507 - I ACCUSE MY PARENTS with short: THE TRUCK FARMER (RHINO DVD & VHS)

More Accurate Title:  “I Accuse My Parents of Having a Stupid Kid”

Don’s Short summary:  This short is about “Truck Farming” which means... er, uhmm... I don’t know what it means.  Truck farming definitely has something to do with farming, because a lot of that is shown being worked by (il)legal immigrants, but I don’t remember seeing many trucks. There are, however, a lot of tractors, so maybe this should’ve been called “Tractor Farming” or “Cheap Immigrant Labor Farming” instead.

Don’s Synopsis:  This movie is about a “teenaged” guy named Jimmy who lives with his parents, who don’t pay a lot of attention to him (his dad is usually busy gambling;  his mom busy getting her drink on), but their family life seems fairly typical and not really that bad.  However, Jimmy has a problem in which he lies about how great his parents are and, when they don’t live up to his lie, he feels ashamed of them.  Jimmy gets a job as a shoe salesman making $25 a week (a lot of money in those days, I guess).  He soon meets a platinum blonde with rolly hair named Kitty and he gives her a pair of shoes.  Kitty sings – badly – at a nightclub owned by Mr. Blake, a man with some shady, fast-talking associates.  When Jimmy goes out on the town with Kitty and Mr. Blake, the big dope insisted on picking up the check for an expensive meal, even though he doesn’t have enough money to cover it.  So to pay off his debt, he begins to work for Mr. Blake delivering “packages.”  Now life is really swell for Jimmy because he’s making a lot of money from Mr. Blake and too dumb to know why.  But the coppers soon show up and Jimmy finally figures out that Mr. Blake is not a good man to work for after all.  Things get worse, so Jimmy goes into hiding by working at a burger joint for some old guy who keeps his gun for him.  Finally, Jimmy decides he has to return and straighten things out with Kitty and the mobster Mr. Blake, but ends up accidentally straightening Mr. Blake out with a bullet.  The police soon arrive and arrest Jimmy for murder.  At his trial, Jimmy decides to try a nonsensical Chewbacca Defense and accuse his parents of being responsible for everything that went wrong in his life.  This out-of-left-field defense works and the Judge gives Jimmy a suspended sentence, but then takes the time to admonish his parents and parents everywhere for having stupid kids.

Stinger:  The drunken parents laugh

Don’s Review:  This episode features one of those so-dated-it’s-funny flicks, one of my favorite types of MST3K films.  Joel Hodgson has said that this was his favorite film that they riffed during his time on the show, and I can see why: because this movie has every dated cliché in the book in it!  From the dated ideal of the perfect family life, which Jimmy lies about having, so that when others find out that his mom is a drunk, Jimmy suffers a nightmare because other people now know his family isn’t perfect.  To the fast-talking gangsters who look no tougher than night managers at Sears.  With material like this to riff on, Joel and the ’Bots have no difficulty making fun of this movie.  One of my favorite riffs is the chorus of “Liar! Liar!” everytime Jimmy stretches the truth (which he does again and again).  Besides the riffing, the host segments are a reasonably good bunch, with the best being Gypsy’s performance of Kitty’s nightclub song and the graphic illustration of Jimmy’s mental illness.  And the riffing on the short is very good too, although they don’t help decipher what that title means either. (Just what the heck is Truck Farming???)  Although the dated slowness of the movie itself can be a bit of a drag, this is a solid episode that was a very good choice by Rhino for release.

Don’s Rating:     [ S:   F: ]

Related Links:
    (1) Mighty Jack’s MST3K Review (Episode Review)
    (2) DVD Verdict (Humorous Rhino MST3K DVD Disc Review)
    (3) GenreOnline.net (Rhino MST3K DVD Disc Review)