Movies Based on TV Shows Featuring Their Original Casts, In Honor of ‘Star Trek Into Darkness’

Movie #5 – The Gong Show – The Gong Show Movie

Year – 1973

Intended as spoof of old “amateur hour” shows, The Gong Show was briefly a pop-culture juggernaut. Where else could you see Potsie, Schneider and Klinger decide the comparative quality of an accountant in a safari suit doing birdcalls, an elderly woman in a mini-skirt meowing (erotically?) to the tune of “Alley Cat” and two possibly underage girls fellating popsicles? The winner (and I use that term loosely) would receive a check for $516.32 because…um, because. It was the beginning of trash TV and America loved it.

So in the middle of all this mayhem a movie was made. It shows a fictional week in the life of show’s creator and host, Chuck Barris. However, it’s mostly just an excuse to show clips that were “too hot” for television such as Jaye P. Morgan showing her breasts.

Unfortunately for the filmmakers, by 1980 the show had lost whatever heat it once had and flopped at the box office. The movie was so bad that George Burns famously quipped, ”For the first time in 65 years, I wanted to get out of show business.” To this day the film has never been released on DVD or Blu-Ray…or VHS or Laser Disc…or Beta. While it does occasional show up on late night cable, it’s never been released for purchase in any way, shape or form – a stunning achievement in its own right.

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