Bob Elliott Movies

It seems that someone turns out an action film titled Vengeance every year or so. This is the 1980 version, directed by Bob Blizz. Four vicious burglars are surprised in the act by their victims. Taking hostages, the burglars try to make their getaway. Unfortunately, the hostages are killed along the way. Equally unfortunately -- at least for the burglars -- those hostages have a few friends and relatives who lean towards gratuitous violence when settling differences. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Successful playwright Al Pacino can't get any work done as long as he is pestered by his wacko wife Tuesday Weld. Making things worse are the couple's obstreperous children, many of them products of her previous marriages. Just as Pacino is completing his latest work, his wife walks out on him. That's the good news: the bad news is that he's saddled with a bunch of snot-nosed kids. Still and all, Pacino finds time to inaugurate an affair with his play's leading lady, played by Dyan Cannon, while attempting to juggle the stresses of opening night with the needs of the demanding, often obnoxious children. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This comical video features the cast of the original Saturday Night Live and the quietly riotous Bob and Ray. Also featured is Willie Nelson who croons three tunes. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In "The Prettiest Week of My Life," one of the more memorable episodes of Get a Life, Chris Peterson (Chris Elliott) pursues his unlikely dream of becoming a male model. "I won the genetic lottery," he tells his skeptical parents before running off to enroll in the Handsome Boy Modeling School. The school's proprietor, Ted Bains (Brian Doyle-Murray, who would go on to play Chris' landlord Gus in season two), snows Chris by asking him if he has "cheekbone implants." After making sure Chris has no affiliation with 60 Minutes, Bains tells him, "If the check clears, you're aces with me." Arriving for his first class, Chris gets into a tiff with Sapphire (Tuc Watkins), another modeling student, who cattily mistakes Chris for a member of the custodial staff. Intimidated by Sapphire's stage name, Chris renames himself "Sparkles." Bains puts the students through their paces (to the strains of "Pretty Woman"), and then they graduate. Chris then goes home and waits for the job offers to come in. His father (Bob Elliott), still dubious about this career choice, is won over when Bains finally calls with a modeling job for Chris. "Go get 'em, Speckles," he exhorts. Unbeknownst to Chris, he's going to be the doughy "before" picture in the ad for a muscle drink. In a powerful scene echoing Irene Cara's harrowing audition scene in Fame, Chris is reduced to tears when he's asked to pose topless. Disenchanted with the whole sordid business, Chris decides he'll go out with a bang, taking one last shot at every male model's dream -- a department store runway show. This episode inspired eccentric hip-hop genius Prince Paul and Dan "The Automator" Nakamura to form the comedic rap duo Handsome Boy Modeling School, who released So...How's Your Girl? in 1999. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

Bill Murray co-directed (along with Howard Franklin) this mixture of The Out-of-Towners and After Hours, concerning Grimm (Bill Murray), a frustrated city planner who is fed up with the corruption and venality of New York City. Getting together a couple of accomplices -- Phyllis (Geena Davis), who admires Grimm for his audacity, and Loomis (Randy Quaid), a follower to Grimm's leader since grade school -- Grimm decides to rob a bank, pocket the money, get out of town and take off to tropical splendor. Dressing in a clown suit, Grimm devises a unique way to rob a bank -- taking a group of hostages at the bank and inviting the police to surround the bank. Amazingly, although pursued by a police chief (Jason Robards), the trio manage to pull off the robbery. However, the problems really start when they try to get from the bank to the airport -- which proves to be more difficult than the robbery. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

In 1990, the upstart Fox network took a chance on a chubby, balding thirty-ish kid with a big dream, and began airing Get a Life, Late Night with David Letterman regular Chris Elliott's absurdist sitcom about a chubby, balding thirty-ish kid who lives with his parents and works as a paperboy. Actually, as Chris Peterson (Elliott) would point out, he's "head paperboy." David Mirkin, who had worked on Newhart and The Simpsons, was the executive producer, and former Late Night scribe Adam Resnick was the co-producer. Both would later go on to HBO's groundbreaking The Larry Sanders Show, as would Get a Life's writing supervisor, Bob Odenkirk, also of The Ben Stiller Show and Mr. Show. Screenwriter Charlie Kaufman, who would later write the script for Being John Malkovich, got his start writing two of the more memorable episodes of Get a Life, "Prisoner of Love" and "1977 2000." The show was also perfectly cast, with Elliott's own father, Bob Elliott, of the beloved "Bob and Ray" comedy team, cast as Chris Peterson's cantankerous father, Fred, and the lovely Elinor Donahue, who starred in the classic sitcoms Father Knows Best and The Andy Griffith Show, playing Gladys, Chris' sweet but bluntly honest mom. The first season cast was rounded out with Sam Robards as Chris' slow-witted and naïve best friend, Larry Potter, and Robin Riker as Larry's caustic wife and Chris' nemesis, Sharon. Riker was the only one of these cast members to move on to the second season. Brian Doyle-Murray was added to the cast in season two, playing Chris' perennially grumpy landlord, Gus Borden. With such an assemblage of comedic talent, and Elliott's own modest following from his hilarious Late Night appearances as "The Guy Under the Seats" and other characters, the show was predicted by some to be a hit and run for years. It even had a hit show for its lead-in (although one with, arguably, a very different target audience demographic), the urban sketch comedy show, In Living Color. But when Get a Life failed to garner an immediate following (in part due to the relative weakness of the first episode, "Terror on the Hell Loop 2000"), the fledgling network began moving it all over the Sunday night schedule. Loyal viewers, and there were some, never knew at what time the show would air from week to week. This doomed the bizarre, innovative, and very funny sitcom to even worse ratings than it would otherwise have had. It was an unusual program. Chris was a loser of epic proportions, but eternally optimistic about his prospects. He seemed to believe he could accomplish anything, whether it was becoming a male model despite his flabbiness and baldness ("The Prettiest Week of My Life"), or traveling through time to 1977 to save a friend's job ("1977 2000"). The humor was hyper-ironic, as many of Late Night's sketches had been. Get a Life was a meta-sitcom. It was rife with non-sequiturs and amusing pop culture references. The story lines ranged from outrageous parodies of ancient sitcom plots (Chris gets trapped in a meat locker with Sharon, his least favorite person) to absurd and ridiculous original stories (Chris becomes a spelling bee champion after being exposed to toxic waste). Chris also had a number of sitcom-style quirks, such as his obsession with the song "Alley Cat," and his unnoticed but seemingly supernatural ability to take a full glass of whatever beverage he wants from the refrigerator without ever opening a container or pouring. He also suffered a violent death at the end of many episodes, but it never seemed to get him down. The show was a flop and ran for only two seasons, even though it was on a network that seemed desperate for content, but it developed a passionate and loyal cult following. It has since been sporadically syndicated, and several episodes have been released on DVD. Cabin Boy, a feature film starring Elliott and featuring many of the same creative personnel, was released in 1994 to similar widespread public apathy but cult interest. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

After 18 years as a paperboy, Chris (Chris Elliott) faces his own obsolescence in this episode. Called in for a meeting with his boss, Chris thinks he's getting a promotion, but explains to his parents that he won't take a desk job. He tells them he's going to demand "a padded seat for my bike, a thermos, and a mistress on 24-hour call, seven days a week." But he has a rude awakening when he gets to his boss' office. Mr. Martin (Graham Jarvis) isn't promoting Chris -- he's replacing him and all the other paperboys with a massive robotic newspaper delivery vehicle, the Paperboy 2000. Chris organizes a town meeting to save his job, but when the people get a look at the fancy high-tech robot, they're instantly won over. Ben Spangler (Hal Landon Jr.) excitedly comments that having the new robot deliver his paper will be "just like living in outer space." Chris quickly gives up the idea of finding another job and sinks into depression. Eventually, he decides to challenge Paperboy 2000 to a contest and show everyone he's better than the robot. He prepares for the "Man vs. Machine" showdown by duct taping athletic pads and tin foil to himself, and putting on eye black. The whole town turns out to watch the contest. His friend Larry (Sam Robards) tells him, "No matter what happens today, they can't take away your dignity. Because you've pretty much already done that with that outfit." This episode features John Waters regular Mink Stole in a small role. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

Will Chris Peterson (Chris Elliott) find true love with Charleene (Blair Tefkin)? Not if Charleene's sister, Sharon Potter (Robin Riker), can help it. Sharon is married to Larry (Sam Robards), Chris' best friend, and she's always despised Chris. The trouble starts for her when she has Charleene and some friends over for a dinner party. Chris naturally crashes, and proceeds to describe a dream to the assembled guests, in which he was chased by a frozen turkey through a Brazilian supermarket. This long, demented story drives away the other guests, and Chris, over Sharon's strenuous objections, ends up making a date with Charleene. The date is going well until Chris, confused by the fact that they're watching a French film, starts to complain loudly about how everyone in the movie is speaking "baby talk." He's eventually dragged from his seat and beaten by angry ushers. After the big date, Larry reassures Sharon that Charleene has probably lost interest in Chris. But to Sharon's horror, she finds the couple naked in her and Larry's bed. Chris is ecstatic, and Charleene seems fairly content, but Sharon quickly leaves the room, explaining, "I'm going to wash my eyes out with soap." When Chris starts talking about spending holidays with the Potter family, Sharon decides she's had enough, and hatches a plan to end the two lovebirds' happiness. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

Chris (Chris Elliott) is down at the coffee shop, regaling his fellow newsboys with tales of his sexual conquests, when the subject of the Newspaper Boy Semi-Annual Father and Son Day comes up. Chris reminisces about he and his dad, Fred (Bob Elliott), competing in the event when he was a boy, but he says it would be unfair to the younger newsboys to enter it now, "kinda like Meryl Streep showing up at Star Search." When young Otto (David Tom) calls Chris' courage into question, Chris claims he just has better things to do -- "adult things, like playing with matches, and eating candy from strangers. That's right -- strangers -- who, by the way, have the best candy, but I guess you wouldn't know that, would you?" Chris eventually caves in, but then he has to convince Fred to enter the competition with him, despite their history of being humiliated, and his advanced age. Gladys (Elinor Donahue), Chris' mom, thinks it's a grand idea. Fred is dead set against it, but Chris brings out the heavy ammo -- "the face." After three days of being subjected to Chris' childish pouting, Fred relents and the two start training. They practice sack racing and egg racing, but when the day of the event arrives, it turns out to be a brutal, American Gladiators-style battle, emceed by James Hampton (who played Dobbs on F-Troop) as Fletcher. Otto and his dad, the returning champs, insult Chris and Fred throughout the events, and Chris discovers a way to make crashing to the ground again and again less painful. "Just let your face catch the brunt of it," he tells Fred, "It's nature's shock absorber." ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

This episode is told completely through flashbacks, as Chris (Chris Elliott) writes in his diary about his encounter with three construction workers, Dick (Ritch Brinkley), Ray (Mickey Jones), and Don (Pete Spellos), who do some work on his parents' kitchen. For some unexplained reason, Chris has always been obsessed with construction workers (though, of course this obsession has never been mentioned on the show before), and when they show up on his doorstep, he describes the three sloppy, unshaven gentlemen (in his diary) as "glorious mythical creatures." Chris is eager to gain entry to their inner circle, but he can't seem to break the ice. Staring at them for hours doesn't work. Neither does asking inane questions like, "When were sinks invented?" Even his ventriloquist act doesn't get a rise out of them. Dressing like them, with a toy tool belt, merely brings on their ridicule. Then one day, while Chris is napping in their work area, a "blessed event" occurs that Chris sums up "in four sweet simple words -- Dick fell on me." After Chris breaks Dick's fall, the three embrace him, and teach him how to harass female passersby, while filling his head with tall tales of "late trailer payments, one-eyed prostitutes, and...tool belt fights." But when Chris hears that his beloved construction crew is ripping off his dear, sweet papa (Bob Elliott), he finds himself in need of spiritual guidance. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

In this charming homage to Meet John Doe, Chris (Chris Elliott) sleepwalks into his parents' kitchen to tell them he's saved up enough money for his trip to The Big City. When they warn him about how dangerous the city is, he chides them. "You've kept me hidden away for too long, under your skirt and in your pants," Chris proclaims, "It's time for me to eat of the fruited loins of our forefathers." Once he figures out how to open the door, he's on his way. When he arrives in town, he's approached by a shady character who slips him a mickey, and he wakes up to find his wallet missing. Things take a turn for the better, though, when a cub reporter from The Evening Star, May Evans (Anastasia Barzee, who also played Jane in Get a Life: Drivers License) makes Chris' sad story front-page news. The Big City opens its heart to this poor naïve hick who's lost everything, dubbing him "Walletboy," and giving him a luxury hotel suite and the key to the city. Chris quickly learns to appreciate the perks of celebrity. He even orders an unbaked pizza with no topping, sauce, or cheese, because he can. When May explains how cutthroat the pathetic rube business is, Chris gladly goes out on the town with her to keep his name in the papers. Chris' exciting new life is soon put in jeopardy, though, by a call from his parents. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

An adventure on the brink of death brings Chris (Chris Elliott) and his dad, Fred (Bob Elliott), closer together in the memorable Get a Life episode, "Neptune 2000." The show begins in 1971, when Young Chris (Brandon Crane) decides to take a newspaper job to pay for the $19.95 two-man submarine he wants to order from the back of a comic book. When the submarine finally arrives 20 years later, Chris complains, "You'd think the postal service would have improved after we sold it to the Japanese," adding for good measure, "Lousy krauts." His mom, Gladys (Elinor Donahue), points out that the ad says delivery will take four to 600 weeks. At first, Chris can't convince Fred to help him assemble the sub. "There's only so many hours in the day," Fred explains, "I can't spend time with you and drink coffee." Chris tries to build it on his own, naming his sub, "Tony," after Tony the Tiger, he explains, "because there's no sub-stitute for breakfast." When Chris' dry run results in dangerous sparks and flame, Fred relents and helps him rebuild "Tony." Chris then convinces his dad to join him, testing the sub in his bathtub, which he has sealed off for the occasion. To Fred's horror, he and Chris end up trapped in the sub, with only 20 minutes worth of air. Even worse, he has to endure Chris' imitations of Jacques Cousteau and Quinn, the Robert Shaw character from Jaws. With their doom all but sealed, Chris asks Fred to finally open up to him. Fred responds, "The only thing I can think about is that this is going to be the most embarrassing obituary ever to hit the papers." ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide