80 Steps to Jonah (1969)

Thanks for the memories!

Really Surprised!

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Singer Elvis Presley made some real bad movies during the period of his life when he was appearing in movies, but those bad movies come across as great when compared to "80 Steps to Jonah", a failed attempt to make singer Wayne Newton a movie star. In fact, this movie often comes across as if it were a (bad) parody of a Presley movie. Though Newton did manage to show some acting chops years later with various small parts in movies, in his big screen debut he comes across as extremely underwhelming, with no flair or color to his performance. However, he isn't really to blame for the movie's failure. The script is pretty awful, extremely padded out and is filled with various clichés and plot turns you have seen many times before in other movies and television shows. And the songs are so sugary sweet that you'll be washing out your mouth with a strong drink. It's no wonder that its distributor, Warner Brothers, has pretty much buried this movie.

I uploaded my full recording of 80 Steps To Jonah at google video...http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3888172006497514701 Shows up in flash player at that link but if you click the download link you'll get a much clearer mp4 version (330MB) I put it on my computer from an old VHS tape recording when I saw it years ago on TV. Then I converted it to wmv and mp4 formats for viewing.Also have some musical scene clips from the movie up at you tube. Includes the scenes where Wayne Newton & kids sing With A Little Seed And Some Love. Also Wayne Newton playing guitar and singing If I Could Be To You What You Are To Me. And scene where Wayne's music is 'Night Rushes In'

I watched this movie when I was about 12 years old. I was spending the night with my Grandmother in the late 70's and we happened to be up late talking. This movie came on the late night movie and it has stuck in my memory. My Grandmother and I both loved this movie and we went through many tissues. My Grandmother passed away about 8 year ago and one of my many fondest memories with her was the night we watched this movie together. I would love to see this movie again. I have only saw it once and it made a great impact on me. Any recomendations to where I may be able to rent it would be greatly appreciated. I would definitely rate this a must see movie. (They don't make em' like this anymore.)

I saw this movie back in the seventies in a double feature,the other being "Grizzly".Of all the movies I have watched,this movie stuck in my memory because of the emotinal scenes and the natural flow of love,hate,frustration and caring that the characters show.It didn't hurt that I liked Wayne Newton either!;-)