Record City: A Movie for the WHOLE family

Don't you just love it when a family-friendly channel runs some entirely inappropriate programming? Well, I kinda do.

Granted, "Record City" (1978) ran on quasi-religious channel Family Net at the "way past the kiddies' bedtime" hour of midnight, but still...I find it amusing that even an edited version of something like this ran not only on the channel itself, but in a "Family Movies" timeslot. Each time we returned to the film after a commercial break, we saw a graphic and heard an announcement that we were watching Family Net..."Movies for the Whole Family."

And which family would that be? I don't consider myself a prudish gent, but I think it's odd to see a rather adult comedy on a channel that airs shows with evangelists telling nonbelievers why they're going to hell.

"Record City" is a film about the hijinks that go on at a busy SoCal record store (remember those?). It's kind of like "Empire Records" but a little raunchier. In this 1978 film, we get prostitutes, hardcore sexual harassment of one of the shop's workers by the sleazy womanizing manager, and numerous masked-out profanities, all before the first commercial break.

Then after that break, after we're reminded we're watching a movie for the whole family, "Record City" delivers even more fun for both Little Timmy and Grammy alike in the form of the manager slurring an over-the-top gay character, a recording of erotic music/noises being played over the store's P.A., and, perhaps most inappropriate of all for delicate sensibilities, a cardboard standee of Rick Dees.

Movies for the whole family!

Elsewhere in Record City, we see a deaf customer and a blind customer shopping for records, and of course they are treated with delicacy and good taste akin to what we would expect to see in mainstream media today...NOT! We see a running gag consisting of Tim Thomerson getting kicked in the nuts repeatedly by his would-be feminist friend (who the movie exposes as completely misguided and really just needing to let her hair down and lighten up, man). There's a bit of a comedy routine from a young Gallagher, and you know that's got to offend somebody.

If you're not just chuckling at the incongruity of this material on Family Net, is there enough to make "Record City" worth watching? Well, the plot is no great shakes. The screenplay offers an episodic look at this store and its employees, and a radio-sponsored talent show outside the building provides an excuse to showcase Rick Dees in his prime. Think about that for a second: Did the medium of film really need to preserve Rick Dees in all his glory? As emcee of the talent show, he comes out in a gorilla suit while singing a novelty song, then introduces acts like the aforementioned Gallagher.

We also see familiar TV faces like Larry Storch, Alice Ghostley, and Ed Begley Jr. And is that TV's Boss Hogg as a cop who is trying to nab a serial thief? Yes, it is! And when he stands on a toilet in the shop's men's room so he can peer through a peephole into the main floor area, will he wind up getting into a zany mix-up with the blind guy and stepping into urine? Yes, he will!

Throw in more luminaries like Odd Job from "Goldfinger," Ruth Buzzi, and Frank Gorshin, and you get what looks like one of the most awesome "Love Boat" lineups ever. Hey, speaking of "Love Boat," did I mention one of the store's impish employees is played by Ted Lange?

What you do NOT find in "Record City" is the standard assortment of contemporary pop and rock radio hits blaring throughout the entire film. You get Kinky Friedman (as himself) doing his thing, but other than the posters on the walls, you get very little sense of music mattering to the people in the story--or to the producers of the film, for that matter. I wondered if this was an edited version that wiped out costly licensed tunes, but the credits didn't show any songs I missed. There is music, all right, but the lack of identifiable songs might lessen the impact of this as a time capsule when viewed today.

"Record City" is pretty dumb even for a dumb comedy, but I have to admit it seemed to zip right by, and I watched it. However, I resisted the urge to invite my toddler and my wife downstairs to join me with a bowl of popcorn for Family Movie Night. I know it's a movie for the whole family, but I don't think my little girl needs to see it just yet.