Buck Henry's directorial debut is not a great movie, but pretty fun still. "First Family" is a sort of farce focusing on Pres. Manfred Link (Bob Newhart) and his family while he's trying to establish diplomatic relations with the African nation of Upper Gorm. When Link meets Upper Gorm's president, that makes it clear that the American mono-culture has truly gotten out of control! And after that, we find out some more about the past of the people in Link's cabinet.

Like I said, this is no masterpiece, but worth seeing. It's unclear whether Newhart is having a good or bad time with the role, but Madeline Kahn as his wife Constance appears to be doing OK, and Gilda Radner as daughter Gloria also appears to be doing OK. Richard Benjamin and Fred Willard, as the semi-embarrassing cabinet members, also have good roles. Sort of a weird movie, but it doesn't pretend to be anything else. Watch for Buck Henry as a priest.

1980's "First Family" gives us a glimpse of a comedy classic with the immortal deadpan of Bob Newhart cast, for the only time in his career, as the President of the United States. After "Heaven Can Wait," this was the only other directorial effort from writer Buck Henry, definitely in Mel Brooks mode. It's no surprise that Democrats hate films like this, skewering left wing politics as deftly as "Serial" took aim at Marin County liberals (one reviewer actually wished it had been done during the Reagan years, but as "Used Cars" showed, the Carter administration was perfect fodder for laughs). The first half is a constant joy, with Madeline Kahn as the First Lady, Gilda Radner (in her first major movie role) as her horny daughter, still a virgin at 28, whose attempts to escape from captivity are forever foiled. Richard Benjamin as the Press Secretary ('can I leak something?' 'can I confirm something?' 'can I deny something?') is bettered by Bob Dishy as the Biden-like Vice President ('looks like a rock!'). Fred Willard and Harvey Korman also earn their share of laughs, especially Korman's encounter with the African Ambassador Longo, who speaks no English (Julius W. Harris, "Live and Let Die"). But above it all, is Newhart's President Manfred Link, who puts the Vice President in his place: 'does anyone care what a Vice President thinks?' He meets his match with President Kalundra of Upper Gorm (John Hancock),when he asks, 'which one of them is the head boogeyman?' to which Kalundra responds, 'which one of you is the chief turkey?' Perhaps the best moments are the airport greeting for Ambassador Longo, and the scene depicting alerts in case of nuclear attack ('too frivolous?'). The satire is done with broad strokes, and the second half does slow to a weak conclusion, but there's enough belly laughs for those who don't let their politics get in the way of a good time. And there's the President's recollection that he flunked two years of high school Spanish: 'my God, even Mexicans know how to speak Spanish!'

This morning they were playing old Howard Stern interviews on Sirius and one of them was with Gilda Radner, and sadly every time I see or hear her I'm reminded of this train wreck of a movie. We were four couples all devoted fans of the cast members and Buck Henry and forty years later we are all still scarred by this atrocity. Sometimes we hear the phrase, "A one-joke film", if only… In the Trivia caption of this movie it was said that the ending was rewritten because of negative feedback from audiences. The beginning and middle should have been rewritten, although I don't know that the ending we saw could have been worse. I believe that most of the other reviewers are in agreement that what makes this film so bad is the waste of the talents of these fine comedians.

One reviewer stated that this was the only movie he ever walked out on. We too were tempted, but I think we were hoping for something redeeming to save The First Family, sadly that was not to be.