Dollar Tree Cinema: Canadian Bacon

“Canadian Bacon” (1995)
Starring John Candy, Alan Alda, Rhea Perlman, Kevin Pollak
Written and directed by Michael Moore
Rated PG for mild language and violence

Back in the early '90s, I discovered a new show called “TV Nation,” sort of a parody of the “Dateline” or “60 Minutes” style magazine shows featuring a guy named Michael Moore poking fun at big business and the absurdities of American society. Except for the newspaper article I read prior to the show's release, I was unfamiliar with Moore's seminal documentary “Roger and Me,” where he pursued an interview with the chairman of General Motors after its factory closure devastated his hometown of Flint, Michigan.

I was also unaware that Moore was – gasp! – a liberal. To be honest, in my early teens, I probably couldn't define liberal or conservative, and I certainly didn't know in which camp I belonged. I don't like the idea of camps and clubs and party affiliations defining everything about people. If you've read a lot of these posts, you probably know some of my beliefs, and maybe you think it's pretty easy to see with which group I belong. But I've got thoughts and positions that would probably fit under both, and I'm not particularly interested in vilifying entire segments of the population, even if I disagree, perhaps strongly, with some of their beliefs.

All that to say, I loved watching Moore give folks a hard time. I don't really think it requires a political position to appreciate, say, hiring a mariachi band to perform “That's Amore” across from a Ku Klux Klan rally or, on his follow-up series “The Awful Truth,”* haranguing an insurance company into paying for a lifesaving transplant by, among other tactics, holding a funeral rehearsal for the denied claimant in front of their offices.

I used his book, “Downsize This,” for a couple of projects in college and watched a few more of his films, including the Oscar-winning “Bowling for Columbine.” In my professional life, I lobbied my editor to let me take the local Democratic and Republican party chairs to watch a screening of “Fahrenheit 9/11” and write an article about it, but that was gently declined.

Moore makes a cameo in "Canadian Bacon."

I didn't agree with Moore on everything, and I haven't watched some of his more recent material. Maybe that's because I saw his positions a little more clearly and felt I didn't want to lean too much to one side – which does seem to go against my stated goal of not judging people solely on party and politics. But honestly I haven't thought about his work in a while. I can't even remember if I watched “Sicko.” Maybe it's just a byproduct of more than three dozen movies based on Marvel comics, all in the same continuity and most of high quality, existing. I always did prefer fiction to documentaries.

But hot on the heels of “TV Nation,” Moore delivered a fictional film, the memorably titled “Canadian Bacon.” It's probably more notable for being John Candy's last completed film.**

Candy plays Niagara County Sheriff Bud Boomer who, like many of the people in his town, lost his job when the Hacker Dynamics weapons plant in town shut down. It was the victim of a downturn in conflict following the end of the Cold War.

It's gotten so bad that multiple former employees have leapt to their deaths at Niagara Falls. That's where we meet Bud and his deputy/unrequited love interest Honey (Perlman), working to collect the bonus pay of $50 for fishing bodies out of the water – twice what they're paid for talking a jumper down. They reluctantly stop hapless former co-worker Roy Boy (Kevin J. O'Connor) from jumping, then take him to the clearance auction over at the old Hacker plant.

That's where the president, played namelessly and without explicit party affiliation by Alda, is making a speech. His remarks are interrupted when Roy Boy accidentally fires the missile launcher he bought for $25 and Bud saves the commander-in-chief's life.

A poll taken after the incident finds most Americans didn't feel like the president's survival or lack thereof would affect their lives. In an effort to boost his popularity and the economy and prodded by the questionable advice of National Security Adviser Stu Smiley (Pollak) and battle-hungry General Panzer (Rip Torn) – along with the manipulation of Hacker Chairman R.J. Hacker (G.D. Spradlin) – the president agrees to stir up a new Cold War with America's neighbor to the North.

Being right on the border, Bud, Honey, Roy Boy and Deputy Kabral (Eddie Nunn***) are eager to protect their country. That eagerness leads to a clandestine foray to taunt the Canadians … by littering in one of their parks. Unfortunately, Honey gets left behind, prompting an ill-fated rescue mission led by Bud.

The irreverent tone is evident from the opening credits. We're not talking “Hot Shots” levels of parody here, but there's definitely a heightened level of absurdity. Canadian stereotypes like superhuman levels of politeness are front and center, from Steven Wright's Mountie and Dan Aykroyd's motorcycle cop. Aykroyd steals the scene when he pulls over the invading force and, politely of course, makes them re-graffiti their commandeered truck so that all the insults to Canadians are rendered in French as well. Not everything fits together well, but there are laughs aplenty.

Watching it for the first time in ages, now well into the 21^st century, felt a bit odd. I remember well Moore's sarcastic effort in “Downsize This” to choose a new enemy for the United States to rally against. But it feels like we have no shortage of threats today, and Panzer's dismissal of the danger posed by international terrorists has, of course, not aged well.

What's relevant today, aside from validating people's general wariness about trusting the government (or at least the portion of the government led by or seeming to agree with the opposite political party), is the effect the pseudo-Cold War has on folks like Bud and company. As the president and his advisers selfishly, arrogantly and foolishly turn up the rhetoric, things start to spiral out of their control and have unforeseen and potentially deadly (but still comedic in this case) consequences.

With the benefit of hindsight, I can certainly see aspects of this movie that lean traditionally left, but funny is funny and, with the exception of one “where are they now” bit at the end, no specific party is named. “Canadian Bacon” was an interesting time capsule, but unless you're a Moore fan or Candy completist, it's not a must-have, at least not for more than $1.25.

* - All episodes of which I've acquired on DVD from, you guessed it, Dollar Tree.

** - He passed away while filming “Wagons East,” which was shot after “Canadian Bacon” but released before it.

*** - Who will ALWAYS be Detective Eddie Souther from the timeless “Sister Act” to me.