ValCom 17485 (Kaufman), a robot designed to be a valet with a specialty in lumber commodities, meets AquaCom 89045 (Peters), a hostess companion robot whose primary function is to assist at poolside parties. At a factory awaiting repairs, they fall in love and decide to escape, stealing a van from the company to do so. They are joined by Catskil, a standup comic robot (which is seen sitting the entire film). His name is a reference to the Catskill resort.
They embark on a quest to find a place to live, as well as satisfy their more immediate need for a fresh electrical supply. They assemble a small robot, Philco (also called Phil), built out of spare parts from the van they stole, whom they treat as their child. Phil speaks in a manner similar to R2-D2.
A malfunctioning law-enforcement robot, the Crimebuster, overhears the orders of the repair workers to get the robots back and goes after the fugitives. With the help of humans who run a junkyard and use Catskil's battery pack, the robots are able to save Phil before running out of power and being returned to the factory. Brought back to the factory, the robots are repeatedly repaired, and their memories cleared. Because they continue to malfunction, they are junked. They are found by the humans who run the junk yard and reassembled. In the junkyard, they live happily and build a sister for Phil. The film ends with Crimebuster, after only pretending to have his mind erased, continuing to malfunction and going on another mission to recover the fugitive robots.
Sigourney Weaver was offered a role and was interested in the film, as she wanted to work with Andy Kaufman, but Weaver's agent persuaded her to turn it down. [citation needed]
Because of a strike by the Screen Actors Guild, filming was shut down in July 1980 (along with numerous other movies and television shows). The strike ended at the beginning of October 1980 (filming had started in June).[5]
In his 1999 book Andy Kaufman: Revealed, Bob Zmuda wrote that Kaufman and Zmuda had "pitched" the screenplay of Kaufman's The Tony Clifton Story, a movie about the life and times of his alter-ego Tony Clifton, to Universal Studios. The Universal executives were concerned that Kaufman had not acted in films except for a small role, and they arranged for him to star in Heartbeeps to test whether he could carry a movie. When it became "a box office disaster", plans for the Clifton movie were cancelled.[6]
John Hill adapted the screenplay into a novel, Heartbeeps, published in December 1981.
The film was promoted in magazines such as Starlog and Famous Monsters.[7]
Reception
Critical response
Reviews of the film were negative. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a score of 0% based on reviews from 6 critics, with an average rating of 1.6/10.[8]
Vincent Canby wrote in The New York Times that it was "unbearable" and a "dreadfully coy story."[9] Gary Arnold from the Washington Post noted how the film's stars Kaufman and Peters were "unlikely to face serious career setbacks from a minor fiasco only a handful of people will ever see," adding that he faulted the film for having "so little inherent momentum that it seems to need rewinding every few minutes."[10]
Kaufman felt the movie was so bad that he personally apologized for it on Late Night with David Letterman, and as a joke, promised to refund the money of everyone who paid to see it.[12]
^Letterman, David (host) (November 17, 1982). "Dr. Ruth Westheimer, Andy Kaufman, Alec Baldwin". Late Night with David Letterman. Season 1. Episode 147. New York, New York: Carson Productions / NBC Productions. Kaufman, 2nd Guest, Interview occurs @ 18 minute mark. NBC.
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