The Eclectic Choice: Jackpot

Jackpot (2001)
dir. Michael Polish
written by Mark and Michael Polish


This is the second film by Mark and Michael Polish, twin brothers who delivered one of the more underrated debuts of the 90's, Twin Falls Idaho (1999). In Jackpot, the brothers deliver another off the wall film about a guy who wants to be a singing sensation and sets out by conquering the karaoke world.

John Gries gives one of his best performances as Sunny Holiday, the aspiring singer who is on a nine month road trip wit his manager played by Garrett Morris. The twosome travel from seedy bar to seedy bar waiting for Sunny's big break as he croons his way through karaoke competitions and sell carpet stain remover to make extra cash. Gries gives Sunny a heartbreaking optimism that sets the tone and allows every surrealistic situation to come alive with an almost dreamlike quality. It is a tone that comes crashing down to reality when Daryl Hannah, as Sunny's wife, forces Sunny to look at his life and make some heavy decisions.

This is a film that spells quirk with a capital Q and reinforces a vision of two filmmakers who are unique and continually overlooked. With other films like Northfork (2003), The Astronaut Farmer (2006) and the upcoming Manure (2009), Mark and Michael Polish are real modern day representatives of independent cinema who seem to continually get lost behind the more commercialized Napoleon Dynamites and Junos in this world.

Review: The Friends Of Eddie Coyle

The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973)
starring: Robert Mitchum, Peter Boyle, Richard Jordan, Alex Rocco, Steven Keats
dir. Peter Yates


This is a film that has not yet to see the light of day on DVD and it's a real shame. I've seen it scheduled to play on AMC a few times, but I wanted to wait and see it uncut and on the big screen. I'm glad I did. This is a movie that is cold and ruthless and one of Robert Mitchum's best performances, hands down. The film feels completely original and is like nothing I've ever seen. Yes, it's a character piece, but it's really more of a lifestyle piece. A look into the world of small time hoods and all of the deceit and betrayal that goes along with it. It's a forefather to Donnie Brasco (1997) but without the formal plot line. There is no justice, no comeuppance, no good versus bad, there is only the lifestyle. Just so you're clear headed when you sit down to watch it, the title is irony in its purest form.

The basic gist is Eddie Coyle (Mitchum), was busted running booze and is getting ready to do a stint in jail. As the film progresses we become involved in Coyle's world and meet his "friends". They vary from the back stabbing bartender Dillon, a home run performance from Peter Boyle, to the the leader of a small time group of bank robbers played by Alex Rocco. Coyle is a middle man for getting guns for Rocco and is willing to turn on his source to get out of serving time. So Coyle is about as loyal as everyone else around him. This is not a world where there is honor among thieves. It's every man for himself and cops against all.

Mitchum as Coyle is broken and burnt out and just plain fed up with the whole lifestyle. He doesn't want to go to jail, he's got two teenage kids and a chubby Irish wife who loves him. It's a small life, but it's his to lose and he doesn't want it gone. Watching Mitchum trying to work the angles and find a way to freedom is exasperating. Every step he makes forward, we see others make moves to set him two steps back. By the time the end credits roll you almost feel a sense of relief that Eddie doesn't have to deal with this shit anymore.

Peter Boyle played an assortment of scumbags in the 70's and his portrayal of Dillon is another spot on performance. He double crosses and kills with a certain shrug of the shoulders. He's a guy who is nothing but ugly, but his surface veneer never betrays his inner workings. Boyle plays Dillon as a person, never winking at the audience to show he knows he's a bad guy. There is always something going on behind those eyes, and it's never good.

Growing up, I knew director Peter Yates as the guy who made Krull (1983) and The Deep (1977). Later I'd learn he made grittier fare like Bullitt (1968) and The Hot Rock (1972), but this is his masterpiece. Simple in execution, gritty and bare, but he never misses out on those small character moments that create a realistic world of small time hoods. This is a great piece of 70's cinema and just a great piece all around.

10 out of 10

(NOTE: there is a rumor that Criterion will be releasing a DVD this year. If so, yay!)

From Me: The Sundance Chronicles Pt. 3

Not much in the way of chronicles, I must admit.

There were a few highlights considering I was stuck inside a single building for seven days straight.

First here is a picture with me and a stand up comedian/actor/writer who is also one of the best film geeks I've ever run across. A great cinematic mind with a clear and concise point of view when it comes to discussing movies. He was a treat to interview and a really good guy.

I'm not much of a smiler to begin with, but I look even more dour because I'm trying to hide the excitement of talking to a like minded being. Also (I'm being vain here), what is with those awful fat lines on my neck? Man, I need to work on that.

Here are also a couple of the interviews that I cut together. They each have their charms. These and more interviews can be seen on the Hollywood Life website.

From Me: The Sundance Chronicles Pt. 2

So I've been working sixteen hour days, though I'm on hour seventeen right now. I haven't had a chance to walk around or take pictures and I've realized that the odds of me seeing a movie are nil.

I have met a few people and been extremely shy around Alfonso Cuaron who I have nothing but admiration for. During the day everyone is friendly for the most part, but in the evenings there are an extreme amount of douchebag partiers around this place.

I actually work in a building that hosts parties, so as I am writing this a bunch of unattractive women in dresses way too short for the weather outside and guys with fauxhawks, dance up a storm and clog up toilets on the floors below me. The parties started at nine and will be going until four in the morning.

What very little there is to tell shall be coming soon.

From Me: The Sundance Chronicles Pt. 1

Today I leave for the Sundance Film Festival. I have been hired to edit some interviews of folks there for some TV channel or website. I'm not sure which, I just do what I'm hired to do.

I leave today because it appears my employers are driving and I'm riding in the backseat. I'm not exactly thrilled about the idea of spending 10 plus hours in a car, but hey it's an adventure.

Since I'll be working constantly, I won't be seeing any movies, I think, but I'm hoping there will be stories to tell and pictures to publish. Perhaps I will spend my evenings whooping it up with the people behind the scenes which could lead to juicy gossip. So stay tuned for my adventures at the cinematic tundra known to all as Sundance.

R.I.P. Ray Dennis Steckler

Ray Dennis Steckler (1938-2009)

I ran across this today, six days late. I hadn't read about it on any of my regular movie sites, so it seems to have slipped through the cracks.

Instead of eulogizing him in a brief paragraph, here is a nice little article about him. There is also a great piece about him in Re/Search #10: Incredibly Strange Films.

I've seen a few of his movies and they have their charm and a level of energy that proved he liked what he was doing. He was a man who knew what he wanted to make and made them. Exploitation was his game and he played it well.

I feel he also holds the record for best title ever: The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living And Became Mixed Up Zombies (1963). Yes, that is the actual title.

The Eclectic Choice: Lessons Of Darkness

Lessons Of Darkness (1992)

dir. Werner Herzog

Werner Herzog is as good of a documentarian as he is a narrative filmmakers. Both contain a visual magic. Herzog style works to find beauty in ugliness and the ugliness behind beauty.

Lessons Of Darkness is an hourlong documentary that looks at the fires in the oil fields of Iraq after the Gulf War in 1991. What we see are amazing images and mile after mile of oil lakes and burning spouts across a landscape that seems almost alien.

Accompanied by classical music we are pushed and pulled at the beauty and horror of the situation. The camera flies over the oil soaked terrain and settles near gushing flames that erupt into the air billowing dark clouds of smoke. Watching teams move in and stop a fire is one of the highlights. When the explosives go off we get an astonishing image of the ground rising and the fire snuff out like a match being extinguished.

There is a piece of narration at the end where we see firefighters re-ignite a well and Herzog questions if these men they need the fires versus the technical reason for them starting the fire. It's a bit hokey, but does reiterate the otherworldliness.

Well worth the purchase and will be a film that looks insane on a big screen tv when/if they decide to put out a Blu-ray version.