Amazon.com video review:
Originally a special for HBO, this Jim Henson production (he
also directed) was one of the first real forays into the more
realistic, less vaudevillian direction for the Muppets. It also
included Frank Oz (Muppeteer), Paul Williams (songs), and Jerry Juhl
(script), some of the Muppet Show's usual suspects. Emmet Otter
and his jug band are trying out in the local talent show, but they
face fierce competition from a gang of toughs, the Riverbottom Gang
and their rock band. Perhaps the most notable thing is the creation of
a sense of poverty and want that suffuses the little production. Even
Emmet's mother, who sacrifices her washtub to further Emmet's cause,
gets in the act. Fine Christmas viewing for all ages. --Keith
Simanton
