Health (film)
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''HealtH'' (also known as ''Health'' and ''H.E.A.L.T.H.'') is a 1980 American ensemble comedy film, the fifteenth feature project from director
Robert Altman Robert Bernard Altman ( ; February 20, 1925 – November 20, 2006) was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. He was a five-time nominee of the Academy Award for Best Director and is considered an enduring figure from the New H ...
. It stars Carol Burnett, Glenda Jackson, James Garner,
Lauren Bacall Lauren Bacall (; born Betty Joan Perske; September 16, 1924 – August 12, 2014) was an American actress. She was named the 20th-greatest female star of classic Hollywood cinema by the American Film Institute and received an Academy Honorary Aw ...
, and Paul Dooley, and was written by Altman, Dooley and Frank Barhydt. The film's title is an acronym for "Happiness, Energy, and Longevity through Health". A parody and satire of the U.S. political scene of the time, ''HealtH'' is set at a health food convention at a Florida luxury hotel, where a powerful political organization is deciding on a new president. The election is rife with backroom deals and scandal; a businessman, Colonel Cody, is out to rig the votes and the outcome.
Dick Cavett Richard Alva Cavett (; born November 19, 1936) is an American television personality and former talk show host. He appeared regularly on nationally broadcast television in the United States for five decades, from the 1960s through the 2000s. In ...
and Dinah Shore, two television talk show personalities of the time, are mentioned prominently in the film. ''HealtH'' was made by Robert Altman's company, Lion's Gate Films (no relation to Lionsgate Films), in early 1979. It was the director's last film for the
20th Century-Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Disn ...
studio, which shelved its official release for over two years. Despite this, it received festival showings and a brief Los Angeles run during 1980. The film was broadcast on various U.S. television stations over the years, including The Movie Channel and
Fox Movie Channel FX Movie Channel (FXM) is an American pay television channel owned by FX Networks, LLC, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Television division of The Walt Disney Company. It is the sister channel of FX and FXX. The channel's programming consists l ...
, but it has never been issued on home video.


Plot

Bearing similarities to Altman's 1975 film ''
Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...
'', along with a plotless structure, ''HealtH'' chronicles the progress of a health-food convention held at a luxury hotel in St Pete Beach, Florida. As the convention takes place, the members of an organization called HealtH hold a campaign to find out who will become its President. (Their name stands for "Happiness, Energy and Longevity through Health"; it also serves as their slogan.) The candidates are Esther Brill, an 83-year-old afflicted with narcolepsy who calls herself "the first lady of health"; Isabella Garnell, who is serious against
commercialism Commercialism is the application of both manufacturing and consumption towards personal usage, or the practices, methods, aims, and distribution of products in a free market geared toward generating a profit. Commercialism can also refer, positivel ...
and
materialism Materialism is a form of philosophical monism which holds matter to be the fundamental substance in nature, and all things, including mental states and consciousness, are results of material interactions. According to philosophical materiali ...
; and Dr. Harold (Gil) Gainey, a salesperson-turned- independent. On the first day of the conference, The Steinettes (a female
quartet In music, a quartet or quartette (, , , , ) is an ensemble of four singers or instrumental performers; or a musical composition for four voices and instruments. Classical String quartet In classical music, one of the most common combinations o ...
dressed in green and yellow) introduce Dick Cavett, who is hosting
his show His or HIS may refer to: Computing * Hightech Information System, a Hong Kong graphics card company * Honeywell Information Systems * Hybrid intelligent system * Microsoft Host Integration Server Education * Hangzhou International School, in ...
on location and covering the details of the event. He interviews Gloria Burbank and Esther Brill, two of the candidates competing for the new Presidency of the HealtH organization. Burbank, a White House representative, has been sent to this venue on the President of the United States' behalf. Later that day at the hotel lounge, Burbank's ex-husband Harry Wolff plans to re-schedule the Cavett interview, due to difficulties with Brill during her profile. The moment Burbank heads to her room, Gil Gainey (a minor candidate) stops her and debates on the worth of her strategy. On the morning of the second day, several conventioneers notice a seemingly dead body sunk to the bottom of the pool from their balconies. Harry Wolff and the President's advisor on health, Gloria Burbank, are chatting by the deep end of the pool. Gloria then dives into the pool, not realizing there is a body floating on the bottom. As she approaches it, she finally sees it and screams in fear, heading back to the surface. Some other men dive in to rescue the drowned body, but it turns out that Gainey had been using an
oxygen tank An oxygen tank is an oxygen storage vessel, which is either held under pressure in gas cylinders, or as liquid oxygen in a cryogenic storage tank. Uses Oxygen tanks are used to store gas for: * medical breathing at medical facilities and at home ...
in order to play a publicity stunt. That night, Garnell announces a serious message from the top of the hotel through her loudspeaker; many guests take notice, and some complain. Around that time, a businessperson named Colonel Cody arrives at the conference, and heads to Garnell's room to interrogate and find out her plans. Next morning, Harry finds out that Burbank is beginning to support Garnell, and thinks that this is not right. Later on, while discussing breastfeeding and abortion with Brill, Burbank is astonished that Garnell and Brill were actually born male. After serving in the Navy, both had sex change operations in 1960. Bobby Hammer, a dirty tricks specialist, actually concocted this revelation to trick Burbank. After another discussion with Brill, Burbank enters the empty convention hall, where Cody interrupts her. He finds her title, and the ideals of the HealtH organization, worthless. Ashamed and in tears, Burbank is shocked that he controls not only HealtH, but also the ongoing election; he even plans to rig the votes and the outcome. She runs back to tell Wolff on Cody's scheme. As the couple start making love, Burbank is worried that it will be all over for her if Garnell wins. Harry, however, assures her that Garnell is still a woman anyway. On the fourth and final day, the results of the HealtH election are announced live on Cavett's show, and Esther Brill comes out as the victor. Burbank and her ex-husband watch on from their balcony outside, and also take a glimpse at Cody proposing an offer to Brill. Some time later, Cody, who turns out to be her harmless nut brother, gets into a fit of anger, knocking down everything in his path, and demands to get away immediately. With the HealtH convention over, another one involving hypnotists is taking root at the hotel. Before he and the candidates leave, Cavett briefly greets Dinah Shore, the host on hand for this event. As the HealtH sign is taken down in front of the hotel, the Steinettes perform a Broadway-style show tune that closes the film.


Cast


Production

Under the supervision of Alan Ladd, Jr., head of 20th Century-Fox, director Robert Altman made ''HealtH'' for US$6 million through his Lion's Gate Films company (unrelated to the present-day firm based in Vancouver). At the time, Altman had commitments to deliver films for Fox until 1981; ''HealtH'' was his fifteenth feature project. "
lan Lan or LAN may also refer to: Science and technology * Local asymptotic normality, a fundamental property of regular models in statistics * Longitude of the ascending node, one of the orbital elements used to specify the orbit of an object in sp ...
had great faith in me," he told David Sterritt in 2000; "he put his own job on the line." Of the film's timing, he said, "''HealtH'' could have only been made when it was made, and that was the end of the Carter era." This and 1979's '' Quintet'' were Altman's first collaborations with writer Frank Barhydt; the two would later work on the 1988 HBO miniseries '' Tanner '88'', as well as 1993's '' Short Cuts'' and 1996's ''
Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more ...
''. In response to the diminishing box office returns of his last three efforts ('' A Wedding'', ''Quintet'' and ''
A Perfect Couple ''A Perfect Couple'' is a 1979 romantic-comedy film co-written and directed by Robert Altman and starring Paul Dooley, Marta Heflin, Titos Vandis, and Belita Moreno. Plot An older man, played by Paul Dooley, tries romancing a younger woman ...
''), and in case any delays could put a damper on his financing, Altman rushed ''HealtH'' into production. The film was shot in sequence at only one location: the Don CeSar Beach Hotel in St Pete Beach, Florida. Production began on February 20, 1979, and continued for three months. The crew chose the Don CeSar, said Altman, because "we felt hiswould be fun, with lots of crazy situations and off-beat characters."
Joseph Byrd Joseph Hunter Byrd, Jr. (born December 19, 1937) is an American composer, musician and academic. After first becoming known as an experimental composer in New York City and Los Angeles in the early and mid-1960s, he became the leader of The Un ...
worked on the music score, along with supervisor
Allan Nicholls Allan F. Nicholls (born April 8, 1945) is a Canadian actor, film director, film producer, screenwriter, composer and musician. He was nominated for both a BAFTA and WGA award for his writing on the 1978 film '' A Wedding''. He is often credite ...
. To capture the authenticity of the convention in the movie, art director Bob Quinn and co-writer Frank Barhydt visited an actual one in Boston, Massachusetts before shooting. Over one hundred health food companies contributed to the set. One of them, Sovex Granola, participated during the shoot; their scenes did not make it into the finished film, but they received end-credit billing. Robert Altman was known to wear different hats on every new production of his; on the set of ''HealtH'', he wore a straw one. While filming, Altman got into a conflict with members of the local Teamsters branch, and had to pay "outrageous salaries" for certification. Garner recalled "we had a lot of fun making it... I loved Bob Altman." A short while after ''HealtH'' finished production, producer Robert Evans hired Altman for a musical version of '' Popeye'', co-produced by
Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...
and Walt Disney Productions. Altman went to Malta to shoot the film, and brought the Steinettes from ''HealtH'' along with him.


Release

Distributor 20th Century-Fox originally planned ''HealtH'' for a Christmas 1979 release. But by the time editing was complete, a change of management took place at the studio, and Alan Ladd, Jr. was among those to leave; as a result, Fox shelved the film. After canceling plans for a March debut in January 1980, they moved it to their summer schedule; Altman's strategy was to have the film released in time for that year's presidential campaign. Before that could take place, the company's new president, Norman B. Levy, planned an April 1980 run in
St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...
. Altman went against it and suggested test runs in four markets instead: San Francisco and Sacramento, California; Houston, Texas; and Boston, Massachusetts. The resulting previews played to poor audience response, and some time later, Fox deemed it uncommercial for release. In the end, the company replaced it on their schedule with '' Oh! Heavenly Dog'', a crime comedy starring Chevy Chase and
Benji Benji is a fictional character created by Joe Camp. He has been the focus of several movies from 1974 through the 2000s. It is also the title of the first film in the ''Benji'' franchise. Benji is a small, lovable mixed-breed dog with an un ...
the dog. Save for Sherry Lansing, who loved the film, Robert Altman had a fallout with Fox personnel over their handling of ''HealtH''. After filming ''Popeye'', Altman tried to contact Norman Levy on its status. The filmmaker complained, "
evy Evy may refer to: * Evelyn (disambiguation), a female given name * Evy Palm (born 1942), former Swedish long-distance athlete * Evy Berggren (1934–2018), Swedish gymnast * Evy Van Damme (born 1980), Belgian racing cyclist * Evy-Ann Midttun (19 ...
didn't return my phone calls for seven weeks. That's just basic rudeness. I don't think he knows what a movie is anyway." Moreover, he said of the studio's distribution unit: "Norman Levy and the rest are scum. ..They're not interested in movies. They're interested in ski lifts and Coca-Cola." Amid this situation, Altman began to distribute ''HealtH'' on his own by taking it to the film festival circuit. The comedy was screened at the Montreal World Film Festival in August 1980, and later appeared at Telluride and
Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400  ...
. Of the response at those venues, the director said: "It has a love-hate reaction—but what's wrong with that?" By September 1980, the festival exposure prompted 20th Century-Fox to hold over a month of preview screenings at the UA Theater in Westwood, Los Angeles; a nationwide release was also considered. Despite even worse acclaim this time, Altman remarked that this run "did respectable business, considering that there was no advertising. But it's finished, dead, buried." Ultimately, ''HealtH'' would be Altman's last film for Fox; his experiences would later convince him to skip major distribution for '' Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean''. On March 7, 1981, a
16 mm 16 mm film is a historically popular and economical gauge of film. 16 mm refers to the width of the film (about inch); other common film gauges include 8 and 35 mm. It is generally used for non-theatrical (e.g., industrial, edu ...
print of ''HealtH'' was shown at the facilities of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. The film also received a screening in
Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was d ...
, Maryland, on March 28. On April 7, 1982, it received its official cinema opening at the Film Forum 1 in New York City. The film was released in at least two European markets: in Germany under the title ''Der Gesundheitskongress'', and in the United Kingdom, where prints ran a few minutes longer than the original U.S. cut. ''HealtH'' aired on the Philadelphia-based PRISM pay-TV service in February 1981, and also on the national U.S. outlet The Movie Channel that same year. The film was also broadcast on the CBS network in August 1983. As of 2010, a widescreen version has been shown on basic cable's
Fox Movie Channel FX Movie Channel (FXM) is an American pay television channel owned by FX Networks, LLC, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Television division of The Walt Disney Company. It is the sister channel of FX and FXX. The channel's programming consists l ...
.
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment 20th Century Studios Home Entertainment (commonly referred to as 20th Home Video, or 20th Home Entertainment, formerly known as 20th Century-Fox Video, CBS/Fox Video, Fox Video, and 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment) is a home video label of Wa ...
has not released the film on VHS, DVD or Blu-Ray.


Reception

On the day of the film's Los Angeles opening on September 12, 1980, a review from Charles Champlin of the '' Los Angeles Times'' described the film as "essentially a revue sketch, giving the boys and girls of the chorus a chance to dress up funny and mill about. All a revue sketch needs is a thin premise, a point of view and an exit line. But having only one out of three won't make it for a movie." He concluded, "If indeed Altman weren't so original and so talented, an indulgent mess like ''HealtH'' would merely be another unsuccessful film in a bad year. It is instead mournful and exasperating in about equal measure." At the time of the Film Forum premiere, '' The New York Times''' Vincent Canby wrote: "''HealtH'' is, I suppose, a mess, but it is a glorious one in the recognizable manner of a major film maker who sometimes gets carried away—by his subject, by his own enthusiasms and those of his actors, and by the collaborative creative process he loves. As do so many of his films, ''HealtH'' gives one the feeling of being on a nonstop party with the people who made it." He added that it "is no masterpiece, but it is one of the most appealing entertainments that Mr. Altman has ever put together". In a later article, he declared: "''HealtH'' deserves to be seen by anyone interested in the career of this most eccentric and unpredictable of contemporary American film directors."
Gene Siskel Eugene Kal Siskel (January 26, 1946 – February 20, 1999) was an American film critic and journalist for the ''Chicago Tribune''. Along with colleague Roger Ebert, he hosted a series of movie review programs on television from 1975 until his d ...
of the '' Chicago Tribune'' called it "a pretty bad movie" and "anemic. Altman sets himself up as superior to his insipid characters, laughs at them, and invites us to do likewise. That's not much of an achievement." Leonard Maltin gave ''HealtH'' two stars out of four in his ''Movie Guide'', and added: "Non-Altman fans may love this more than devotees; Woodard steals the film—no easy feat considering that incredible cast—as hehotel's ultra-patient manager." ''Halliwell's Film Guide'' referred to it as a "zany satirical all-star romp on the lines of ''A Wedding'' but by no means as likeable or laughable, considering its cast, as it should be". The ''Film Bulletin'' called it a "misfired satire", and commented that its "major stars ..are otherwise wasted". In a 1985 book on Altman, Gerard Plecki called ''HealtH'' "a humorous companion piece to ''Nashville''", adding that it "was certainly a major improvement over his two previous films". In regards to the studio shelving the film, Plecki remarked that it "certainly deserved mass marketing and a large promotion campaign". On June 12, 1982, U.S. President
Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
screened the film at
Camp David Camp David is the country retreat for the president of the United States of America. It is located in the wooded hills of Catoctin Mountain Park, in Frederick County, Maryland, near the towns of Thurmont and Emmitsburg, about north-northwe ...
during stormy weather. In his diaries that day, he called it "the world's worst movie". On the other hand, director Martin Scorsese named it one of the "85 Films You Need to See to Know Anything about Film".


Themes

Since its release, ''HealtH'' has been viewed as a parody, and satire, of the U.S. political scene at the time of its filming; critic Daniel O'Brien also noticed "the parallels between the ealtHelection and the U.S. Presidency explicitly spelt out (several times)" in the film. In his book ''A Cinema of Loneliness'', Robert Phillip Kolker stressed this aspect, writing that "Altman creates a world that is a parody of a political phenomenon that is itself already a parody of show business, for political conventions always mediate the realities of power with the signifiers of spectacle. '' ealtH' is, finally, a representation of a representation." Kolker also observed Altman's use of the
carnivalesque Carnivalesque is a literary mode that subverts and liberates the assumptions of the dominant style or atmosphere through humor and chaos. It originated as "carnival" in Mikhail Bakhtin's ''Problems of Dostoevsky's Poetics'' and was further develope ...
, a style from Russian critic Mikhail Bakhtin that the filmmaker employed in many of his productions. O'Brien called this the film's "strongest asset .. complete with hucksters and suckers (a handy metaphor for most aspects of American society". In Kolker's words, ''HealtH'' is "a hilarious documentation of politics and culture at the end of the Carter era when passivity began to disguise itself as self-satisfaction and marginal interests requested majority attention". The convention in the film "becomes a small mirror of larger political follies, of silly, self-serving people so convinced of their importance that they take for granted the fact that major significance attends their ridiculous activities". O'Brien noted that in ''HealtH'', "most of the main characters exhibit the expected Altman eccentricites", including the candidates in the election. "All this comes across as a little forced," he continued, "recalling the random weirdness of '' Brewster McCloud'' rather than the carefully etched idiosyncrasies of '' The Long Goodbye'' or '' Three Women''." Moreover, someone says "Hit it!" just before the convention band replaces the opening Fox fanfare.


See also

* List of American films of 1980


References


External links

* * {{Robert Altman 1980 films 20th Century Fox films American comedy films American political satire films Films directed by Robert Altman Films set in Florida Films set in hotels Transgender-related films 1980 LGBT-related films LGBT-related comedy films 1980s English-language films 1980s American films