A Safe Place (Criterion #548).
1971 BBS Productions and Columbia Pictures.
Starring: Tuesday Weld, Orson Welles, Phil Proctor, Jack Nicholson, Dov Lawrence, Gwen Welles
Produced by Bert Schneider
Written and directed by Henry Jaglom
Available only as part of Criterion's America Lost and Found: The BBS Story box set. Amazon: Standard DVD. Blu-ray.
Henry Jaglom's first movie is a big screen adaptation of a stage play he wrote and produced in the 1960s starring Karen Black, and Tuesday Weld on occasion. BBS Productions gave Jaglom the opportunity to produce a film version, and Jack Nicholson appeared in it as a favor to the director (Jaglom appeared in Nicholson's Drive, He Said), only expecting a new color television set as compensation. When A Safe Place was shown at the 1971 New York Film Festival, audience reaction was so divided that a riot nearly broke out.
A Safe Place is a surreal and somewhat confusing film where Tuesday Weld portrays a hippie woman named either Susan or Noah, and she seems caught between adolescence and adulthood, which is why she frequently retreats (seemingly) into her imagination. She is dating a somewhat nerdish man named Fred (Proctor), when she isn't having an affair with a wealthy married man, Mitch (Nicholson). Also appearing frequently is an older magician (Welles), and we're unclear as to who he really is, if he isn't a figment of Susan's imagination. Phil knows that Susan is whacko, but he puts up with her stories and other nonsense. Ultimately, neither Phil nor Mitch can completely satisfy Susan.
This one rivals Head as the oddest BBS production (they also produced and released The Last Picture Show in 1971). Still, Tuesday Weld gave a decent performance, and she looked gorgeous in this one. You can also tell Orson Welles was happy, as he got to essentially portray himself as the magician. Henry Jaglom uses plenty of unrelated jump cuts and other bizarre imagery to create a truly unique film. Recommended, although do not expect to get it the first time. This one may require more than one viewing, folks.
Showing posts with label bbs productions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bbs productions. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Drive, He Said
Drive, He Said (Criterion #547).
1971 BBS Productions and Columbia Pictures.
Starring: William Tepper, Karen Black, Michael Margotta, Bruce Dern, Robert Towne, Henry Jaglom, Michael Warren, Charles Robinson, David Ogden Stiers, Cindy Williams
Produced by Steve Blauner and Jack Nicholson
Screenplay: Jeremy Larner, Jack Nicholson, Terrence Malick (uncredited)
Director: Jack Nicholson
Drive, He Said is only available as part of Criterion's box set America Lost and Found: The BBS Story. Amazon listings: Standard DVD. Blu-ray.
Jack Nicholson's directoral debut not surprisingly features basketball as one of the central plotlines. It's also an interesting, but disorganized film. I still found it compelling enough.
Hector Bloom (Tepper) is a star college basketball player from California who has found himself at a small university somewhere in Ohio (modeled after Kent State). His roommate Gabriel (Margotta) is from a well off family, but he's still harboring radical feelings and getting involved with campus protests. Both Hector and Gabriel are both facing the draft: Hector to the NBA, while Gabriel will do just about everything to not go to Vietnam. And Hector, as the film goes on, seems more and more unhappy at the thought of turning professional.
Hector is also having an affair with the wife of his favorite professor, Olive (Black), which comes to an end once he realizes that he's in love with her. And then, Olive reveals she's pregnant. Coach Bullion (Dern) does his best to run the team and keep Hector motivated while slowly realizing that his star player may not have the heart for the game and the rest of the team anymore.
Drive, He Said has one notable standout performance, from Margotta as the increasingly crazed radical Gabriel, and the film itself is good, but not great. Interesting, I felt nonetheless, even if the finished project came across more as a series of unrelated, episodic sketches that are only tied together by the main characters. Recommended movie.
1971 BBS Productions and Columbia Pictures.
Starring: William Tepper, Karen Black, Michael Margotta, Bruce Dern, Robert Towne, Henry Jaglom, Michael Warren, Charles Robinson, David Ogden Stiers, Cindy Williams
Produced by Steve Blauner and Jack Nicholson
Screenplay: Jeremy Larner, Jack Nicholson, Terrence Malick (uncredited)
Director: Jack Nicholson
Drive, He Said is only available as part of Criterion's box set America Lost and Found: The BBS Story. Amazon listings: Standard DVD. Blu-ray.
Jack Nicholson's directoral debut not surprisingly features basketball as one of the central plotlines. It's also an interesting, but disorganized film. I still found it compelling enough.
Hector Bloom (Tepper) is a star college basketball player from California who has found himself at a small university somewhere in Ohio (modeled after Kent State). His roommate Gabriel (Margotta) is from a well off family, but he's still harboring radical feelings and getting involved with campus protests. Both Hector and Gabriel are both facing the draft: Hector to the NBA, while Gabriel will do just about everything to not go to Vietnam. And Hector, as the film goes on, seems more and more unhappy at the thought of turning professional.
Hector is also having an affair with the wife of his favorite professor, Olive (Black), which comes to an end once he realizes that he's in love with her. And then, Olive reveals she's pregnant. Coach Bullion (Dern) does his best to run the team and keep Hector motivated while slowly realizing that his star player may not have the heart for the game and the rest of the team anymore.
Drive, He Said has one notable standout performance, from Margotta as the increasingly crazed radical Gabriel, and the film itself is good, but not great. Interesting, I felt nonetheless, even if the finished project came across more as a series of unrelated, episodic sketches that are only tied together by the main characters. Recommended movie.
Friday, June 3, 2011
The King of Marvin Gardens
The King of Marvin Gardens (Criterion #550).
1972 BBS Productions and Columbia Pictures.
Starring: Jack Nicholson, Bruce Dern, Ellen Burstyn, Julia Anne Robinson, Benjamin "Scatman" Crothers, Charles LaVine, Josh Mostel
Director: Bob Rafelson
Available as a single DVD, or part of Criterion's America Lost and Found: The BBS Story box set (standard DVD) (Blu-ray).
This 1972 film directed by Bob Rafelson was reissued last year in one of the most (IMHO) exciting home video releases of 2010, Criterion's America Lost and Found: The BBS Story. Originally, the project was supposed to be released by Sony with the generic "New Hollywood" title in fall of 2009, but at some point, Sony licensed the set to Criterion, who worked their unique brand of magic on the seven films included, and the plethora of extras found on each disc. BBS Productions was formed in 1968 by Rafelson, Bert Schneider, and Steve Blauner, financed by the success of the Monkees' TV series. Over the next four years, BBS would create and release some undisputed classic films which were distributed by Columbia Pictures, notably Five Easy Pieces, Easy Rider, and The Last Picture Show. BBS was also responsible for the Academy Award winning 1974 Vietnam documentary Hearts of Minds, which is not included on the BBS set, but it has its own Criterion release.
The King of Marvin Gardens stars Jack Nicholson, playing against type as a depressing and almost passive radio host named David Staebler, also known as "The Philosopher", who spends his evenings depressing and boring the hell out of anyone who's listening in or around Philadelphia. One of his favorite topics to discuss on the air is his older brother Jason (Dern), who at the time, is in jail, allegedly for stealing a car. After one memorably bad show, David is called upon to bail Jason out of the hoosegow, with the help of a shady businessman named Lewis (Crothers). Arriving in Atlantic City, the bold and outgoing Jason ropes his brother into an outrageous scheme: buying a small island near Hawaii, and turning it into a resort. Jason is also living with two girlfriends in a once-grand Atlantic City hotel; the aging beauty queen Sally (Burstyn) and her stepdaughter Jessie (Robinson). Sally starts to grow paranoid that Jason will abandon her once his "upcoming success" in Hawaii becomes a reality.
The tension between Sally and Jessie gradually increases over the course of the movie, and David seems to realize that Jason's plans simply aren't going to happen, especially after a debacle of a lobster dinner with two potential investors from Japan, who do not come through. Also, Jason seems to be confident that he can get financial support from Lewis, who isn't buying in, as David will find out one evening. Tragically, Jason's grand scheme never gets out of Atlantic City, as Sally shoots him to death following a loud argument between the two of them and David.
A great movie, even if it was a bleak and depressing one at time. Its violent ending seemed almost appropriate in this character study of four people with no real future to their lives or any chance to escape Atlantic City, New Jersey. Recommended movie.
1972 BBS Productions and Columbia Pictures.
Starring: Jack Nicholson, Bruce Dern, Ellen Burstyn, Julia Anne Robinson, Benjamin "Scatman" Crothers, Charles LaVine, Josh Mostel
Director: Bob Rafelson
Available as a single DVD, or part of Criterion's America Lost and Found: The BBS Story box set (standard DVD) (Blu-ray).
This 1972 film directed by Bob Rafelson was reissued last year in one of the most (IMHO) exciting home video releases of 2010, Criterion's America Lost and Found: The BBS Story. Originally, the project was supposed to be released by Sony with the generic "New Hollywood" title in fall of 2009, but at some point, Sony licensed the set to Criterion, who worked their unique brand of magic on the seven films included, and the plethora of extras found on each disc. BBS Productions was formed in 1968 by Rafelson, Bert Schneider, and Steve Blauner, financed by the success of the Monkees' TV series. Over the next four years, BBS would create and release some undisputed classic films which were distributed by Columbia Pictures, notably Five Easy Pieces, Easy Rider, and The Last Picture Show. BBS was also responsible for the Academy Award winning 1974 Vietnam documentary Hearts of Minds, which is not included on the BBS set, but it has its own Criterion release.
The King of Marvin Gardens stars Jack Nicholson, playing against type as a depressing and almost passive radio host named David Staebler, also known as "The Philosopher", who spends his evenings depressing and boring the hell out of anyone who's listening in or around Philadelphia. One of his favorite topics to discuss on the air is his older brother Jason (Dern), who at the time, is in jail, allegedly for stealing a car. After one memorably bad show, David is called upon to bail Jason out of the hoosegow, with the help of a shady businessman named Lewis (Crothers). Arriving in Atlantic City, the bold and outgoing Jason ropes his brother into an outrageous scheme: buying a small island near Hawaii, and turning it into a resort. Jason is also living with two girlfriends in a once-grand Atlantic City hotel; the aging beauty queen Sally (Burstyn) and her stepdaughter Jessie (Robinson). Sally starts to grow paranoid that Jason will abandon her once his "upcoming success" in Hawaii becomes a reality.
The tension between Sally and Jessie gradually increases over the course of the movie, and David seems to realize that Jason's plans simply aren't going to happen, especially after a debacle of a lobster dinner with two potential investors from Japan, who do not come through. Also, Jason seems to be confident that he can get financial support from Lewis, who isn't buying in, as David will find out one evening. Tragically, Jason's grand scheme never gets out of Atlantic City, as Sally shoots him to death following a loud argument between the two of them and David.
A great movie, even if it was a bleak and depressing one at time. Its violent ending seemed almost appropriate in this character study of four people with no real future to their lives or any chance to escape Atlantic City, New Jersey. Recommended movie.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Easy Rider
Easy Rider.
1969 Raybert Productions & Columbia Pictures.
Starring: Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, Jack Nicholson
Director: Dennis Hopper
Buy Easy Rider at Amazon. (Note: the 35th Anniversary Deluxe Edition, which I own, is now out of print.)
Wyatt (Fonda), nicknamed "Captain America" for his U.S. flag-adorned leather, and Billy (Hopper), who dresses in Native American-style clothing, are two bikers who just smuggled drugs from Mexico to Los Angeles. After selling their haul to a rich man (played by Phil Spector) who drives a Rolls-Royce. The money is stuffed into the fuel tank of Wyatt's bike, and the pair rides eastward, hoping to make it to New Orleans in time for Mardi Gras. En route, they pick up a hitchhiker (Luke Askew), taking him to his commune, where they stay for a few days. Life in the commune isn't especially easy, since the residents are largely hippies from urban areas who are inexperienced at growing food. Before they leave, Wyatt and Billy are given some LSD by the hitchhiker, who advises them to share it with "the right people".
Wyatt and Billy join a parade in a small town for laughs, which gets them arrested. They befriend an alcoholic ACLU lawyer, George Hanson (Nicholson), who gets them out of jail, and decides to accompany them. George is introduced to marijuana, and the three of them have a hard time in a small Louisiana town. The teenage girls adore Wyatt and Billy, but the adults and local police want them out of town. George remarks that he can't understand what's "gone wrong" with America. Overnight, the trio is attacked by the local hecklers, and George is murdered.
Arriving in New Orleans, Wyatt and Billy travel to the brothel that George had recommended to them. They take two prostitutes, Karen (played by Karen Black) and Mary (Toni Basil), and wander through Mardi Gras. All four end up in a cemetery, where they drop the acid and experience a really bad trip. Wyatt unwittingly has a vision of his and Billy's ultimate fate.
Wyatt realizes that while their search for freedom was financially successful, it was a spiritual failure, but Billy remains oblivious. They continue their ride towards Florida, where they intend to retire wealthy, when a chance run-in with shotgun brandishing rednecks proves fatal for both of them.
Highly, highly recommended.
1969 Raybert Productions & Columbia Pictures.
Starring: Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, Jack Nicholson
Director: Dennis Hopper
Buy Easy Rider at Amazon. (Note: the 35th Anniversary Deluxe Edition, which I own, is now out of print.)
Wyatt (Fonda), nicknamed "Captain America" for his U.S. flag-adorned leather, and Billy (Hopper), who dresses in Native American-style clothing, are two bikers who just smuggled drugs from Mexico to Los Angeles. After selling their haul to a rich man (played by Phil Spector) who drives a Rolls-Royce. The money is stuffed into the fuel tank of Wyatt's bike, and the pair rides eastward, hoping to make it to New Orleans in time for Mardi Gras. En route, they pick up a hitchhiker (Luke Askew), taking him to his commune, where they stay for a few days. Life in the commune isn't especially easy, since the residents are largely hippies from urban areas who are inexperienced at growing food. Before they leave, Wyatt and Billy are given some LSD by the hitchhiker, who advises them to share it with "the right people".
Wyatt and Billy join a parade in a small town for laughs, which gets them arrested. They befriend an alcoholic ACLU lawyer, George Hanson (Nicholson), who gets them out of jail, and decides to accompany them. George is introduced to marijuana, and the three of them have a hard time in a small Louisiana town. The teenage girls adore Wyatt and Billy, but the adults and local police want them out of town. George remarks that he can't understand what's "gone wrong" with America. Overnight, the trio is attacked by the local hecklers, and George is murdered.
Arriving in New Orleans, Wyatt and Billy travel to the brothel that George had recommended to them. They take two prostitutes, Karen (played by Karen Black) and Mary (Toni Basil), and wander through Mardi Gras. All four end up in a cemetery, where they drop the acid and experience a really bad trip. Wyatt unwittingly has a vision of his and Billy's ultimate fate.
Wyatt realizes that while their search for freedom was financially successful, it was a spiritual failure, but Billy remains oblivious. They continue their ride towards Florida, where they intend to retire wealthy, when a chance run-in with shotgun brandishing rednecks proves fatal for both of them.
Highly, highly recommended.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Head
Head. 1968 Columbia Pictures; now owned by Rhino Entertainment Group.
Starring: The Monkees
Also Appearing: Annette Funicello, Victor Mature, Jack Nicholson, Dennis Hopper, Teri Garr, Frank Zappa, Sonny Liston
Producers: Bob Rafelson & Jack Nicholson
Director: Bob Rafelson
Available from Amazon.
We open with the dedication of a new suspension bridge in a large city somewhere. After a politician overcomes his problems with constant feedback from his microphone disrupting his speech, Micky Dolenz interupts the ceremony, with David Jones, Peter Tork and Michael Nesmith hot on his trail. Dolenz leaps off the bridge into the river below, but is rescued by two mermaids.
And things just got weirder and more surreal from there. The plot vaguely suggests that the Monkees are trying to escape their own image or the limitations of their TV show, but failing at almost every attempt.
Head, depending on who you believe, was either the Monkees' attempt to break out of their bubble gum image in collaboration with Jack Nicholson and Bob Rafelson, or an attempt by Rafelson and producer Bert Schneider to bury the entire band after just a couple of years. The movie originally ran 110 minutes, but was edited down to less than 90 minutes after a poor audience response during its first screening in Los Angeles back in August 1968. Head was still a commercial flop, being the antithesis of The Monkees television series (which alienated those teenyboppers who managed to see the movie), and the "hipper" audience they were reaching for rejected the film out of hand. The bizarre TV advertising campaign, with a close-up shot of the head of a gentleman named John Brockman smiling after 30 seconds with the word "head" superimposed on the screen, didn't even mention the Monkees.
Recommended film, but do not expect a 90 minute version of the TV show, which was what I expected when I first saw Head on TNT sometime in 1994.
(Had a sequel for Head been made, the film's title was chosen so that the advertisements would start off with the inevitable tagline "From the people that gave you Head..." That's one of the greatest jokes ever. Laugh, people! Laugh!)
Starring: The Monkees
Also Appearing: Annette Funicello, Victor Mature, Jack Nicholson, Dennis Hopper, Teri Garr, Frank Zappa, Sonny Liston
Producers: Bob Rafelson & Jack Nicholson
Director: Bob Rafelson
Available from Amazon.
We open with the dedication of a new suspension bridge in a large city somewhere. After a politician overcomes his problems with constant feedback from his microphone disrupting his speech, Micky Dolenz interupts the ceremony, with David Jones, Peter Tork and Michael Nesmith hot on his trail. Dolenz leaps off the bridge into the river below, but is rescued by two mermaids.
And things just got weirder and more surreal from there. The plot vaguely suggests that the Monkees are trying to escape their own image or the limitations of their TV show, but failing at almost every attempt.
Head, depending on who you believe, was either the Monkees' attempt to break out of their bubble gum image in collaboration with Jack Nicholson and Bob Rafelson, or an attempt by Rafelson and producer Bert Schneider to bury the entire band after just a couple of years. The movie originally ran 110 minutes, but was edited down to less than 90 minutes after a poor audience response during its first screening in Los Angeles back in August 1968. Head was still a commercial flop, being the antithesis of The Monkees television series (which alienated those teenyboppers who managed to see the movie), and the "hipper" audience they were reaching for rejected the film out of hand. The bizarre TV advertising campaign, with a close-up shot of the head of a gentleman named John Brockman smiling after 30 seconds with the word "head" superimposed on the screen, didn't even mention the Monkees.
Recommended film, but do not expect a 90 minute version of the TV show, which was what I expected when I first saw Head on TNT sometime in 1994.
(Had a sequel for Head been made, the film's title was chosen so that the advertisements would start off with the inevitable tagline "From the people that gave you Head..." That's one of the greatest jokes ever. Laugh, people! Laugh!)
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Five Easy Pieces
Five Easy Pieces. 1970 Columbia Pictures.
Starring: Jack Nicholson, Karen Black, Billy Green Bush, Fannie Flagg, Sally Struthers
Director: Bob Rafelson
Buy Five Easy Pieces at Amazon.
This film is Bob Rafelson's first project that didn't involve The Monkees in some fashion. Both he and Nicholson collaborated on Head, the only feature film starring the pre-fab band which was meant to break them out of their bubblegum image. It failed at the time. Miserably.
Five Easy Pieces is the story of a former piano prodigy named Bobby Dupea (Nicholson) who is estranged from his artistic upper class family, and working on the oil rigs. Bobby only chose this lifestyle because he wanted to "see the world", and not get stuck in a routine of daily piano practices. In due time, his new life starts to disgust him just as much as a life as a famous concert pianist. When his father falls ill, he goes home to see his family, reluctantly taking his diner waitress girlfriend (Black) with him.
Recommended, and kindly don't hold the chicken between your knees, please.
P.S. Read the liner notes from Criterion's laserdisc release of Five Easy Pieces.
Starring: Jack Nicholson, Karen Black, Billy Green Bush, Fannie Flagg, Sally Struthers
Director: Bob Rafelson
Buy Five Easy Pieces at Amazon.
This film is Bob Rafelson's first project that didn't involve The Monkees in some fashion. Both he and Nicholson collaborated on Head, the only feature film starring the pre-fab band which was meant to break them out of their bubblegum image. It failed at the time. Miserably.
Five Easy Pieces is the story of a former piano prodigy named Bobby Dupea (Nicholson) who is estranged from his artistic upper class family, and working on the oil rigs. Bobby only chose this lifestyle because he wanted to "see the world", and not get stuck in a routine of daily piano practices. In due time, his new life starts to disgust him just as much as a life as a famous concert pianist. When his father falls ill, he goes home to see his family, reluctantly taking his diner waitress girlfriend (Black) with him.
Recommended, and kindly don't hold the chicken between your knees, please.
P.S. Read the liner notes from Criterion's laserdisc release of Five Easy Pieces.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)