ClarkWORLD (2009)
*** (out of 4)
Pretty good documentary that takes a look at the career of Bob Clark who started with horror movies like BLACK Christmas and CHILDREN SHOULDN'T PLAY WITH DEAD THINGS who finally made the switch to box office smash with PORKY'S before finally making A Christmas STORY, which is without question one of the most loved movies ever made. Along the way he had other respected films like MURDER BY DECREE and TRIBUTE but also some other, lesser known or liked films like RHINESTONE, BABY GENIUSES and KARATE DOG. This documentary was released two years after Clark and his 22-year-old son were killed by a drunk driver so the main goal here is a celebration of his life. There's certainly a lot of room for a better film because a lot of movies are skipped over and there's no question that the main focus is A Christmas STORY but for what this thing is it isn't that bad. The thing clocks in at just 72-minutes and features interviews with Peter Billingsley, Olivia Hussey, Margot Kidder, Kim Cattrall, John Saxon, Jon Voight, Scott Baio, Denise Richards, Mary Steenburgen and film critic Richard Roeper. Again, this documentary leaves out way too many films to be complete and I'm sure fans of PORKY'S are going to be disappointed that more cast members aren't interviewed but I think for the limited budget you're going to get enough entertainment out of this to make it worth viewing. Throughout the film we get older interviews with Clark where he discusses his favorite scenes from A Christmas STORY as well as talks about what it was like after PORKY'S became a hit. Before his death Clark started telling a story about John Carpenter stealing the idea of HALLOWEEN from him and that is retold here as well. CLARKWORLD is a nice little tribute that will certainly work until something better comes along.
