Carny (1980)

Frankie (Gary Busey) is a dunk tank clown in a traveling carnival fair. Donna (Jodie Foster) is on a date and falls for Frankie or maybe just the excitement of running away with the circus. She's under-aged but they pretend she's 18. Patch (Robbie Robertson) is his best friend who keeps the circus going patching up the wild unruly group and the little towns they travel through. First Donna starts working as a side girl but Patch sabotages her and it goes badly. Then she works one of the games under Gerta (Meg Foster)'s supervision.The plot meanders and it's hard to see what's the point. The characters aren't compelling. What this movie has is a lot of information about the traveling carnival. Robbie Robertson's low key performance doesn't really help. Gary Busey is holding up his end of the bargain by being a barely restrained clown. Jodie Foster is doing her spunky runaway character. It would be much better if her character is running away from something interesting that drives this movie. The movie kind of meanders and stumbles from one interesting carny scenario to another without really going anywhere.

Carny is an interesting low-key film. It doesn't really have much of a plot. It works far more on atmosphere. The story is about a direction-less teenage girl (Jodie Foster) who runs away with the carnival after she meets a clown there. This leads to some friction between the manager and the clown; while later the carnies have to deal with some vicious local officials. As I say, it's not really much of a story and in order to appreciate Carny you need to find something in the feel of the movie.I guess you could describe the set-up as a love triangle but only to a certain extent, as there really isn't a lot of emotion invested in the romantic side of the story; at the same time, there is a thriller element introduced towards the end and while that was quite good fun, it doesn't really fit all that well and could easily have been omitted. But as I say, the film still makes a mark and that is probably a result of the gritty recreation of carnival life and the good performances underpinning it. Best of the actors is Gary Busey who steals the show in his role as the abusive clown; moreover, the film begins very memorably with close-ups of him applying his clown make-up like it was war paint. In a sense it is, as he is extremely confrontational and goads his audience into throwing balls at him in sheer anger. In fact, the film depicts the carnies in general as primarily fuelled by a desire to fleece whoever enters their lair as they travel from town to town.Carny is an interesting character-driven mood piece. It definitely falls into the cult movie side of the spectrum, as its unusual setting and dynamics will always mean it'll not appeal to everyone but will definitely connect with quite a few who are lured in to sample its wares.

If this didn't feature Gary Busey or Jodie Foster in it then this could easily be classed as an avant garde film. There is virtually no plot, just a cascade of freaks, fights and sex scenes. I'm not sure if it's any good - it seems unsure whether it wants to be arty or straight forward - but it's certainly interesting. Worth a look.

This is a really good entertaining movie. This is a dark comedy/drama that looks great on the screen. Not the average fare. Great cast with good acting and direction. Pretty bizarre and a good role for Jodie Foster. A real sleeper worth viewing.