Ollie Hopnoodle's Haven of Bliss (1988)

Plot: 14-year-old Ralph and his All-American family head off on their annual trek to summer resort Ollie Hopnoodle's Haven of Bliss.

Original Title: Ollie Hopnoodle's Haven of Bliss

Director: Dick Bartlett

Writer: Jean Shepherd

Producer: Bernice Olenick , Fred Barzyk , Ellen Locy , Olivia Tappan

Type: tv movie

Year: 1988

Genres: Comedy, Family

Cast: Dorothy Chiesa , Leslie Harrell , Marjorie O'Neill-Butler , Ross Eldridge , Edward Logan , Craig Dawson , Daphne , Robin Lebert , Jean Shepherd , James Sikking , Dorothy Lyman , Jerry O'Connell , Jason Clarke Adams , Cameron Johann , Bill McDonald , W. Clapham Murray , Frank T. Wells , Peter Gerety , Robert J. Colonna , Arnie Cox , Martin Rayner , Annabelle Weenick , John William Galt , Peyton E. Park , Desmond Dhooge

Runtimes: 89

Countries: United States

Languages: English

Color Info: Black and White

Aspect Ratio: 1.37 : 1

Sound Mix: Mono::(RCA Sound Recording)

Original Air Date: 06 Aug 1988 (USA)

Rating: 6.9

Votes: 545

Year: 1988

Akas: ラルフの痛快旅行 (Japan)

Production Companies: American Playhouse , WGBH

Distributors: Disney Channel

Synopsis: The blue-collar working world of 1950s Indiana, with period-style footage and clips from Fritz Lang's Metropolis, is accompanied by Shepherd's voiceover narration as the adult Ralph. The fourteen-year-old Ralph and friends, Flick and Schwartz, endure bureaucratic "terminal official boredom", to get their "working papers", to be able to apply for their first summer jobs.The next day at breakfast, Ralph (Jerry O'Connell of Stand by Me) announces that he, Flick, and Schwartz have job interviews, and Mom (Dorothy Lyman of Mama's Family) notices that the family dog, Fuzzhead (Shepherd's dog Daphne[1]) seems to be missing. Adult Ralph describes this as the beginning of the "Scary Fuzzhead Saga, which traumatized our family for years". The three friends interview at Scott's Used Furniture Palace, where adult Ralph describes the owner as "a cross between Rasputin and The Wolfman" (played in the film by Shepherd himself). They are hired, in "a truly historic moment". They fantasize about what they'll do with all the money they'll make. Clocking in on the job, they proceed to their first assignment - depicted in stock footage as enslaved workers descending to a dark basement. Mom calls the police to report Fuzzhead's disappearance and announces to the Old Man (James B Sikking of Dougie Houser MD), as he leaves for work, that she's "not going on any vacation" until she is found. She posts hand-drawn "reward" posters for her return and places an ad in the newspaper. The Old Man, at the Bluebird, the neighborhood bar, laments the likely delay of his vacation. The first day of Ralph's moving job is difficult and exhausting, as they struggle to move a mammoth refrigerator up five flights of stairs. At dinner Ralph is so sore and stiff his joints creak and pop. The next day, back on the job, they move an identical refrigerator up another seven flights of stairs. Over the next two weeks, Ralph "toils ceaselessly" at Scott's, while Mom relentlessly "like Ahab" searches for Fuzzhead, with visits to dog pounds and repeatedly dragging the Old Man out to drive around looking for her. At night, Ralph has eerie nightmares, including a towering, laughing refrigerator. The next day, having seen Mom's badly-sketched reward posters, "people from three counties arrived with their mutts, trying for the big reward". Ralph's summer job ends abruptly when they are fired. Then "a miracle" happens - the Old Man, driving around again with Mom, spots Fuzzhead in the rear window of a black Rolls-Royce, and gives chase, all the way to the home of the rich dowager at whose doorstep she appeared. She returns to the family home, left with "only her memories", a montage of meals on crystal and pampered treatment. At dinner, Ralph fibs, saying he quit his job to spend time with the family. As a result, they are free to pack and, as adult Ralph describes, begin their "epic" road trip.The trip includes drastic over-packing of the brown Chevy sedan, a reluctant starter motor, an endlessly carsick and complaining Randy (Jason Clarke Adams), side trips to shop for unnecessary "slob art", a flat tire, running out of gas as the Old Man insists on only "Texas Royal Supreme Blue" gasoline, a misadventure at a gas station with an unseen enormous growling "meers hound", a boiled-over radiator as an occasion for a roadside picnic, and a missed detour sign and resulting circular detour due to squabbling among the kids. In the middle of a pasture, as cows surround the car, adult Ralph describes the scene: "beset on all sides by strange creatures, the lost mariner searches and searches, in the Sargasso sea of life". Rounding out the road trip, more unnecessary shopping, a Dutch lawn windmill being bought and put on top of the car, Ralph's confession of forgetting the fishing tackle, being stuck behind a live poultry truck, and panic over another "magically appearing" car-bound bee. When they finally arrive at Clear Lake, the Old Man learns that the fish have stopped biting. Ralph discovers the Old Man had packed the fishing tackle after all, and they walk out onto the boat ramp to take in the view, as a few drops of rain fall. A torrential downpour develops, and in the cabin, leaks from the roof drip into every available pot and basin, as adult Ralph describes, all day, everyday of their vacation. At bedtime, Mom reassures him that the Old Man loves him, even though he never calls him by his real name (just "watermelon", "radish-top", "cookie cutter", etc.). A lightning strike knocks out power to the rain-drenched lakeside camp's welcome sign, Mom says goodnight to Fuzzhead and she kisses her goodnight, and the credits roll.

Cinematographer: D'Arcy Marsh

Producer: Bernice Olenick , Fred Barzyk , Ellen Locy , Olivia Tappan

Production Manager: Al Potter

Art Direction: Gayle Wurthner

Certificates: United Kingdom:U , United States:TV-G

Composer: Steve Olenick

Editor: William M. Anderson , Richard Bartlett

Editorial Department: Jacques Weissgerber , Andrew Doerfer

Sound Crew: Stacy Brownrigg , Alex Griswold , Stephanie Munroe , John Osborne

Miscellaneous Crew: Michael Barefoot

Costume Designer: Jeanette Oleksa

Make Up: Steven Aturo , Nena Smarz

Assistant Director: Leigh Brown , Mike Dempsey , Andrew Doerfer , Helen McGinn

Art Department: David Gulick , Phil Shirey

Camera and Electrical Department: Brown Cooper , Barbara Hanania , William M. Weberg

Set Decoration: Margaret Peckham

Costume Department: Alexis Scott

Production Design: John Wright Stevens

Stunt Performer: Randy Fife

Location Management: Kim Davis