Soggy Bottom U.S.A.

 

Picture: C-     Sound: C     Extras: D     Film: C

 

 

In Don Johnson’s last lean years before Miami Vice finally made him a name star, he signed on as the lead of Soggy Bottom U.S.A. (1980), an independent production where he plays would-be inventor Jacob.  All he is trying to make is a Bayou Hydrofoil, but cannot seem to get it to work.  Only if he does and makes money will he marry and have sex with would-be Country/Western songwriter Charlene (P.J. Soles), but they’ll have to survive the terrible screenplay by first.

 

Besides endless flatulent jokes and dumb humor about alcohol and prohibition that is so one-note you’ll want to go to the next chapter, the film also stars Jack Elam, Ben Johnson, Cloris Leachman, Lois Nettleton and Brion James.  The film is actually going absolutely nowhere when singing star Dusty Wheeler arrives.  She is played by Ann Wedgeworth, who had just finished her far-too-short run on Three’s Company in its fourth season (reviewed elsewhere on this site).  Her character is fun and smart and she nearly saves the film, but the script never matches her arrival or ups the content because of it.  It may be worth a look for some because of the actors, but this film lives up to its name and is best skipped otherwise.

 

The image is poor for the film, from a very old analog NTSC transfer that begins by squeezing what looks like a 1.85 X 1 frame into 1.33 X 1 space, then is tunnel vision for the rest of the presentation.  The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono is hardly better, down a few generations with lame music throughout and dialogue just audible enough.  There are no extras and we can see why.  The Southern Outlaw cycle was on its deathbed at this point and after watching this, you can see why.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo