“United States of America V. Thomas B. Kin Chong, a/k/a Tommy Chong”, The 2006 movie released by Awesome Documentaries, tells the story of the stoner comedian Tommy Chong, who has made a name for him as a part of the late 1960’s formed “Cheech and Chong” comedy duo. The film contrasts the opinions of the American government with Chong’s lifestyle and movie-aided fame, inadvertently helping contribute to Chong’s legacy.
The movie is directed by Josh Gilbert and debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival, and won a Jury prize at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival as well as being an Official Selection at six film festivals. The film follows Chong through the two weeks before Chong goes to a minimum-security prison near Bakersfield, C.A. and how the prison sentence has affected Chong since.
After Complications involving the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11th, 2001, a newly elected head prosecutor from western P.A., Mary Beth Buchanan, who developed operation Pipe Dream and targeted Chong as the biggest threat to the United States for making movies such as, “Nice Dreams”, “Up in Smoke” and “Still Smoking”, and also selling bongs over the Internet. Relentless phone calls and a series of lies forced the family run business, Chong Glass, to ship their lot of custom handmade bongs to a head shop in P.A. run by federal agents. The agents then raided Chong’s warehouses. Once the warehouses had been raided, ten federal agents and twenty cops, with the assistance of helicopters entered Mr. and Mrs. Chong’s home at 6 a.m. to confiscate a pound of marijuana. Chong was sent to prison for nine months in 2004 at the ripe age of 66. Through physical evidence and recorded phone conversations the film allows viewers the opportunity to hear how the federal agents attempted receiving bongs via Chong’s internet company.
The movie does an amazing job of gathering archived interviews from the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, government press conferences and newsreels as well as speeches by George W. Bush and a presentation by Buchanan are used to discredit the governments quest to shut down Chong and exhibit Chong’s humble innocence. The main reason that Chong felt targeted by the government was that Chong felt he had convinced them that the character he portrayed was actually who he was, not just a fictional character. Towards the end of Chong’s prison sentence there is a magnificent montage of drawings, personal letters and photos of Tommy’s jail term that brings this whole film to reality. The production is very well put together and there are no holes or parts that leave you guessing. “A/k/a Tommy Chong” is available now through Amazon.com for $21.99 and also on Netflix.com, so if the homework’s done and it’s time for fun, snag a copy, kick back and enjoy.