Cold Turkey
Cold Turkey is a 1971 satirical black comedy film starring Dick Van Dyke and a long list of comedic actors. The film was written for the screen, produced, and directed by Norman Lear, marking his directorial debut and his only directorial feature film credit. Cold Turkey was based on the unpublished novel I'm Giving Them Up for Good by Margaret and Neil Rau. Randy Newman composed and performed original music for the film.
Plot
As part of a public relations and marketing strategy to compare the empathy of Big Tobacco to the nobility of the Nobel Peace Prize, advertising executive Merwin Wren convinces the Valiant Tobacco Company to propose a challenge: a tax-free check for $25,000,000 ($ million today) to any city or town in America that can stop smoking, going cold turkey, for thirty days.
More details
| author | Norman Lear |
|---|---|
| contentLocation | Iowa |
| director | Norman Lear |
| editor | John C. Horger |
| genre | comedy |
| keywords | advertising executive big tobacco cheer cigarette smoking cold turkey connect drink elderly lady follow id lose lurk market massage therapist move out nobel peace prize one person open parking lot public relations richard m. nixon shoot small community smoke souvenir shop time magazine tobacco smoking town square tv camera walk win |
| musicBy | Randy Newman |
| producer | Norman Lear |
| productionCompany | Tandem Productions |
| publisher | United Artists |
| theme | black comedy satirical smoking |