A critical and box office failure at the time of its 1981 release, the comedy Honky Tonk Freeway, which was partly filmed in Sarasota, is due for reappraisal. With a stacked cast that includes Beau Bridges, William Devane, Jessica Tandy and Peter Billingsley (aka the kid from A Christmas Story), and direction by John Schlessinger (best known for Midnight Cowboy and Marathon Man), it’s a silly, ensemble-driven hoot. The plot follows what happens when residents of a small Florida town blow up a freeway overpass in order to force drivers to pass through their burg. To stage the explosion, the film crew built a fake wood and plaster bridge along I-75, which was then still under construction, and blew it up. The real bridge was later completed and still spans Palmer Road today.