NetflixMovies
The Dark Backward background
The Dark Backward poster

The Dark Backward (1991) on Netflix

R19911h 41mComedy

Marty Malt collects garbage and performs unfunny stand-up comedy, with his accordion-playing friend Gus as his only fan. A lump on his back turns into a third arm.

  • Netflix2.9/5
  • IMDb5.7/102,798 votes
  • Rotten Tomatoes45%

Trailer

Plot summary

Marty Malt is an unhappy garbage man in a grimy city where a company called Blump's appears to own everything. He moonlights as a stand-up comic, and his act goes badly. Gus, his friend and partner on the garbage route, is the only person who laughs, and he carries an accordion with him everywhere. Marty's girlfriend, Rosarita, waits tables and shows little interest in him. Gus persuades the talent agent Jackie Chrome to watch Marty perform, and Jackie is unimpressed. A large lump then appears on Marty's back and keeps growing. The lump becomes a full-sized arm, Rosarita leaves him, and the club that books his act drops him.

Cast

Show all 20 cast

Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Dark Backward (1991)

Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.

  • The Dark Backward was the first screenplay Adam Rifkin ever wrote; he was 19 years old when a night of stand-up comedy he watched in 1985 inspired him to write it.

Stills

  • The Dark Backward still 1
  • The Dark Backward still 2
  • The Dark Backward still 3
  • The Dark Backward still 4
  • The Dark Backward still 5
  • The Dark Backward still 6
  • The Dark Backward still 7
  • The Dark Backward still 8

Similar movies