Duct Tape Forever

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Duct Tape Forever is a 2002 comedy movie based on The Red Green Show. It was written by Steve Smith, the actor who plays Red Green.

When a developer's limousine gets stuck in a sink hole on Possum Lodge's property and several attempts to recover it send it into the lake, the developer takes the matter to court. The town and the presiding judge, who have been looking for decades for a way to shut down the Lodge, fine the lodge $10,000 and give them thirty days to pay, and in default the Lodge reverts to the town. Red's nephew Harold Green (Patrick McKenna) pleads with the judge for a change to the time limit and she agrees - she makes it 10 days instead.

The Lodge members try to brainstorm a way out of the mess, but once again Harold is the only one with a viable idea - 3M is running a duct tape sculpture contest in Minnesota, with a third prize of $10,000 (which the members feel they have a shot at). The members beg, borrow and steal (literally) enough duct tape to construct a goose, and Red, Harold and Dalton Humphrey (Bob Bainborough) set off for the long ride to the contest.

However, sinister forces are at work. The developer has convinced the town's sheriff (Darren Frost) to stop the trio by any means necessary. The sheriff is accompanied by his beautiful deputy (Melissa DiMarco) who, against all logic, is smitten with Harold, although Harold is currently smitten with Dalton's indifferent daughter.

The sheriff attempts a number of dirty tricks in order to waylay Red. At one point they flatten the Possum Van's tires, only to find out that Dalton has siphoned all the gas out of their police car, and that the nearest working gas pump is 20 miles away. At another point, the sheriff digs a hole in the road with a backhoe, but find their police car on the opposite side from the van. In attempting to use the backhoe to move the police car to the other side of the hole, the sheriff instead drops the car into the hole, and the Possum Van drives right over it.

Eventually the developer takes matters into his own hands and kidnaps Harold. Red sends Dalton back for reinforcements, as he plans to get away with both Harold and the goose. While Harold is suffering the company of the developer, the developer reveals that his father was also a lazy Possum Lodge member, and that his mother's frustration over this fact drove him to succeed at any cost. He plans on buying Possum Lodge to destroy it entirely.

At noon the next day, Red and the developer meet with Red backed by his lodge members, and the developer backed by a gang of thugs. Just as the exchange is made, Red make a getaway with Harold as the lodge members steal the cars of the thugs. Just as Red feels he has made his getaway, he finds that the developer is chasing him with the only vehicle left unstolen - the bus that brought his lodge members to the show down. Nevertheless, Red and Harold manage to make it to the contest just before they award third prize.

1 Plot holes
2 Themes
3 Special USA Release Notes
4 External links

[edit] Plot holes

Duct Tape Forever was simplified in order to be easier to understand, and also for comedic purposes. For example:

Ontario does have sheriffs, but they have no law enforcement duties. They are court employees who assist with the enforcement of civil orders. More properly, the sheriff and his deputy should be members of the Ontario Provincial Police, or perhaps a local police force.
When Red and Harold cross the border, they are greeted by a Mountie, but no U.S. customs & immigration agent. This is really wrong on several levels. First, Mounties don't serve as border guards in Canada. Second, on leaving Canada, no Canadian official is required to check the departure. Third, Mounties on active duty do not wear their full dress red uniform.
Although it appears that the distance between Possum Lodge and the contest is a drive of at least two days, most of the characters move around several points between this distance almost effortlessly within a matter of hours, even when they have to walk part of the distance. For example, Dalton returns to Possum Lodge and back to Mercury Creek within a day, hitchhiking one way and taking a bus on the return trip. This is despite the fact the original trip from Possum Lodge to Mercury Creek was clearly an overnight trip. This is apparently clarified by Red who says later, "the Possum Van isn't exactly the fastest vehicle in existence."

[edit] Themes

The movie explores several themes also discussed on the television show, to the point of recycling jokes from the original series.

Towards the end of the trip, Red shows Harold a picture he carries in his wallet. Harold believes it is a picture of himself, until he turns it over and finds it was taken in 1956. He then realizes that Red looked exactly like Harold when he was Harold's age. Red credits his subsequent recovery to his friends constant teasing, and says that's why he treats Harold the way he does.

[edit] Special USA Release Notes

The movie was aired as 4 episodes during a PBS Pledge event.

The movie was run in theaters but only in some US theaters who reached their pledge goals.

During the PBS Movie event night , Red himself (Steve Smith) hosted this film at Iowa Public TV. This was because IPTV was top pledge contributor to Red Green.