Review: On the Bowery (1957)

USA/B&W-65m./Dir: Lionel Rogosin/Wr: Richard Bagley, Lionel Rogosin, & Mark Sufrin /Cast: Ray Salyer (Himself), Gorman Hendricks (Himself), Frank Matthews (Himself)

Alcoholism has never been captured with a more unflinchingly eye than in Lionel Rogosin’s 1957 semi-documentary, On The Bowery. The film was nominated for the Best Documentary Oscar and was awarded the BAFTA in the same category, but it is not a true documentary in the traditional sense. It is a mixture of narrative scenes combined with cinema vérité footage that combine to give an illusion of reality.

Director Lionel Rogosin came upon the style for the film after many false starts. Determined to depict life in all its seedy reality, he hung out for many months with the stumblebums and stewpots of New York’s skid row neighborhood, commonly referred to as the Bowery. There he befriended a wasted old alcoholic by the name of Gorman Hendricks, who gave Rogosin a guided tour of the city’s underbelly. Once Rogosin felt familiar with the way of life of the Bowery’s forgotten men, he began filming with a hidden camera, but the results were lacking. He then employed a professional film crew, but he was once again unsatisfied with the results.

Rogosin’s breakthrough came after meeting writer Mark Sufrin and cinematographer Dick Bagley in Greenwich Village’s White Horse Tavern. The pair was intrigued with Rogosin’s idea, and together they came up with a plan that would create a truthful portrait of the denizens of skid row. They began filming with no story in mind, and then worked up a simple script outline to hold the film together. The staged scenes allowed Gorman and the other homeless Bowery men to improvise using their own language, while keeping the film from deteriorating into a series of directionless vignettes. The narrative scenes were then mixed with documentary footage to put them in context of the larger reality.

The film tells the story of drifter, Ray Salyer, who enters the Bowery with a suitcase and a few bucks in his pocket from working on the railroad. He wanders into the Confidence Bar and Grill, where a group of withered alcoholics help him spend his money on beer and port wine. When his cash has depleted, the drunks move along to look for another mark, but an old man, Gorman Hendricks, sticks around to tell Ray where he can trade some clothes for enough scratch for another drink and a flop. After selling a pair of pants, Gorman gets Ray drunk with the earnings, and the newbie passes out in the street. Gorman then steals Ray’s valise and uses it as collateral to get a hotel room for himself. That begins three days of hell on the Bowery, in which Ray will encounter day labor, sermonizing, debauchery, and physical violence.

Rogosin’s uncompromising portrait of men dedicated to their alcoholism is very slight in terms of story; and if watched as a narrative film, it can come across as slow-moving, saggy, and predictable. However, if viewed as a document of a time and place, On the Bowery is fascinating. The black and white photography is striking and has a harsh, unforgiving beauty. The movie is like a Weegee crime photograph come to life, and is best watched like one would view a photography exhibit in an art gallery.

On the Bowery was a highly influential film that played a significant part in the independent film movement. John Cassavetes often sighted Rogosin as a major influence on his work. Unfortunately, the film did not do as much to help the men on which it focused. Gorman Hendricks died shortly after the film was released. Ray Salyer was offered a Hollywood contract based upon his performance in On the Bowery, but he turned it down, preferring to dedicate himself to his boozing.

Drinks Consumed--Wine (muscatel and port), beer, gin, and other unnamed liquors

Intoxicating Effects--Staggering, slurred speech, bickering, brawling, public disturbance, jail time, boasting, passing out, the shakes, harmonizing, and bar tossed

Potent Quotables--RAY: These guys sure took off. Didn’t they?
GORMAN: Sure. They didn’t see any more in evidence, so naturally, they’re gonna go.
RAY: Anything for a drink, huh?
GORMAN: Yeah. I reckon.
RAY: Ah, well. That’s the way it goes.
GORMAN: Well, that’s the bowery for ya.

Video Availability--DVDand Blu-ray(Milestone Films)

Similarly Sauced Cinema--Barbet Schroeder glorified drunken stumblebums in Barfly (1987).

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Review: Young Adult (2011)

USA/C-94m./Dir: Jason Reitman/Wr: Diablo Cody/Cast: Charlize Theron (Mavis Gary), Patton Oswalt (Matt Freehauf), Patrick Wilson (Buddy Slade), Elizabeth Reaser (Beth Slade), Collette Wolfe (Sandra Freehauf), Jill Eikenberry (Hedda Gary)

In 2007, director Jason Reitman and writer Diablo Cody teamed up to create Juno,a sunny indie comedy about teenage pregnancy that proved to be a breakout hit. In 2011, the duo reunited to produce Young Adult,but this time the results were less rosy both onscreen and in terms of box office. It is understandable that an acidic black comedy would have trouble connecting with a mass audience. However, it is a shame that more people didn’t give Young Adult a try, because it is the best work of the writer, director, and much of the cast.

Charlize Theron stars as Mavis Gary, a high school prom queen whose best days are likely behind her. She is now a 37-year-old, divorced, soon-to-be unemployed ghost writer, with only a Pomeranian and a bottle for company. Suffering from depression and severe narcissism, she spends her days in a small Minneapolis apartment avoiding work, boozing, and passing out. This pattern is disrupted when Mavis receives a birth announcement from Buddy Slade (Patrick Wilson), her steady beau from high school. The ex-prom queen sees this as a sign, and decides to return to her home town of Mercury to try to break-up Buddy’s marriage and steal the stud back for herself.

While Buddy is the ultimate goal, Mavis ends up spending more time in Mercury with Matt Freehauf (Patton Oswalt), a fellow classmate who was the victim of a vicious hate crime. Mavis and Matt share a similar bleak outlook on life and thirst for bourbon. Matt is the only soul with whom Mavis confides her scheme; and while he tries his best to talk some sense in his new-found friend, he does little to get in the way of her path of destruction.

All of the elements come together beautifully in Young Adult. It is a fearless film that pulls no punches for its characters or its audience. While the movie is often uncomfortable to watch, it is witty and truthful throughout—so truthful that viewers in their late thirties or early forties may find the characters disturbingly easy to identify with.

Those that found Juno too twee for their tastes (I was not amongst the film’s detractors) will not have the same problem with Young Adult. If anything, they may find Diablo Cody’s dialogue too sharp and viewpoint too sour this time around. It is her best script to date, and it proves that she is not a one-note writer.

Jason Reitman (who has yet to produce a bad movie) makes the most of Cody’s words and his actors’ performances; and those performances are truly great. Charlize Theron does the finest acting of her career in Young Adult. She courageously avoids any opportunity to tone down Mavis’ unpleasantness or her acute alcoholism. Patton Oswalt’s supporting turn is equally honest and bitterly funny. Both performances are Oscar-caliber.

Young Adult is an overlooked gem, and I highly recommended that you sample this masterful concoction. Just know going in that this cocktail is decidedly bitter.

Drinks Consumed--Bourbon whiskey (Maker’s Mark & 8-Year Mos Eisley Special Reserve), Hard Jack’s Cider, beer (Budweiser & Summer Ale), tequila, sangria, and unnamed liquor

Intoxicating Effects--Hangover, soused sex, slurred speech, stumbling, swearing, public disturbance, and drunk driving

Potent Quotables--MAVIS: Yeah, I think I may be an alcoholic.
HEDDA (laughing): Very funny.

Video Availability--DVDand Blu-ray(Paramount)

Similarly Sauced Cinema--Alexander Payne also mixed up a cocktail of alcohol, depression, and snide comedy in Sideways (2009).

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Booze News: Garv gets on his soapbox

Greetings, fellow inebriates,

A two-year study published this week in the British Medical Journal suggested that teens who watch an abundance of movies featuring alcohol were twice as likely to start drinking and 63 percent more likely to binge drink than peers that watched fewer liquor-laden films. The research project surveyed 6,500 U.S. kids 10-14 and compared several possible factors that might influence them to drink, including their movie viewing habits.

While the study found that the greatest influence on both teen alcohol use and binge drinking was high consumption of alcohol by one's peers, "high movie alcohol exposure" ranked third as a factor in alcohol onset and ranked fourth in the progression to binge drinking. The study concluded that Hollywood had a greater influence on teen drinking than factors such as unskilled parenting, alcohol availability in the home, and parental alcohol use.

To quote Seth Meyers and Amy Poehler, "Really?"

I'm sorry, BMJ. I don't buy it. People have been trying to blame society's ills on the movies for as long as cinema has existed; but the truth of the matter is that Hollywood reflects society far more than it influences it. Media images can impact behavior, positively or negatively, but that impact is usually minor unless a person has a previous inclination in that direction (or deeper mental issues). From the study's findings, one could just as easily conclude that kids interested in boozing are more likely to watch movies featuring fermented fluids, rather than that they are prompted to drink from watching such movies.

Some of the statements in the study are simply out-of-touch with reality. Take for example:

"Movie exposure may facilitate onset through providing examples of persons drinking and promoting the belief that alcohol use is common and acceptable. The effect of movie exposure on progression, we suggest, derives from the fact that alcohol use in movies is typically modelled in positive situations, without negative effects, and often shown with alcohol brands, which consolidates both the adolescent's identity as a drinker and brand allegiance."

I have to wonder what movies the researchers believe depict alcohol use mainly in "positive situations, without negative effects." I can't think of any recent movies that display drinking in a purely positive light. The Hangover? Knocked Up? Superbad? Young Adult? None of those films shied away from the negative aspects of overindulgence of alcohol, and those are just examples of recent comedies. Recent dramas depict alcoholism in an even more negative context.

The study also states that:

"Product placement in movies is forbidden for cigarettes in the USA but is legal and commonplace for the alcohol industry, with half of Hollywood films containing at least one alcohol brand appearance, regardless of film rating. To the extent that alcohol product placement serves to increase prevalence of movie drinking scenes, limits on movie alcohol product placement could also reduce MAE (movie alcohol exposure)."

Product placement? Can they honestly think that anyone is fooled by product placement anymore? Today's teens are more media savvy than any previous generation. When kids today see the characters on Chuck chow down on Subway sandwiches, they don't think, "Gee, I bet those subs are tasty." Instead they see product placement for what it is--a little extra advertising revenue.

On personal note, I grew up on a steady diet of soused cinema. From the age of five, I've enjoyed the booze humor of W.C. Fields and Charlie Chaplin; and it wasn't long after that I discovered Dean Martin, The Thin Man series, and National Lampoon's Animal House. Yet, I didn't down my first alcoholic drink until I was 20, and I remain a moderate drinker to this day.

While my own experience is purely anecdotal, it does point out one important factor of which the BMJ researchers seem unaware--alcohol in the movies is nothing new. From the soused slapstick of the silents to the speakeasies of Prohibition gangster films to the saloon scenes in ubiquitous 1950's Westerns, alcohol has been a major component of every popular movie genre. There is actually less boozing on display in modern films than there was during the golden age of Hollywood. Furthermore, when drink is depicted in today's movies, it is usually shown in a more negative context than in the past. If teen binging is on the rise, that trend runs counter to the direction the film industry has taken in their depictions of drinking.

I don't mean in any way to diminish the problems of binge drinking or alcoholism. I know that alcoholism is life-threatening and can cause tremendous strife for both those afflicted with the disease and for those close to them. However, I don't believe it does any good to blame the problem on the movie industry. Wouldn't it be more constructive to tackle the true underlying problems of alcoholism, such as depression, peer influence, heredity, personal attitudes towards one's self, and thrill-seeking, than to look for a convenient boogeyman?

Oh well. This too shall pass. It was once believed that comic books would turn kids into juvenile delinquents and that watching the Three Stooges would transform youngsters into eye-poking lunatics. Sooner or later, the public will find another scapegoat on which to pin their problems.

That's all for now. This soapbox is starting to wobble a bit.

Cheers,
garv

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Booze News: The ultimate RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK documentary

Raiding The Lost Ark: A Filmumentary By Jamie Benning from jambe davdar on Vimeo.

As I've stated previously on Booze Movies, Raiders of the Lost Ark is the most enjoyable action adventure film ever produced. While owing an enormous debt to the serials of the 1930's, such as Zorro's Fighting Legion (1939), and previous adventure classics like Gunga Din (1939), Raiders synthesized it's antecedents into an unmatched entertainment.

Of course, as a soused cinema enthusiast, I feel that the success of the first Indiana Jones film is due in no small part to Karen Allen's supporting performance as the alcohol-obsessed Marion Ravenwood. Karen Allen had better chemistry with Harrison Ford than any of the actresses with whom he was subsequently paired, and the character of Marion was more interesting than Indy's later love interests. Marion is beautiful, witty, and can put away booze like a champ. She may the perfect woman.

I thought I was a huge fan of Raiders, but my love of the film pales beside Jamie Benning's obsession. Jamie has spent 8 months assembling the ultimate "making of" documentary on the film, culled from behind-the-scenes footage, cast and crew interviews old and new, excerpts from the script (including all of the scenes that were eventually cut), concept art, and more. The completed work, Raiding the Lost Ark: A Filmumentary runs 2 hours and 23 minutes; and it is more thorough and engaging than any of the officially released DVD extras.

Jamie's "filmumentary" can currently be streamed through the Vimeo embed at the top of this post. Vimeo is also available on Roku boxes and other electronics that include streaming services, so you may have the technology to view the HD stream directly on your TV.

If you are an Indiana Jones fan, you owe it to yourself to check out Jamie's labor of love. You should also keep an eye on Jamie's blog for future "filmumentary" projects.

Cheers,
garv

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Review: Bromo and Juliet (1926)

USA/Silent/B&W-24m./Dir: Leo McCarey/Wr: Charles Alphin & H.M. Walker/Cast: Charley Chase (Charley), Corliss Palmer (Madge), William Orlamond (Madge’s Father), Oliver Hardy (Cab Driver), L.J. O’Connor (The Cop)

While cinefiles still savor the silent slapstick of Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, Laurel and Hardy, and (the somewhat overrated) Harry Langdon, the silver screen comedy of Charley Chase is largely forgotten today. However, in his day (the 1920’s and 30’s), Chase was a popular movie comedian, who starred in dozens of silent and sound shorts, as well as a respected director (under his birth name of Charles Parrott) who helmed films for fellow comics from Oliver Hardy to The Three Stooges.

Part of the reason why Chase may be less remembered today than other silent clowns is because his comedy character was less cartoonish than that of his contemporaries. His standard role was that of an average man thrust into the middle of an embarrassing situation. In many ways, Chase’s films were a blueprint for the situation comedies that dominate the television airwaves today. However, that is not meant in any way to devalue Charley Chase’s work; because the best of his output, including Mighty Like a Moose (1926) and Limousine Love (1928) are as good as the best shorts produced by his more famous contemporaries. Charley Chase is long overdue for a critical rediscovery.

Like most comedians of the era, Chase managed to milk prohibition for laughs. In Bromo and Juliet(1926), Chase plays a young man eager to please his fiancé (Corliss Palmer). However, he is less than enthused when she pressures him into playing Romeo to her Juliet in a charity variety show. For one thing, his legs look awful skinny in tights—a problem the resourceful romantic overcomes by padding his legs with sponges.

On the day of the show, not only does Charlie look ridiculous in his Shakespearean garb. He also has to pick up Madge’s perpetually pickled father (William Orlamond), because the old man has also been roped into performing. When Charlie tracks down his father-in-law to be, the old man is boozy and belligerent. Worse yet, he owes a tenacious cabbie (Oliver Hardy) a $40 fare, and the hack won’t let them go anywhere until he is paid.

To raise the required funds, Charley attempts to sell a case of the old man’s bootleg scotch to a man that turns out to be a prohibition agent. The lawman forces Charley—a teetotaler—to down several glasses of the illegal brew. With a snootful of scotch, sponge-filled tights, and an appointment on the stage, Charley represents several disasters waiting to happen.

While Bromo and Juliet would not rank as one of Charley Chase’s best, it is fast and funny throughout. The comic situations are clever and varied; and the cast, including a young Oliver Hardy, are practiced in the art of slapstick. Soused cinema enthusiasts are sure to enjoy Chase’s unique take on drunken farce, and others will find the short a pleasant introduction to the forgotten comedian’s work.

Drinks Consumed--Scotch

Intoxicating Effects—Sneaking sips, slurred speech, staggering, stumbling, hiccups, passing out, public disturbance, and destruction of property

Potent Quotables--TITLE CARD: “—Where c’n I get some o’ the stuff the ol’ bird’s been drinkin;?—“

Video Availability—Bromo and Juliet can be found on DVD as part of both The Charley Chase Collection, Vol. 2 (Slapstick Symposium)and The Lost Films of Laurel and Hardy, Vol. 3(Image).

Similarly Sauced Cinema—A drunken Charlie Chaplin interferes with a stage performance in his Essanay short A Night in the Show (1915).

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News: THE LOST WEEKEND added to the National Film Registry

Greetings fellow inebriates,

Soused cinema enthusiasts received a late Christmas gift today when the Library of Congress announced the list of 2011 inductees in the National Film Registry. Under the terms of the National Film Preservation Act, each year the Librarian of Congress names 25 films to the National Film Registry that are "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant. Amongst this year's list is The Lost Weekend, probably the most important booze movie ever produced.

Prior to Billy Wilder's film, drunkenness was generally depicted in the movies for comedic effect. Even serious dramas often employed booze as comedy relief. The Lost Weekend was the first film to depict alcoholism fairly accurately (with the exception of an uplifting ending that doesn't quite mesh with the rest). Here's how the Library of Congress described the film in today's press release:

A landmark social-problem film, "The Lost Weekend" provided audiences of 1945 with an uncompromising look at the devastating effects of alcoholism. Directed by Billy Wilder and co-written by Wilder and Charles Brackett, the film melded an expressionistic film-noir style with documentary realism to immerse viewers in the harrowing experiences of an aspiring New York writer willing to do almost anything for a drink. Despite opposition from his studio, the Hays Office and the liquor industry, Wilder created a film ranked as one of the best of the decade that won Academy Awards for Best Picture, Direction, Screenplay and Actor (Ray Milland), and established him as one of America’s leading filmmakers.

To read the full press release and to check out the other 24 inductees, click on the link below:
2011 National Film Registry

Have a safe and happy new year, and check out the excellent boozy dark comedy, Young Adult, if you get a chance. I'll post a full review of Young Adult when it's released on video, but consider it highly recommended.

Cheers,
garv

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