UHF (film)
1989 film by Jay Levey / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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UHF (released internationally as The Vidiot from UHF) is a 1989 American comedy film starring "Weird Al" Yankovic, David Bowe, Fran Drescher, Victoria Jackson, Kevin McCarthy, Michael Richards, Stanley Brock, Gedde Watanabe, Billy Barty, Anthony Geary, Emo Philips and Trinidad Silva; the film is dedicated to Silva, who died shortly after filming wrapped. The film was directed by Jay Levey, Yankovic's manager, who also co-wrote the screenplay with him. The film was originally released by Orion Pictures and is currently owned by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Yankovic and Levey struggled to find a production company to finance the film, but were eventually able to get Orion's support after stating they could keep the film costs under $5 million. Principal photography took place around Tulsa, Oklahoma.
UHF | |
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Directed by | Jay Levey |
Written by |
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Produced by |
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Starring |
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Cinematography | David Lewis |
Edited by | Dennis M. O'Connor |
Music by | John Du Prez |
Production company | Cinecorp |
Distributed by | Orion Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 97 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $5 million |
Box office | $6.1 million[1] |
Yankovic stars as George Newman, a shiftless dreamer who stumbles into managing a low-budget television station and, surprisingly, finds success with his eclectic programming choices, spearheaded by the antics of a janitor-turned-children's television host, Stanley Spadowski (Richards). He provokes the ire of a major network station that dislikes the competitive upstart. The title refers to the ultra high frequency (UHF) analog television broadcasting band on which such low-budget television stations were often placed in the United States. Yankovic and Levey wrote the film after Yankovic's second studio album, and chose the approach of George having a vivid imagination to support the inclusion of parodies within the film.
UHF was a financial disappointment, as it was overshadowed by several major Hollywood blockbusters that were released at the same time. The film also received mixed critical reviews, which left Yankovic in a slump that lasted until the surprise success of his next album in 1992. Despite being considered a failure, UHF went on to become a cult film thanks to home video and cable TV. The VHS of the film was rare and out of print for many years, with copies going for high prices online. In 2002, the film was released on DVD for the first time, and Shout! Factory released a special 25th-anniversary edition of UHF on November 11, 2014, on DVD and Blu-ray.