to parody the "heavy" discussion in MY DINNER WITH ANDRE. The result is amusing, if adolescent. It is sometimes hard to tell whether he and Blassie are playing characters or merely being themselves. In any case, they show a crude, typically male-chauvinistic attitude and portray the behaviour that goes with it. Whether this attitude is being satirized or condoned is not completely clear. Kaufman's humor is not for everyone, but if you like it, the movie is enjoyable.

So, let me begin by saying that I like Andy Kaufman, I like wrestling, I like parodies, and I like My Dinner With Andre. I wanted very much to love this film, and I wish that I could be as positive about this as some of the other reviews that I have read about it are, but I found this film quite spotty. The parts where it is really parodying My Dinner With Andre were very funny, sometimes outright hilarious. Specifically, the beginning and ending voice-overs were very funny and a lot of the conversation between Andy and Fred was pretty good, plus the absurdity of the situation was entertaining. However, Andy and Fred did a lot of interacting with the waitress, the four girls at the next table, and Bob Zmuda (who was not playing himself), and that was all stupid and pointless. It was just Andy doing his "I'm a big, famous star" schtick and Fred being rude and insensitive. Four or five minutes of that would have been okay, but the twenty-minutes to a half hour of it to which the audience is subjected is just dull and irritating. The whole thing would be excellent had they edited it down to twenty or twenty-five minutes. So, if you're an Andy Kaufman fan, I would recommend taking the time to see it, but only if the opportunity presents itself.

This movie got together because the man who produced wrestling manager and former wrestling champion Fred Blassie's novelty song, "Pencil-Neck Geek", Johnny Legend, wanted to film a very cheap parody of the awful art movie My Dinner with Andre, and decided that Blassie's young friend and protege, the eccentric comedian Andy Kaufman would be the perfect foil. Unlike My Dinner with Andre, which was carefully planned, Andy and Johnny Legend planted a few people in a Sambo's and just filmed Andy and Fred shooting the crap over breakfast for an hour. I think that's better anyway, as I HATE art movies They improvised wonderfully, and you gotta hand it to them for pulling off such a funny film in no time for no money. Andy was of course a huge fan of wrestling and he and Fred were friends for years, and you could tell by the way they talked to each other that they respected each other a great deal. The film is hilarious, and gives you real insight into the minds of Andy Kaufman, and Fred Blassie, the man who invented the infamous phrase, "Pencil-neck geek."

However, if you hate Andy and/or wrestling, I suggest you watch My Dinner With Andre instead.

It's sad that both Andy Kaufman and Freddie Blassie are not with us to make a sequel to this hysterically funny film about them having breakfast at a local Sambo's restaurant in LA. In the movie the two are seen discussing the news and about what's been happening to themselves, mostly Andy's and Freddie's wrestling careers, in the world of entertainment.

Seems to be mostly add-libbed with some of the weird and funny customers joining in, I still can't get over that nosy fan, making the movie even funnier then it would have been with just Andy and Freddie.

One of the most ridiculous, but true, event discussed by the pair is Andy Kaufman's reign as the "Woman's Champion" in wrestling until he got in a bout with a man wrestler who almost broke Andy's neck.

One of the best comedies in years that didn't need any stick's or actions like flying through the air being blown up or getting hit in the face with a pie and all that toilet humor that seems to be a must in most comedies these days. All that was needed to make up laugh was just two very real and funny guys sitting at a table having breakfast and talking about what's been going on in the world and with their lives and of course the occasional weirdo at the Sambo's joining in to make thing even more outrageous.

Andy Kaufman was his own brand of genius, and his particular style of nonsense is on display, for good and ill, in this often overlooked gem of an indie film. It's gross, over the top, and as always Andy has fun making you guess whether what you're seeing is real or an elaborate gag for the camera (hint: that's his longtime co-conspirator Bob Zmuda sitting behind him for much of the film, and later getting rather nosey).

And then there is Blassie, one of the superstars of old time wrestling. We hope he's goofing for the camera too but some of his coarse comments seems to be coming from the heart. He reveals himself -- as a sexist clod, as a seasoned world traveler, as a garrulous guy who has played a ridiculous role all his life and loved every minute of it -- in a hundred little ways in this movie, as when he admits that he loves to kill time wandering through hardware stores, never actually buying anything, just "picking stuff up and playing with it." The hand towel gag may be over the top but it sure looks like it has roots in some personal issues for Freddie -- maybe even compulsions -- about keeping his hands clean. Check out his spotless fingernails.

I saw Freddie wrestle in the Garden when I was a kid, cheered my head off when Bruno Sammartino made him submit with a bearhug, and watched him on UHF TV in New York many times, and I always suspected he was a smart man behind all the wrestling BS. This proves it, and also gives a lot of insight into the good and bad aspects of his character. All in all, I wish I'd eaten breakfast with him too. (Especially if he paid!)