April 18, 2024
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It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?
So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.
And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.
There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.
I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.
So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.
But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy named—” “Yeah, sure — you want his phone number?”
My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher
“That was the most disappointing thing to me in how this thing was played. Is that I’m on the phone with you now, after all that’s been said, and the fundamental distinction between what James is dealing with in these other cases is not actually brought to the fore. The fundamental difference is that James Franco didn’t seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. There’s not a case of that. He wasn’t using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had — if that were what the accusation involved — the show would not have gone on. We would have folded up shop and we would have not completed the show. Because then it would have been the same as Harvey Weinstein, or Les Moonves, or any of these cases that are fundamental to this new paradigm. Did you not notice that? Why did you not notice that? Is that not something notable to say, journalistically? Because nobody could find the voice to say it. I’m not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, “You know, it’s not this, it’s that”? Because — let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. Times piece, that’s what it lacked. That’s what they were not able to deliver. The one example in the five that involved an issue of a sexual act was between James and a woman he was dating, who he was not working with. There was no professional dynamic in any capacity.
~ David Simon
Martin Ritt’s “Edge of the City” was on TCM recently and even though it’s Poitier who gets a lot of credit for the acting in the movie, the 27 or 28 year-old Cassavetes (depending on when they shot it) just owns the flick. A pairing of this and Don Siegel’s not-as-great-but-still-solid “Crime in the Streets” is a really great one-two of young Cassavetes.
The cool thing with “Edge” and it’s exploration of race relations is to know that Cassavetes was probably well on his way to mapping out “Shadows” by the time “Edge” was in the theaters.
Anyone heading to CineVegas is a few weeks? Pretty sweet lineup this year!
I was absolutely awed by “Redbelt”; I’m a huge fan of “Spartan,” and this had the same mix of the verbose and the abstract… Eljiofor was incredible as always, great part for Tim Allen, and usual solid support from Montegna and Ricky Jay.
I don’t know if it’s the actress or just the parts she’s playing lately, though, but after “I Am Legend,” that’s two in a row where Alice Braga was annoying in the extreme. Here, though, it might have been because her character seemed to be conceived as some sort of Neil LaBute nightmare. I guess that makes for a bit of a storytelling flaw, that the “pure,” un-corrupt master would be married to such a ruthless shark, but it didn’t bother me in the moment.
Best of all has been reading the vitriol from the baffled IMDB message board folks, 99.9% of them seem to have gone in expecting “Never Back Down” or a Mark Dacascos-style competition flick.
SJR, I absolutely adore that movie. I think that movie illustrates what a terrific actor Cassavetes is, as the whole movie rests on him and Poitier being believable as friends and we sure as hell believe it. The ending of that movie is so great too. Martin Ritt is one of the more underrated directors too; I absolutely adore The Front which never gets is due but is probably the best film ever made about the black list.
Lex, I haven’t seen Redbelt yet, but I just watched Mamet’s Homicide for the first time and man, that was a seriously interesting film. But more to the point, Mantegna was so fucking great in it and I’m glad to hear he’s in Mamet’s new one because he reads Mamet’s dialogue like nobody else (except maybe Macy, who is just unbelievable in Oleanna).
I’ll tell you what else — waiting in line outside in 100 degree heat only to be informed of Bill Shatner’s nazi rules at his “book signing”, and then not even acknowledging anyone as he signs — is a bunch of bullshit. That’s what else.
Also watched Youth Without Youth. Although pretty impenetrable, it was an interesting experience, beautifully shot, and well acted. Too bad Francis didn’t know what to do with it ultimately.
Aris…
You expect pity from us because you wanted Shatners autograph AND have his book?? Go sell crazy somewhere else pal 😉
Completely agree, LexG. Was telling a friend of mine that I saw a commercial for “Iron Man” on one of the NBA playoff games and was like, “Oh, yeah – I kind of remember that scene in the movie. Fun!”
But I’m still kind of “living” “Redbelt,” taking it apart, putting it back together. I pretty much love every scene in “Spartan” except for when the White House aide breaks down and tearfully begs Kilmer to go get the kid back – a scene I hate so much that I wish I could send the thing to CleanFlix and get it back without it.
“Redbelt” doesn’t have that scene and is just a weird, thought-provoking piece of film. The one bit that kind of still throws me is the casting of Randy Couture to basically play a doppelganger of his former boss/now enemy Dana White. The words that tumble out of his mouth – Mamet writing what seems like a slag against White – are just crazy-garbage-nonsense at times, but being in Mamet-land, you just kind of roll with it as no one else seems to notice.
Oh, and I am the only one looking at the Spielberg shots from Cannes saying, “Ah, he’s finally kind of letting go of the comb-over…”
Hey, I liked Redbelt too, but can we please stop pretending like it made any sense?
I’m surprised that you’re so down on Alice Braga, Lex.
You need to check her out in the seriously sexy “Lower City.”
Smoking hot indeed!
Noah- I think the ultimate Mantegna-doing-Mamet performance is in “House of Games.” Have you seen it? “HOG” was Mamet’s directing debut, and still my personal favorite of all his films.
And speaking of Martin Ritt, you should definitely seek out 1983’s “Cross Creek” with its Oscar-nominated performance by Alfre Woodard, and 1978’s “Casey’s Shadow” (Matthau at his unschticky best). Ritt was considered passe by most critics when both of those films opened, and they never received their due. I’m also a huge fan of “The Front” which features what might possibly be Woody’s best performance ever. It was probably as underrated as “Network” was (and I know this is a minority opinion) overrated in 1976.
Found on the Showbiz page of Fark …
Is “Speed Racer” this generation’s “Ishtar”?
Redbelt made all sorts of sense. The Master had a cool system and his shadowy in-laws wanted to use it. They used people to get it done. Which in turn wrecked his life. He did get Emily Mortimer out of the deal. So it’s a win win. Nevertheless the previous statement stands; David Mamet made a movie about honour and respect in an age without any. No wonder so many people were confused with this movie. They ending most likely confounded them as to why Mike Terry received what he did.
I don’t think that there were nearly as many devoted fans of Ishtar as there are of Speed Racer.
movieman, i bow down at the feet of ‘house of games’ in worship, one of my all-time fave films hands-down, a masterpiece of the genre.
mantegna ‘reads mamet’s dialog like nobody else’, i totally agree, noah; i suspect mamet’s unique speech patterns scare the bejesus out of many actors and it often shows in their performances, they just can’t seem to wrap their tongues around the words in a naturalistic way and it comes off as forced or stilted, but mantegna’s delivery is smooth as silk, for whatever reason… i’d like to ask him, acutally
Odd thing is, Mantegna sometimes seems to do Mantegna-by-numbers in other people’s movies, even good directors, but when he’s in a Mamet, he’s pitch-perfect and awesome. Even in “Redbelt,” where his part is sort of small, he makes a tremendous impression and nails the dialogue.
I’d add Ed O’Neill to the list as another distinctive, underrated actor who “gets” Mamet. His bit here was disappointingly brief, pretty much a cameo, but always great to see him.
yeah, mamet would appear to bring out the best in mantegna…except for mantegna’s work as ‘fat tony’ in ‘the simpsons’, of course, which is always bitchin
Mantegna, Macy, Ricky Jay, Rebecca Pidgeon…Mamet’s repertory company is excellent in his films, in everybody else’s films they’re hit or miss. Mantegna, I just really like the guy, I find him to be super charismatic and he is amazing in Searching For Bobby Fischer as well as House of Games, which is probably still my favorite Mamet.
Movieman, you’re totally right about Martin Ritt…Cross Creek is great and I even have a soft spot for Murphy’s Romance which I must have watched fifteen times as a kid.
Somehow his Joe Zasa should’ve OWNED, though, and just fell flat.
I didn’t mean to dis Sidney Lumet with that unkind “Network” remark. I like the film well enough; I just think that it was a tad overpraised in the year of large (and small) masterpieces like “Robin and Marian,” “Taxi Driver,” “All the President’s Men,” “The Man Who Fell to Earth,” “The Last Woman,” “Nickelodeon,” “Small Change,” “The Memory of Justice,” “Kings of the Road” and yes, “The Front.”
Lumet and Ritt are actually pretty similar. Both were TV-trained directors who got a lot of attention for their “social realist” movies dating back to the l950s. When times (and movies) changed in the late 60s-early 70s, they seemed a little out of touch with the zeitgeist which is probably why they lost favor with critics. Another common trait was their consummate professionalism, lack of visual ostentation (which seemed anathema in the New Hollywood) and a talent for bringing out the best in their actors.
Lumet seemed more adaptable to that cynical, disillusioned age, though, and had some of his biggest successes during that period (“Serpico,” “Dog Day,” “Network”). Ritt–with the exception of “Norma Rae” which won Sally her first Oscar and was a moderate hit in 1979–never truly rebounded to find the sort of favor with critics and audiences that he did back in his early days.
Another terrific latter Ritt film is “Murphy’s Romance” with one of James Garner’s best performances ever.
…and we shouldn’t overlook the ex-Mrs. Mamet, Lindsay Crouse.
She matched Mantegna every step of the way in “House of Games:” talk about a brilliant acting duet!
I also loved the way Crouse so tersely read her lines in a small, but juicy supporting role in the Mamet-penned “The Verdict” (speaking of Sidney Lumet!)
You know what movie I watched last night? Blood Beach! I thought it’d be a fun little fright flick – especially based on the amazing poster 😛 – but, christ on a bike, that was awful. Had production values worse than a bad porno and the monster was absolutely pathetic.
And after that I was thinking it reminded me of James Cameron’s Paranha sequel. Has anyone seen that? It’s also really really bad.
Redbelt Spoilers Ahoy…
In response to IO, it takes a large amount of suspension of disbelief to believe the plot, which requires the audience to believe that Ricky Jay and that Brazilian guy not only got Joe Mantegna and Tim Allen in on the scam, but that they managed to come up with the entire plan in less than a day. It also doesn’t make much sense that they would know Terry would give the watch to the cop who would pawn it. However, as unbelievable as this is, you can twist logic to make it work.
In the final fight sequence, I can also buy that Terry would be able to fight that guy without a shitload of guards taking him out right away. What I can’t buy is the scene immediately after where the Japanese dude and the professor give Terry their belts.
Those guys saw nothing but a fight in the gangway, it would have seemed very dishonourable to them, one guy attacking a fighter right before a match. It would have seemed kind of like when that crazy Irish guy tackled that marathon runner in the last Olympics. Normally, the closing shots of a film wouldn’t have pissed me off so much, but Mamet filmed them with such pretentiousness that it just highlighted how stupid the whole thing was.
Again, I liked the film for the dialogue and all the great performances (although I also disliked Braga), but it didn’t make sense.
pirahna II, the spawning (wasn’t it something like that?…) cameron had nowhere to go but up! i guess it didn’t put him off working in the water though…
movieman, lindsay crouse was amazing in ‘house of games’, she never seemed to get much acclaim for that role, much to my chagrin. what happened to her career? i think the last time i saw her was as the chief on reruns of the new ‘dragnet’ tv show on cable, sorta bummed me out.
mamet seems to like his wives with flexible tongues and acting chops, isn’t he married to rebecca pidgeon?
I think you mean, “so why is he married to Rebecca Pidgeon?”
Wasn’t the story on “Piranha II” that Cameron got fired after three days and the rest of the movie was directed by the producer (Ovidio Assonitis, who also directed the pretty awful “Tentacles”) – whose intention it was to do that very thing the entire time?
Redbelt Spoilers Ahoy… that stays and it’s Olbermann time.
“In response to IO, it takes a large amount of suspension of disbelief to believe the plot… ”
Not really. If you assume that this plan has been in motion for a while and they finally decided to put it into place in order to boost ppv buy rates.
“… which requires the audience to believe that Ricky Jay and that Brazilian guy not only got Joe Mantegna and Tim Allen in on the scam… ”
Again… not really… because this involved Mike’s wife getting involved with these two, and that’s how Chet and his Producer got in on the deal.
“… but that they managed to come up with the entire plan in less than a day.”
This plan was in the works for a while. This is why they did not pay Joe the Cop. The whole wild-card of the plan was Emily Mortimer’s character. Who gave them an out in terms of a lawsuit by almost killing… Joe the Cop.
“It also doesn’t make much sense that they would know Terry would give the watch to the cop who would pawn it.”
The watch is another wild-card part of the plan. It gave everyone another out. This is why Mantenga’s character says to Mike that only a dumbass would pawn a watch from Chet Frank. Mike gave everyone manipulating him behind the scenes. Another out in terms of taking his concept and making money from it.
“However, as unbelievable as this is, you can twist logic to make it work.”
Twisting my be the wrong word. Mamet writers characters who can find an edge to a dull blade and turn it into a deadly weapon. Mike Terry was played the moment he married into the Silva clan. His own wife sold him out to make clothes for a producer’s and a movie star’s wife. This is pretty much the most basic of double-crosses throughout time, and Mamet made it interesting thanks to MMA!
“In the final fight sequence, I can also buy that Terry would be able to fight that guy without a
shitload of guards taking him out right away.”
Yep: it’s an honour thing.
“What I can’t buy is the scene immediately after where the Japanese dude and the professor give Terry their belts.”
They know the man that he is. They know the man that Silva is. They both paid respect to the man who kept their honour by defeating the less than honourable man. Again; it’s an honour thing in a time when honour and respect confuse people. The ending is one of the main reasons I love this movie because those two men giving up the belts is just that realistic in terms of that world.
“Those guys saw nothing but a fight in the gangway, it would have seemed very dishonourable to them, one guy attacking a fighter right before a match. It would have seemed kind of like when that crazy Irish guy tackled that marathon runner in the last Olympics.”
Again: they know Mike Terry. They know Silva. Both men knew Mike was doing what he was doing for an honourable and noble reason. Neither man doubted him for a minute. Again… it’s an honour and respect thing that Mamet captured perfectly in this film.
“Normally, the closing shots of a film wouldn’t have pissed me off so much, but Mamet filmed them with such pretentiousness that it just highlighted how stupid the whole thing was.”
Honour is a very real thing to a lot of people. If you save face for someone. If you do right by them. They will repay you. The old man knew Mike. The Japanese fight knew Mike. Neither man for a minute believed what he was doing was anything less than honourable. Cynicism has no place here. Honour before all else.
“Again, I liked the film for the dialogue and all the great performances (although I also disliked Braga), but it didn’t make sense.”
Find a martial art, take it for a few years, and it will make sense.
jeff, i take it rebecca’s not your cup of tea!
i think i liked her best in ‘the spanish prisoner’, but she sorta bugged me in ‘heist’, so there you go
OK, IO, you can explain away the whole thing with honour if you want, I’m glad you enjoyed the film.
Also, the plan couldn’t have been set in motion for a long time, because they didn’t know the gun was going to go off to break the window, and the whole scam started the next day
Bartholomew, you make some valid points, but somehow absolutely none of that improbability bothered me when I was watching it; While of course there’s a central “con,” the particulars seemed far less important than the Eljiofor character study and the macho tension in individual scenes.
I wrote most of your questions off to simply that Mamet was doing his “Spartan” thing again, intentionally glossing over the hows and whens, presenting a narrative that eliminates many of the expected formulaic scenes.
Incidentally, Max Martini, who played Officer Joe, was excellent. Dude is awesome on Mamet’s/Ryan’s “The Unit.”
For a native New Yorker, Ritt always did well with films set in the South, beginning with The Long Hot Summer in ’58. I suppose his biggest hits were Hud and Sounder. All 3 brought him DGA nominations. But I think my favorite of his is 1957’s No Down Payment, an examination of post-G.I. Bill suburbia that’s now like a time capsule of mid-20th century American attitudes toward success, work, gender, sex, alcohol, religion and race. Coincidentally, I was just raving about it on Dave Kehr’s blog. Unfortunately, it’s almost impossible to find (it sometimes pops up on Fox Movie Channel, though not recently).
I liked Rebecca Pidgeon’s little cameo in Shopgirl (which reminds me how effectively Steve Martin fit into the Mamet universe in The Spanish Prisoner).
Caught No Down Payment on FMC about six months ago and I agree its a overlooked classic. And I have always loved Hombre. Still the best Elmore Leonard adaption to make it on screen (Though Get Shorty and Out of Sight come damn close)
My favorite internet rumor ever revolved around Tarantino adapting Elmore Leonard’s great prison novella “Forty Lashes Less One” to star Fred Williamson and the then-ailing Charles Bronson. It would’ve been a great final role (like “The Indian Runner” might’ve been if not for the “Family of Cops” made-for-TV movies), would’ve brought Bronson back to Leonard, whose work had given him one of his signature roles with “Mr. Majestyk,” and would have given us a proper Tarantino western (of sorts).
Apparently, there was some truth to it as Tarantino had the rights to six of Leonard’s westerns, but the rest is just “internet.”
In THE SPANISH PRISONER, Pidgeon has some of the worst line readings in the history of film. I blame Mamet, but still. Steve Martin is good tho, but I figured it all out in minutes. A minor variation of HOUSE OF GAMES, still Mamet’s best film.