Private Parts (1997)

Director: Betty Thomas
Starring: Howard Stern, Robin Quivers, Mary McCormack, Fred Norris

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The most surprising thing about this film is how touching it could be at times. I admit I left the room during 1978 at one point and Stern was a nice, somewhat assertive DJ who carried a drum around with him so he could play Wipeout for his morning listeners and came back in 1980 during which time he somehow became much more like the Howard Stern of modern times. I'm not sure what happened, but his hair grew about a foot during this time. I'm not going to jump to conclusions, but everyone knows that long hair on a man means that Satan himself has possessed him. Regardless, I was amazed how much I was rooting for Stern during the film. Obviously he had creative control of what to show and what to omit from the film, but I do respect Stern's honesty. I'm sure the film tried not to fictionalize any event more so than necessary (except for the scenes with "Pig Vomit" maybe). I don't really like the guy, but I'll be damned if I wasn't behind the bastard the entire film. He's a genuinely charming guy. I'm not sure I understood why the main narrative would break into brief interviews with the cast members. We could extrapolate what they said from the events we actually watched them play in the film (it's important to note that the cast of Stern's radio show played themselves in the film). Another small surprise was the discovery that the film was directed by a woman. For a film about a man whose persona is so chauvinistic, a female director was not my default assumption.

June 30
apartment TV, late evening (~10pm)

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