Saying that 2020 is one of the strangest years in living memory isn't exactly news. With everything that's been going on from global pandemics to murder hornets, it's going to be tough to break into the list of the top 10 most bizarre things to happen this year. And yet, I think that whatever happens, the new short film John Bronco, that stars Walton Goggins and co-stars the likes of Bo Derek, Dennis Quaid, and even Kareem Abdul-Jabbar might still make the list, this one is weird.
John Bronco is a new short film on the way to Hulu that stars Walton Goggins as the eponymous pitchman for the Ford Bronco. It tells the story of the "rise, fall, and ultimate redemption" of the man who became a global sensation when he became the face of the popular vehicle. And if you're somehow shocked and amazed that you never heard of him, it's ok. John Bronco never actually existed. This is like The Blair Witch Project, written by somebody while high.It's a completely made-up story, which makes the brand new trailer that much more bizarre. Give it a look below.
I kind of love everything about this. From the VCR-era video quality to the vintage clip of Johnny Carson introducing John Bronco on The Tonight Show. It's all completely made up but if you stumbled upon this on Hulu by accident and hadn't been alive in the 1970s, you might actually start to believe this was on the level. It has all the hallmarks of what this film would look like if it actually were real. It's got a famous person's rise to celebrity from obscurity and even a mysterious disappearance thrown in just for fun. You start to wonder if maybe you saw this story on Unsolved Mysteries back in the day.
The website for the film is even better. It sets up John Bronco as a racecar driver who was hired by Ford to race a prototype SUV, and after he won the race and became an overnight sensation, Ford actually named the vehicle after him and hired him to be the spokesperson. It could have happened. It seems the mystery of just what happened to John Bronco will be the core of this new "documentary." One certainly wonders if we'll get an ultimate answer. Maybe that's for the sequel.
I'm not sure anybody would be a better choice for the lead in John Bronco than Walton Goggins. He has to be one of the best when it comes to playing completely bizarre characters completely straight. And while the characters here all look to be on the level, that's clearly the joke. The set up is what's completely off the rails.
John Bronco arrives on Hulu on October 15.
