EDITOR’S NOTE: The 500 Pound Jerk was on the CBS Late Movie on February 28 and November 14, 1975.
When his breakfast cereal is found to have no nutritional value, an advertising man (James Franciscus) has three months to save the product or get lost. Around the same time, he has car trouble and, at a local garage, meets a goofy yet likable guy (Alex Karras) who doesn’t even work out but can effortlessly lift a car. This gives Franciscus an idea: train this lump for a few months, toss his ass into the 1972 Olympics, win a gold medal in weightlifting, and then claim that the worthless cereal he’s advertising is why this guy won.
That’s advertising for you!
With real footage from the 1972 Olympic Games and an appearance by Howard Cosell, William Kronick directed it, and he was second unit on King Kong and Flash Gordon. He also directed several of George Plimpton’s TV specials. Writer James S. Henerson was a TV vet, also writing scripts for The Feminist and the Fuzz and The Sea Will Tell, Intimate Agony and many episodes of shows like I Dream of Jeannie and Bewitched.
