HealtH (1980) on Netflix
Health food lobbyists meet at a Florida hotel to pick their next president. Esther Brill, Isabella Garnell and Dr. Gil Gainey are the candidates. Gloria Burbank arrives on the President's behalf.
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- Netflix2.8/5
- IMDb5.6/101,025 votes
- Rotten TomatoesNot available
Plot summary
The HealtH organization holds its yearly convention at a resort hotel in St Pete Beach, Florida, and the gathering will settle who becomes its next president. The group's name doubles as a slogan about happiness, energy, longevity and health. Esther Brill, 83, who has narcolepsy, presents herself as the first lady of health. Isabella Garnell campaigns against commercialism and materialism. Dr. Gil Gainey, a salesperson running as an independent, is a third candidate. Gloria Burbank comes on behalf of the President of the United States. Her ex-husband, Harry Wolff, wants to reschedule a television interview after trouble with Brill's profile. A talk show host broadcasts from the hotel, and at night Garnell addresses the guests over a loudspeaker.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about HealtH (1980)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Robert Altman wore a straw hat on the set of HealtH and got into a conflict with members of the local Teamsters branch while filming; he had to pay "outrageous salaries" for certification.
- To get the convention right, art director Bob Quinn and co-writer Frank Barhydt visited a real health food convention in Boston before shooting, and more than one hundred health food companies contributed to the set. One of them, Sovex Granola, shot scenes that were cut from the finished film but still received end-credit billing.
- Altman rushed HealtH into production because his previous three films, A Wedding, Quintet and A Perfect Couple, had brought diminishing box office returns, and he feared any delay would damage his financing.
- HealtH turned out to be Robert Altman's last film for 20th Century-Fox, and his experiences with the studio later convinced him to skip major distribution for Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean.
