Am I Missing Something?

A lot of fun.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Johnny Paycheck's super fed-up with being exploited by the Man proletarian honky-tonk rant, written by ex-convict David Allan Coe, was turned into one of the true unsung classic films of the early 80s. It's a rowdy, boisterous, high-spirited seriocomic slice-of-blue-collar-life redneck romp about refusing to kowtow to any big company nonsense and taking charge of your own destiny. Eager beaver hotshot corporate executive Robert Hays returns to his podunk burg home town to get the sagging local brewery back on its feet again. He changes the operation with mixed results: the company suits are happy, but the workers are discontent. Will Hays do the right thing and tell the top brass to shove it? Man, does baby cover all the necessary bases: a top-notch country-and-western soundtrack, a monster truck race, romance, cussin', authentically funky locations (e.g., smoky taverns and low-rent bowling alleys), a wild barroom football game, working class angst and frustration, and, best of all, a rousing stick it to the head honchos workers revolt conclusion. The uniformly excellent cast includes Barbara Hershey as Hays' feisty ex-girlfriend, David Keith and Tim Thomerson as scruffy good ol' boys, Art Carney as the plant manager, Martin Mull as an obsequious company man boot-licker, Eddie Albert as an a**hole CEO, Len Lesser as a jerk foreman, country singer Charlie Rich as a rival corporate head, Royal Dano as an elderly factory worker, and James Karen as Carney's right-hand man. Directed with tremendous flair by Gus Trikonis (his previous hick flicks include "Nashville Girl" and "Moonshine County Express") and affectionately written by Barry Schneider, this unjustly overlooked darling is just ripe for rediscovery.

This movie is much ado about nothing. But, then, what could you expect out of Dubuque, Iowa, where nothing ever happened except the filming of F.I.S.T.? The early 1980s was a big beer-drinking time, though, with everyone partying and being an urban cowboy. This movie is basically a chance to see an early version of Bob Chandler's Bigfoot (before he was such a monster) and hear some country music. It's kind of a lighthearted, fun, partying romp. In fact, the writer very well could have written this movie in a state of intoxication. There's a scene where Robert Hays's character is supposed to throw a beer can into a trash can. Duh! Iowa beverage cans had a 5 cent deposit on them. This must have been written by someone from out of state!

I like Robert Hays, I mean come on, hes the guy from Airplane and hes a great actor. This wasn't a bad performance, but not one of his better ones (see ANY of his other work) but this movie was really kind of dull. I'll give it this, the cinematography was kind of neat and the first 20 minutes were decent but something just wasn't right. Im not mad because I paid 2 bucks for this tape but from me to you,its in alot of little pieces right now. If you're a Hays fan watch Airplane or Fifty/Fifty or anything else.

Witless film that doesn't live up to its title about tensions between labor and management. An embarrassing film for folks like Hershey, who went on to bigger and more respectable territory.