Carny (1980) A Midway Sideshow Neo Noir

Directed Robert Kaylor (Support Your Local Sheriff, Little Big Man, Blind Date)

Written by Phoebe Kaylor, Robert Kaylor, and Robbie Robertson from a story by Thomas Baum. 

Cinematography was by Harry Stradling Jr. and the Music was by Alex North.  

The film stars Gary Busey (The Buddy Holly Story, Dirty Little Billy, Straight Time, Barbarossa, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, as Frankie, Jodie Foster (Taxi Driver, Siesta, The Accused, Silence Of The Lambs) as Donna, Robbie Robertson (The Crossing Guard) as "Patch." 

Robertson (way before becoming lead guitarist for Bob Dylan's backing band. and guitarist and primary songwriter of The Band) was actually a carny at one point in his life and he co-wrote the script with a lot of knowing carny realism to the story. 

And while on the subject Step Right Up is a good carnival set true story by Dan Manixx who worked a carnival and ended up doing a fire eating act. You'll get a good idea of how a ten in one traveling carnival operated.

Blue eyed Meg Foster (Welcome to Arrow Beach, The Emerald Forest) as Gerta, Kenneth McMillan (Dune) as "Heavy" St. John, Elisha Cook Jr. (Classic Noir Vet) as "On-Your-Mark," and Woodrow Parfrey as W.C. Hannon.

With Tim Thomerson as "Doubles," Theodore Wilson as "Nails" (as Teddy Wilson), John Lehne as  Marvin Dill, Bill  McKinney as Skeet, Bert Remsen as Delno Baptiste,  Alan Braunstein as Willie Mae, Tina Andrews as "Sugaree," Craig Wasson as Mickey, Fred Ward as Jamie, Jordan Cael as "Flame", the headlining stripper, Emmett Bejano as Alligator Skin Man, Percilla Bejano as Monkey Girl, Johann Petursson as Giant (as Johann Peterson), Pete Terhune as Petie, the Fire Eating Dwarf and Iron Tongue Act, Elaina Doucet as Anatomical Contortionist, Jimmy Rapp as Anatomical Contortionist and Sword Swallower. 

Story

We meet Frankie sitting in a re-purposed, empty box truck / makeup room. He's smearing white grease paint on his face to the light of a bare bulb hanging on a drop cord. He's Bozo. The Dunk-Tank concession insult "clown." 

He's big, goofy looking, with a picket fence smile, of which he encircles first with black and then fills in with red. Black eyebrows, and a red nose is next, and the finishing touches are twin black eyes and blackened lips. 

Gary Busey as Frankie

He fortifies himself for his performance with a bite out of a wedge of lime and a slug of Cuervo Gold. His final garnish to the scene is to send the drop cord bulb swinging. The effect is a great atmospheric touch recalling the swinging lamp scenes from Western Red River, Film Noir Desperate, and Sergio Leone's Once Upon A Time in the West. The sequence ends when Frankie pushes up the swing door and reveals the Great American Carnival with its midway, its rides, food concessions, talkers, and crowds of people in the carny world outside. It develops into a nice mise en scene.

The film was actually shot around Savanah, Georgia, but it's really a fictitious South. But these types of carnivals rolled all around the country. Susan Meiselas between 1972 and 1975 spent her summers photographing and interviewing strippers in small town carnivals in New England, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina. She photographed performances, private lives, boyfriends, show managers and paying customers. Its another interesting historical record to pursue. More info about her book Carnival Strippers here.

Back to Carny. In the throng of the carnival we first get introduced to Patch walking through the rubes on the midway, He's Frankie's best bud, who also works the dunk tank with old timer "On-Your-Mark" and Frankie when he's not "patching" up the various disputes that arise on the midway and between the townies and carnies. He's "Heavy" St. John, the owner of the carnival's, trouble shooter.

Robbie Robertson as Patch

We also see Goombah a snake wrestler, a half man-half woman, and W.C. Hannon the freak show talker. 

Goombah

Woodrow Parfrey as W.C. Hannon

We also see a sword swallower, A keno type game with states instead of numbers, Patch lays down a bet, he's the shill. He wins $50 and walks off, the fifty is really the kickback to Heavy St. John. 

Tim Thomerson as "Doubles"

The talker yells "a fifty dollar winner, the rubes flock in. We cut to the "girlie" show billed "The Garden Of Earthly Delights." The strippers are displaying the contours of their merchandise. Their talker is drawing a crowd telling them that the "whole show was designed by a gynecologist." Impressive.  Patch is visiting all the concessions and picking up the carnival owners cut of the take. 

Tina Andrews as "Sugaree"

Bert Remsen as Delno Baptiste chooch show talker

Theodore "Teddy" Wilson as "Nails"

Meg Foster as Gerta at her String Pull 

A String Pull game or simply "Strings" aka "Pull The String and Get a Thing." We cut to the dunk tank. Frankie is having fun taunting the prospective customers. he's got quite the crowd. 

Frankie reading the crowd

These are fun sequences. 

Elisha Cook Jr. as "On You're Mark"

On You're Mark" and Patch working the Dunk Tank

We cut back to the US "state" keno game. If the spinning wheel lands on your state you double your money. 

Here we meet Donna and her boyfriend Mickey. Mickey is wearing a letterman jacket, He's a jock driving a muscle car. Trying to impress Donna. Mickey gets pissed at the concessionaire, thinks he's rigging the spin. he starts a stink but gets appeased when  the concessionaire gives him a stuffed doll.

Jodie Foster as Donna and Craig Wasson as Mickey

They move on the the Dunk Tank and Frankie zeros in on the "G" on Mickey his jacket calling him Gruesome.

Frankie is getting under his skin with his insults, Donna thinks it's funny and starts smiling. When Mickey sees her smiling he gets pissed. Finally Patch tells him to give some one else a chance. 

Next, it's near closing time crowd is thinnin' out rides are shutting down. 

We see Mickey has won something at the last "cooch" show of the night.  Donna watches as the strippers escort him into the tent. 

Donna begs off from going in too, and wanders the midway. She end up at a food concession where On-Your-Mark is holding down the fort. 

He's feeding her a line of BS almost scaring her off.

On-Your-Mark acts a little off his rocker. Frankie who has wiped his face clean of greasepaint spots Donna and joins them at the concession, and puts Donna's mind at ease about On-Your-Mark. 

Frankie starts chatting up Donna, guessing her age from intuition and a glance at her birthstone. He tells her he can guess her name if she tells him the letter it starts with and the number of letters. He guesses Donna correctly.  

About this time Mickey comes out of the cooch show and finds Donna with Frankie. He starts getting belligerent but Patch and some other carnies gather to break it up but not before Patch grabs Mickey by the hair and holds a open razor up against his nose. Mickey decides to exit gracefully.

We cut to Frankie and Patch picking up some townie girls right at the end of the night, looking for a good time. 

Such is a day in the life of a carny.

The next morning. 

The girls meet up with the boys after touching themselves up out in the kitchen area of the trailer. They say their goodbyes, telling them that they'll see 'em next season. As the door closes and they split from the trailer we get Frankie and Patch nonchalantly yuck-ing it up with words of carny wisdom. 

Patch: "I like to see 'em cum, and I like to see them go."

This segues to a sort of visual quote from McCabe and Mrs, Miller, where John Schuck is asking one of the other miners how he looks (he either shaved off his beard of mustache, I can't remember for sure). Here, Patch asks Frankie if his hairline looks like its receding.

About this time Frankie glancing out the window spots Donna walking around the midway. She's looking around searching. Frankie asks Patch if he thinks he "aught to hustle her down?" Patch tells him he "aught to wipe the mustard off his face first."

Donna comes around a concession corner and is surprised by On The Mark and other carnies.

Frankie finds Donna getting kidded by "On The Mark" who is the instigator. He asks her if she's looking for Bozo?

Frankie finds Donna and rescues her and as they walk around the carnival visiting the fat man's trailer  and then eventually running into a confrontation between some townies and a carny. Patch shows up and smooths things over. 

Fred Ward as Jamie

He hand out a bunch of free passes to the town superintendent. 

Theodore Wilson

That confrontation diffused Frankie leads Donna back to the box truck. We next see Donna naked under a blanket while Frankie is putting on his greasepaint mask for the upcoming show. Imputation is that they obviously had sex all afternoon.

They talk Frankie asks Donna if she's gonna marry Gruesome, she says no and expresses how tired she is of the town.  

Donna: If I had the money for a bus ticket I'd leave right now.

Frankie tells her to me it sounds like you ought to be traveling with us, cause that's all we do.

We cut to Donna in her room packing up some of her stuff. She lives above the cafe where she works. Done, she goes quietly down the stair through the cafe and out the door.

Here is where it starts going Noirsville because Donna, when she leaves with Frankie and the carnival, she now gets between Frankie and Patch and their on the road M.O. concerning stray women. She also is eventually attracted to Patch and vice versa opening up another can of worms. This is all just beginning here at the 28 minute mark in the film. 

Noirsville 

Jordan Cael as "Flame"

                           Pete Terhune

Fire Eater Dwarf and Iron Tongue Act with Patch

George Emerson the Fat Man

John Lehne as Mr. Dill

Bill McKinney as Skeet

Percilla Bejano as Monkey Girl

This is a great little film about the fun ups and the Noir downs carnival life. It fits in with other Carny Noirs like the granddaddy of all Film Noir The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Nightmare Alley, Freaks, Girl On The Run, Carnival Story, Two Moon Junction, and many more in the same vein. Bravo 8/10.