COTTON CANDY

Sometime in the early 1980s I saw a charming little TV movie by the name of Cotton Candy. I found out later that Ron Howard directed it for NBC in 1978. It has proved to be difficult to see this one over the years. And I did think about Cotton Candy (the movie) over the years; the thoughts stopped when I found it to be unavailable.

In a nutshell, this slippery little flick chronicles the adventures of high school senior Charles Martin Smith as a clumsy or unlucky dude who just wants to show he is good at something -- so he starts a band.

My good friend, Greg Woods, is my official supplier for such elusive but highly desirable fare. I asked for a screening copy and he complied with his usual enthusiasm.

Tonight I watched Cotton Candy. It is as sugary as the title suggests but in a good way. Clearly skewed for a young viewer it has it's appeal to the more cynical, older one... like me! There are some awkward structural flaws in the script but there are enough jokes and true to life morsels which more than compensate for such un-Fieldian (as in 'Syd') sloppiness. Ron Howard and his younger brother Clint -- who co-stars -- wrote the screenplay. They were young and still learning.

Charles Martin Smith is very appealing in the main role as dreamer/musician/failed football player George Smalley. And whoever cast Alvy Moore as his dad is a frickin' genius. They actually look like son and father. Beautiful.

I should note that the DVD-R that Greg gave me is an 'off-air' recording of Cotton Candy from June of 1981. The commercials were included in addition to NBC news updates and network series promos. It was great seeing this stuff from another time. This Youtube clip is from the same source...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EH2VSqAnvoQ