4Five Movies You NEED To See
1. Chopper 2. Grand Theft Parsons 3. Blow 4. Autofocus 5. Confessions of a Dangerous MindHey all... Micah here. In July I filled you in on some of the best movies to come from the world of documentaries. You know, those movies about things that actually happened. This month I'm going to hit a genre that is similar in some ways, but is a lot more accessible to people who think they don't like documentaries. This month I'm going to tell you about five Based On A True Story movies that will knock you flat and leave you begging for more. Get ready to fill up that Netflix queue... here we go.
Chopper (2000)
Directed by: Andrew Dominik
Starring: Eric Bana, Simon Lyndon, David Field
Chopper is a movie about the life of the notorious modern day Aussie outlaw Mark 'Chopper' Read. Read has spent much of his life in and out of prisons. He's uneducated, charismatic, and tough as hell. He first came to public attention when the story of how he got the nickname Chopper started to surface. Turns out Read was spending sometime in jail & knew some fellow inmates were planning on killing him. He asked the warden to transfer him, but the warden turned him down. Before leaving the warden's office, he matter of factly told the man that he would be transferring him later that night. Read went to his cell, gave his cellmate a razorblade, and instructed him to cut off both of his (Read's) ears. That's just what the cellmate did, and sure enough, Read was transferred to the medical ward that night.
While in jail, Read wrote a book about this and similar experiences. The book became an overnight phenomenon in Australia, and he became an instant (if not notorious) celebrity. In the movie, Read's character explains it in the following way when asked about the success of his book:
Yeah, I know - and I can't even bloody spell. What about those poor bloody academics, those college graduates, battling their guts out to write some airy-fairy piece of exaggerated artwork? And here's a bloke, sitting in a cell, who can't spell, and he's written a best-seller. It's sold two hundred and fifty thousand copies. And it's still selling. And he's writing another one. And I can't even spell. I'm semi-bloody-illiterate.
Read is played with a simple matter-of-fact brilliance by Eric 'Crappy Ass Hulk' Bana. Apparently, before this movie was made, in Australia Bana was kinda a joke as an actor. Sort of like us and David Hasselhoff. Anyway, after Chopper came out people started giving him some well-deserved respect. Bana's portrayal of Read is done in such a way that you really can't help but root for this hardened lowlife crook. He's just too damned likeable.
Bana's performance as Read is the thing that puts this movie a notch above other. This became doubly true after I watched the interview with the real Chopper Read on the DVD and realized how eerily dead-on Bana was. The real Chopper really seems like the kind of guy you just can't get mad at, no matter what. Read/Bana's ability to manipulate others is best depicted in a scene where Read is getting shanked in jail by Jimmy, a guy he considers a close friend. After he gets stabbed the first time, Read looks at his friend and calmly asks him what he's doing. Jimmy lunges at Read and stabs him a second time. Read, as if he were explaining how you tie your shoes to a child, cooly says "Jimmy, you're stabbing me." Jimmy pounces once more, and Read, still not raising his voice or moving to defend himself says "Jimmy, if you keep stabbing me, you're going to kill me." At that point Jimmy is won over, hugs Read, and begs forgiveness. If that sounds implausible on paper, you'll have to watch it, but believe me, it comes across totally believable, which is no small feat.Grand Theft Parsons (2003)
Directed by: David Caffrey
Starring: Johnny Knoxville, Christina Applegate, Michael Shannon
Grand Theft Parsons is a movie that was in a handful of theaters for about a week before being shipped direct to DVD, which is a shame, because it is a fantastic movie. The problem it faced is that when most people see a movie starring Johnny Jackass Knoxville, they get assume its going to be a certain type of movie. Most of the time, they'll probably be right (Duke of Hazzard, I'm looking at you). However, in this case, they couldn't be more wrong.
This movie is about the agreement made between real life rocker Gram Parsons & his best friend/road manager Phil Kaufman (Knoxville). They swear that when either of them dies, the survivor will take the other to the desert and set the body on fire, presumably to free the spirit, or some hippie crap. Parsons ends up being the one to die first, but Kaufman is hindered in fulfilling his promise by Parson's parents and obnoxious sometimes-lover Barbara Mansfield (Applegate, in an outstanding performance).
So, in order to hold up his end of the agreement, Kaufman enlists the unwitting help of a burnt out hippie named Larry Osterberg (Michael Shannon), who happens to own a tie-dye hearse. Together the two of them steal the body of Parsons and attempt to stay ahead of Parsons' family, Mansfield, and the law long enough to fulfill Kaufman's vow. Think of it as a road trip buddy movie where one of the buddies is dead.
As I stated above, Knoxville totally acts against type in this movie. His performance is multilayered, and I don't think he gets hit in the nuts once. Plus, it is no secret that my favorite unknown actor is Michael Shannon. He is firing an all cylinders in this movie, and is just fantastic. Mark my words, Michael Shannon is going to be a household name sometime in the next few years. He's that good. Grand Theft Parsons is a strong comedy that deserves a strong following now that it is available on DVD.Blow (2001)
Directed by: Ted Demme
Starring: Johnny Depp, Penélope Cruz, Paul Reubens, Bobcat Goldthwait
This one is a little more mainstream than the first two in my list, and I assume many of my readers have already seen it. However, if you have not, I strongly encourage you to do so. Depp plays George Jung, the man who is often single-handedly credited with launching the cocaine market in America in the late 70's. Jung started out as a low level weed seller, but manages to be in the right place at the right time to exploit the demand for the harder stuff.
This movie hits all the expected notes for this type of movie... the young guy trying to make moves... the first big score... the montage where the main character has so much money he runs out of places to stick it... the eventual betrayal by close friends... the lightning fast drop from the good life... the trouble with the law... the attempt to make good one last time... it's all there. But, and here's the important thing, it doesn't feel like a mere rehash of those other movies. This is attributable in part to the outstanding cast. Depp, of course, is amazing in this movie, as is Paul Reubens. Director Ted Demme does a great job telling this story, and intertwines several non-drug-related storylines to make this more than just a typical drug lord movie. Again, if you haven't seen this movie, it is worth checking out, if only to see the amazing impact this one man had (and still has) on our country.Autofocus (2002)
Directed by: Paul Schrader
Starring: Greg Kinnear, Willem Dafoe
I really didn't know too much about the life of Bob Crane before I watched this movie, but man... does he have a crazy story. Crane was a struggling actor who managed to land the role of POW Hogan in the incredibly popular series Hogan's Heroes. The show's success seemed to promise Crane a bright future, but his hopes were squashed because... how should I put this... well, Bob Crane was a pervert.
Crane (Greg Kinnear) uses his fame to attract and nail groupies. A lot of groupies. Crane meets electronics salesman John Carpenter (Willem Dafoe) who provides Crane with the very first home video recorders that hit the market. Together, Crane & Carpenter go on what can only be described as an orgy of sexual encounters of all sorts... of course, they videotape all of it. Crane also got pretty heavily into compulsive consuption of pornography. Crane's sexual addictions soon cost him his marriage and most of his close friends.
As people in Hollywood started to hear about Crane's tendencies, they began to shy away from casting him in anything, and his acting career effectively ended. In June 1978, Bob Crane was found murdered in his apartment. As a result of the murder investigation, rumors of the sex tapes and orgies started to reach Joe Sixpack, who was horrified to know learn that the wholesome, beloved sitcom star was actually a sex fiend. To cap it all, the murderer was never found, but the murder weapon used was allegedly a video camera tripod.
Autofocus deals with a pretty touchy subject expertly. While the movie has a strong overall cast, the duo of Kinnear and Dafoe are what makes this movie really tick. The exploration of their relationship and the swings it goes through was really interesting, and the fact that we (as TV or movie watchers) often know so little about about the stars we obsess about is just facinating to me.Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002)
Directed by: George Clooney
Starring: Sam Rockwell, Drew Barrymore, George Clooney, Julia Roberts
The final movie this month may or may not be based on a true story. If it isn't, it is definately based on a true lie. Confused? Well, watching this movie isn't likely to make you any less confused, but at least you'll have seen a hell of a movie. Chuck Barris is a man of many talents. He was the creator of a ton of 70's gameshows. Shows like The Dating Game, The Newlywed Game, and The Game Game. He co-wrote the hit song Palisades Park. He was also the host of the enourmously popular Gong Show. And, if you believe Chuck's 1982 book Confessions of a Dangerous Mind: An Unauthorized Autobiography, he was a CIA hitman. Nevermind the fact that Chuck is the last guy you'd expect to be a hitman. Nevermind the fact that hitmen aren't supposed to... you know... say they're hitmen. Chuck has stuck by his story, and no one has yet to prove him wrong.
In Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Chuck is played by the always amazing Sam Rockwell. The cast also features Drew Barrymore as Barris' significant other, George Clooney (who also directed) as the CIA recruiter who lures Chuck in, and Julia Roberts as a rival assassain. Now if that cast doesn't get you, you should know that the movie is fantastic also. I mean, come on... it's a story about a CIA hitman who uses his job as a gameshow host as a cover. Ever wonder why most weeks the Dating Game winners would get a trip to Branson, MO, but every so often they'd win an all-expenses paid trip to Moscow, chapperoned by, guess who? Who knows whether this story is true (it's gotta be made up, right... right?) but there is no disputing that it makes for a kickass movie.
Clooney does some really innovative things in his directoral debut that you might not notice at first. He uses this one technique several times that I'm going to try to explain, but you really have to see to appreciate. Clooney will, with one single shot, show the following: Start with a wideshot of Barris standing in the hallway of his house, describing the idea for a new gameshow to his Barrymore. As he gets more excited about the idea, the camera moves closer and closer to his face, until we're getting an extreme closeup of his mouth. The camera then starts to pull back out, and we see that Barris is now in front of a room of TV executives, telling them about his idea. The first time I saw that scene, I didn't think anything about it, because it was something I thought I'd seen before.
It wasn't until I watched the DVD featurette that I realized what I was seeing wasn't just an editing trick... everything I just described was actually done in one shot. The camera zooms in, prop guys rearrange the set in a matter of seconds, someone changes Rockwell's clothes from the neck down, and the camera moves back out. Later scenes in the movie involve even more complex timing that, when you realize what's going on, are truly astounding. So, this movie's got a great cast, an totally unique story, and some pretty cool behind-the-scenes type stuff going on. What's not to love?
And that’s it for August. Come back in 30 short days and I'll have another batch of movies that you have to see. Trust me, I'm from the government.
- Micah
