70 Movies We Saw in the 70s: Ep 6—HOT STUFF (1979)

Robust funnyman Dom DeLuise mounts the director’s chair for the first—and last—time with HOT STUFF, a Miami-set crime farce wherein he co-stars with Jerry Reed and Suzanne Pleshette. Together, they play kooky cops who set up a phony fencing operation to bust an array of contraband-peddling oddballs. Oh, does it not work.

What DOES work, however, is UW Cinematheque honcho JIM HEALY joining co-hosts Mike McPadden and Ben Reiser to take on HOT STUFF for a zesty, informative discussion that includes Sydney Lassick and David Carradine (as his prison bride) in SONNY BOY; the Gene Siskel Sneer of Disapproval, what else was playing in Summer ’79; and how Dom’s directorial debut rests at the heart of the Hal Needham/Burt Reynolds/Mel Brooks Venn diagram.