Cabbage (1980)

Born with a horrifying learning disorder, his is a world closed off to others. His soft bulging eyes and imbecilic grunts, emitted through buck teeth and swollen gums are a foreign and often terrifying assault on the senses of those who dare try to communicate with him.

But Wesley has a secret…

In the tradition of “Kes” and “Batteries not Included” Cabbage tells the heart warming tale of a child blessed with the ability to talk to vegetables.

Together with his verdant friends, Wesley concocts an elaborate scheme to foil the bullies that have made his life a nightmare, help farmer Keenan reap a hefty maze crop, and of course - get the girl!

Reviews for Cabbage:

The Morning Echo

“Deeply moving and ultimately uplifting.”

Workers Digest

“Deeply upsetting”

I have always found the success of Cabbage rather troubling. It was a very low budget production shot in Coffeyville, Kansas with a no-name cast.

My original intention was to pen Cabbage as a subtle coming of age story, depicting a childs triumph over adversity; however the director they handed it to had a very different vision for my story.

Ten minutes into the film, having seen the young actor playing Wesley – genuinely retarded I might add - dribbling all over the heaving body of a screaming, buxom blond, assailing her with a fist full of crushed brussels sprouts, it became apparent that there had been a miscommunication somewhere along the line.

A fairly odious court case followed, the desired outcome: having my name removed from the credits.

Despite my reservations, Cabbage went on to become a very successful VHS release, its notoriety reaching its peak at around the time it was banned under the ‘video nasties’ act of 1984.

Cabbage is still very successful in Russia where it enjoys sporadic re-releases and is viewed as a sort of comedy with sex, but not a sex-comedy.