The Apple (1980)

Director: Menahem Golan

Starring: Catherine Mary Stewart, George Gilmour, Grace Kennedy, Allan Love, Joss Ackland, Vladek Sheybal

More info: IMDb

Tagline: A Funky Fantasy That'll Rock Your World!

Plot: Alphie and Bibi, two sweet, naive youths from Moose Jaw, Canada, have come to America to compete in the 1994 Worldvision Song Festival. Although the pair have talent, they are beaten out by the underhanded tactics of the festival favorites, another duo with the backing of BIM: Boogalow International Music, and its leader, Mr. Boogalow. Though crestfallen by their loss, Bibi and Alphie are soon delighted to hear the Mr. Boogalow has taken an interest in their music and wants to sign them to his label. Alphie is looking out for the two until they begin to discover the dark underside of the rock and roll world.

My rating: 5/10

Will I watch it again? [in a high soprano falsetto voice] Noooooooo!

I was expecting the worst on this one. I'd heard all kinds of bad things about it. If you can imagine ever big theatrical musical that came out in the 70s like THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975), XANADU (1980) and CAN'T STOP THE MUSIC (1980) (OK, so those last two are stretches but if you've seen them, you'll know what I mean) set it in the future (a good 14 years to 1994), you'll have THE APPLE. The costumes are outrageously futuristic and garish and the sets are big and disco flashy. Some of the songs are pretty good but not all. The same goes for the talent singing them. There are a couple of bad ones that struggle to stay on pitch. The widesceen DVD of this looks amazing. If you're into these kinds of musicals from the 70s, it's definitely worth a look, especially if you'll have some friends with you to goof the shit out of it. Netflix has it on instant.