The governing organization, HealtH (“Happiness, Energy and Longevity Through Health”) is electing a new president – the candidates are a narcoleptic octogenarian (Bacall) and a bloviating windbag (Jackson), neither of whom makes a strong case one way or the other.Īltman said later that the film, which would have come out during the 1980 presidential election, was a political satire. Like Nashville, A Wedding and others in the Altman oeuvre, Health is a sprawling film that features an ensemble of main characters, overlapping storylines and a central plot that meanders through sight gags, romances, red herrings and the often ridiculous.Ĭavett, playing himself, is shooting an episode of his chat show at a beachside convention of health-food suppliers, business-people and assorted kooks. And longtime residents still talk fondly of a mid ‘80s hot streak that included Ron Howard’s Cocoon, and the John Candy comedy Summer Rental. In recent years, high-profile titles including The Infiltrator, Magic Mike and the Dolphin Tale films were lensed, at least partially, in Pinellas County.
To date, Health has never been made available in any home video format, streaming or pay-to-watch service.
President Ronald Reagan arranged a private screening at Camp David, and pronounced it “The world’s worst movie.”
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It appeared, briefly, at film festivals and on TV in the early 1980s. After a disastrous debut in California theaters, 20 th Century Fox – which spent nearly $6 million making the movie – shelved it. Pete Beach since the Great Hurricane of 1921” and, after watching a few minutes of daily footage, predicted that Health, as the unconventional dark comedy was to be called, “will rank with M*A*S*H and Nashville among Altman’s greatest films.”įorty years later, almost nobody has seen Health.
Petersburg Times, Roy Peter Clark called their arrival “The biggest thing to happen in St. Producer/director Robert Altman with (from left) Burnett, Bacall and Jackson.