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Mystery Science Theater 3000 - I Accuse My Parents

Mystery Science Theater 3000 - I Accuse My Parents

List Price: $19.95
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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Walt Disney interviews another Snow White
Review: I literally did a 'spit-take' the first time I heard the Walt Disney line in this show. This is my fave. A few Joel bashers have commented they like The Mike Nelson MST3K episodes much more, and the jokes in "I accuse my parents" aren't as funny. I think they might like to check the credits as to who the head writer is for this episode. You guessed it, Mike Nelson. Maybe I'm not enough of a sci-fi geek for some fans, but I seem to enjoy these types of movies being ridiculed over the usual sci-fi fare. The 'truck farming' short aside (not my favorite short but when the jokes run from the Donner party to carrot-top, what's not to like?) the robot skits are some of the funniest ever and the movie itself produces some funny, funny comments. To all of you that still think this is a bad episode I have 3 words "LIAR! LIAR! LIAR!" Well that's enough, just buy and enjoy. I hope I won the essay contest.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Quack. Quack.
Review: Mystery Science Theater 3000 has always been one of my favorite TV series. Even in later years, when the non-movie material (the short subjects and invention exchange) faded away, the movies themselves were always a hoot. Although usually focusing on cheesy science fiction and horror movies, this episode shows that any sort of bad movie serves as prime fodder for the MST3K crew.

The main feature (following a short on truck farming that features no trucks) is a cautionary tale about bad parenting. When their accusing son can't find love at home, he takes up with a nightclub singer with a heart of gold and a mobster boyfriend. Through events that are more a result of naivete (despite winning an essay contest, he is not overly bright), he eventually winds up on the run and taken in by a kindly restaurant owner. In the end, however, all works out, and his parents, accused by their son and lectured to by a judge, are fated to turn their hedonistic lives around.

Since this is MST3K, the movie's story is purely incidental, and only an excuse to make jokes. The one-liners fly by quickly, and even if some miss, there are always a dozen more that hit. As an opportunity to squeeze a little bit of virtue out of a really bad movie, this is a success.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: One the funniest, most charming episodes with Joel as host
Review: This DVD from Rhino offers up one the funniest -- and most charming -- episodes of the legendary TV show "Mystery Science Theater 3000," where they take on a 1944 drama/gangster movie/message flick called, "I Accuse My Parents." There are few episodes of the show I recommended higher for all-around quality.

For those of you unfamiliar with "Mystery Science Theater 3000," (MST3K for short) it is a ninety-minute show featuring a silhouette of a man and two robots (Tom Servo and Crow T. Robot) in movie theater seats projected in front of a bad movie. The hosts provide hysterical, satiric, and culturally-savvy wisecracks to accompany the movie. The episodes also includes sketches and songs and adds up to some of the most hilarious comedy you will ever see.

"I Accuse My Parents" is episode #507, from the last days of Joel Hodgson's run as host. Although the movie itself is actually not that bad, this episode comes at point in the show's development when the writers and performers were at the peak of the powers, and the result is one of the most hilarious episodes, and one that really grows on you with its sense of warm parody. It's a good episode for newcomers as well, since the film is average enough so that its awfulness doesn't distract from the wisecracks. (I've noticed that when I show an episode of the show to a friend who has never seen it before, the worse the movie being parodied is, the more my friend focuses on the movie instead of the hosts. This, therefore, is a good "training" episode.)

The camaraderie between the cast is quite wonderful here, and the warm, jocular style of the Joel years is at its strongest. After Mike Nelson took over as host (a few episodes later), the comedy style became more satiric and antagonistic toward the film. I love both hosts, but there is something rather magical and pleasant about the comedy of Joel's stint as host, and this episode displays that style perfectly. It is one of quintessential Joel Hodgson episodes.

The movie is a competently shot 'B' programmer from low-budget studio PRC. Our hero is Jimmy, a really stupid high school graduate who has to get a job at a shoe store despite his skills at essay writing (he won an essay content and mentions it endlessly). While lying to impress a girl, Jimmy idiotically ends up getting into debt and having to go to work as a courier for a gangster, while he also romances the gangster's girl Kitty (played by actress Mary Beth Hughes, who also appears in another MST3K episode, "Last of the Wild Horses.") Well, pretty soon our poor fool is in trouble with the law and the mob and on the run. And when it all explodes in his face, whom does he accuse? Yep, the title gives it away: His Parents! And why? Because they drink and argue. See, it's all their fault.

What makes this episode so dang funny is not that the film is particularly rotten looking or the acting is awful, but because the film's premise and main character are so stupid. The hosts lance into the characters at every point: Jimmy's incessant lying ("I liberated France while you were out dancing"), Jimmy's constant bragging about winning an essay constant ("Welcome to the Annual Essay Awards Ceremony!") his alcoholic parents who keep throwing money at him ("I'm up here with the D.T.s, honey! Would you get the yellow lizard out of the bathroom?"), Jimmy's rank stupidity ("Sir, I just don't get the holy spirit. Is it a bird?"), and the extremely obvious gangster organization ("Organized crime, please hold...organized crime, please hold...). This is a very 'character'-driven episode, and it's hilarious. There's also some great sketches between movie watching. In one sketch, Joel and the Robots psychoanalyze Jimmy to show that more than just 'drunk folks' are behind his problems. (Crow, or course, determines that Jimmy is just stupid.)

This DVD is a laugh riot, and a quintessential Joel episode. It feels like plunking down on the couch and watching a film with your best buddies; I think that's the main charm of the Joel years of the show. Newcomers and old fans alike will want this classic. (There are absolutely no extras on the DVD, however, but the episode is such a gem, it doesn't matter.)

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Joel and the 'bots save another lame movie from obscurity
Review: Sometimes I think the greatest contribution "Mystery Science Theater 3000" made to society was reintroducing hundreds of terrible movies that most people would never have watched again and warned us all how not to tell a story. Case in point -- "I Accuse My Parents." A young man, ignored by his parents, falls into a life of crime by becoming a courier for a mobster, is blissfully stupid enough not to NOTICE he has become a courier for a mobster, falls for the mobster's girlfriend and then lays the whole thing at his parents' feet when he winds up in court. And all this from a kid who actually won an essay contest.

The movie, naturally, was meant to preach a point about parental responsibility, and does it in such a heavy-handed, "beating you over the head" sort of way that even the title seems like a sermon. Thank Heavens for Joel and the 'bots. As always, they tear this terrible flick apart with their usual wit, savvy and sheer zaniness. From a hysterical spoof of the nightclub scene in the movie to the fastest one-liners ("Do you think he'd ever accuse us?"), they make yet another turkey bearable.

As with most MST3K solo DVDs, this one is pretty sparce in the special features department. On the other hand, what is there to really add to something like this? Sure, it'll most likely appeal to fans of the show only, but if you're not a fan of the show, you don't know what you're missing anyway.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Are you happy with your work?
Review: "I accuse my parents" is an underrated MST. The film was intended to teach a message about booze and the effects it can have on your home life. The movie concernd Jimmy a young man in denial about his home life and rights a bogus essay potraying his home life as ideal to the standards of the time. Think of Jimmy as the white Jason Blair of his day. Jimmy meets night club moll Kitty and her mobster boyfriend Charles Blake. Jimmy divides his time between his shoe salesman job("A young al bundy" servo)and the mob. Kitty's musical number's are hilarious in their awfulness and I liked the "annoncements" J&TB made during the songs. The sketches, they are art therapy where Joel analyses the robots, a dance scene wherein Gypsy sings Kitty's song Joel plays customers and Servo and Crow play waters, there is also a sketch where they try and figure out Jimmy's problems. The last sketch is great you have to see the movie to get it but it is really funny. The short is a disturbingly cheerful look at DDT and Mexican laborers. A great buy for any MSTie.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: This is the one where the kid accuses his parents.
Review: This was the first Joel episode I watched and I thought I was going to have a stroke I was laughing so hard (or maybe it was because I smelt toast. I'm not sure). The short about truck farming is dark, and not even Joel or the 'bots can really save it. As it is, a lot of the farmer jokes fall a little flat (and yes I get them. I am from Nebraska). As it is, the segments also are not anything to write home about. Although the one where Joel tries to analyze the 'bots psyches is probably the best, in my opinion, segment.

However, the movie is pure gold. It's a 1940's morality play created to get parents to realize that they can't just go out and party day and night and ignore their stupid 20 year old kids. Jimmy is so slow that he gains mob ties without trying to, and goes on the lam just long enough to decide he has to come back. Add this and the songs that Jimmy's love interest belts out and it really is no wonder the MST3K team made this into a great episode.

I recommend it highly and think that every MiSTie should see it, but not over the great eps like "Manos: The Hands of Fate" or "Mitchell."

Just remember that should you ever get in trouble with the law just accuse your parents and you'll get off scott free.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Joel and the 'bots save another lame movie from obscurity
Review: Sometimes I think the greatest contribution "Mystery Science Theater 3000" made to society was reintroducing hundreds of terrible movies that most people would never have watched again and warned us all how not to tell a story. Case in point -- "I Accuse My Parents." A young man, ignored by his parents, falls into a life of crime by becoming a courier for a mobster, is blissfully stupid enough not to NOTICE he has become a courier for a mobster, falls for the mobster's girlfriend and then lays the whole thing at his parents' feet when he winds up in court. And all this from a kid who actually won an essay contest.

The movie, naturally, was meant to preach a point about parental responsibility, and does it in such a heavy-handed, "beating you over the head" sort of way that even the title seems like a sermon. Thank Heavens for Joel and the 'bots. As always, they tear this terrible flick apart with their usual wit, savvy and sheer zaniness. From a hysterical spoof of the nightclub scene in the movie to the fastest one-liners ("Do you think he'd ever accuse us?"), they make yet another turkey bearable.

As with most MST3K solo DVDs, this one is pretty sparce in the special features department. On the other hand, what is there to really add to something like this? Sure, it'll most likely appeal to fans of the show only, but if you're not a fan of the show, you don't know what you're missing anyway.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: "Maaaad About The Boy!"
Review: A Classic MST3K right from the start! We all know of Tom Servo's huge ego, but when Crow paints him entirely pink, all Servo can do is admire his "nakedness" in a mirror and sing "I'm just maaad about the boy!" Until Joel and Crow pop his balloon by reminding him that he has no legs and his arm's dont work!

The short, "Truck Farming" reminds us how greatful the Mexicans are to come across the border to harvest our delicios carrots so young white people up North can receive their proper nutrition in winter! Plenty of 'bot cannon fodder here! It gives plenty of incentive for children to bend and stoop for a living!

The main movie is an example of Doctor Spock psychoanalysis, but set in the World War 11 generation, and they even attempted to make it a musical! Sure, the father is wooden and the mother is a Honky Tonk lush, but the son's problems do not rise out of that, they rise out of his constant LYING, LYING, LYING! and sheer stupidity! As the "mobile" skit by Joel and the bots exemplify, all his excuses are tiny little things to that huge "STUPID" floating mobile that always interferes and blocks the view of the others!

THe bots do an excellent job in trashing all the stupid songs we have to endure in this stinkburger, and this movie envites all the commentary that can be vomited on it!

Get this one!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I wrote an essay...and it's my birthday !!!!
Review: A very funny episode with Joel and the 'bots...A 25 year old "teenager" goes out of control and then blames all his problems on his parents,and what parents,they are the bottom of the heap.He meets a girl,they fall in love,he works for a shoe store and the mob,witnesses a murder,gets dumped by the girl,gets the mob mad,runs away,works in a diner and on and on....
This movie comes with the short film "Truck Farmers" which is pretty good too...Looks like something you may have seen in the 7th grade and fell asleep to...DDT is everywhere
If you want to laugh out loud and enjoy a fun time,get this film today...

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: They Make It Sound So Nice!
Review: This is an inspired and twisted MST3K episode, very worthy of digitally immortalizing in DVD.

The episode starts with "The Truck Farmer", a short film claiming that Mexican farm laborers enjoy helping agro-business harvest their carrot crops. It looks and sounds so nice that you almost expect the 11-year-old farm worker to look at the camera and beam a beautiful smile. Crow remarks, "Her beauty will soon fade". It's surreal and depressing. And, as has been pointed out, there is not a truck to be seen in this piece of blatant agro-propaganda.

"I Accuse My Parents" is about Jimmy, the world's most dense up-and-coming shoe salesman. Obsessed with his essay and his birthday, he falls for Kitty ("Meow), the moll of a local hood. Jimmy starts doing the hood helpful favors, such as carrying packages and the like. Meanwhile, Jimmy's mom and dad are drunks who think essays and birthdays are less important than partying in beach houses. One thing leads to another, and...I'll let the rest be a surprise. Oh yeah, and Jimmy's mom shows up at school drunk and scandalizes the local association of prudish schoolmarms.

Jimmy is ultimately framed, and is taken in by a kindly old short order cook with an obsession for hamburgers and ushering. After his arrest, Jimmy endurse a lecture by a 1940s Judge while his parents look on aghast.

It has to be seen to be believed, but see it. It's one of the best of MST3K's "Joel" era. The actors portraying the wayward teenagers kids in this film are someone's great-grandparents now. Things don't really change, do they?


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