Bastian Günther dramatizes a real-life competition that highlights a more extreme example of the desire to achieve the American Dream.
Longview is a small town in east Texas. For over 20 years the local Nissan dealership held an annual competition to win a brand new pickup. It became known as ‘Hands on Hard Body’. (Also the title of a cult 1997 documentary based on the same event.) A maximum of 20 contestants have to keep one hand pressed on the body of the pickup and the winner is the last person standing. It’s similar to the dance-athon that Horace McCoy wrote about in his 1935 Depression-era novel ‘They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?’.
Joe Cole (Peaky Blinders, The Ipcress File) plays Kyle Parson, a doting husband and father who has his eyes on the prize. Together with an assortment of other competitors and spurred on by a company marketing exec (Carrie Preston, The Good Wife), Kyle battles against fatigue and physical pain to win. But as each contestant’s psyche disintegrates in the sweltering heat, the competition threatens to take a darker turn.
