Cold Turkey (1971)

Directed by

Norman Lear

Genre

comedy film

Country

United States

Runtime

1h 39m

Rated

PG-13

Rating

6.2 of 10 from 30 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A tobacco company offers a huge cash prize to any town where nobody smokes for a month. A small, struggling town takes the challenge but finds it harder than expected.

satiricaldarkly comicbittersweetbleakhigh-energyabsurdunevenwrycynical

What happens

Cold Turkey is a 1971 satirical black comedy film starring Dick Van Dyke and a long list of comedic actors. The film was written for the screen, produced, and directed by Norman Lear, marking his directorial debut and his only directorial feature film credit. Cold Turkey was based on the unpublished novel I'm Giving Them Up for Good by Margaret and Neil Rau. Randy Newman composed and performed original music for the film. In the film, the fictional Valiant Tobacco Company stages a publicity stunt, offering $25 million tax-free dollars to any American town whose entire population can stop smoking cigarettes for a month. A charismatic, ambitious preacher, Reverend Clayton Brooks, encourages the depressed small town of Eagle Rock, Iowa, to take on the challenge, but the town struggles to overcome its addiction to tobacco. The film was shot in Greenfield, Iowa and local residents served as extras. The film was produced in 1969 but was shelved for two years by the distributor over concerns about its box-office potential. The film was also released soon after the launch of Lear's television show All in the Family, with The New York Times also comparing All In The Family and Cold Turkey as "gimmick" comedies which involved satire targeting of various aspects the American society. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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