Bettie: Vegas-themed Movies

[scobee 1]

Thanks for starting such an interesting thread, Bettie. I think you are a great asset to RGE and those of us who like to make conversation through our fingers. Your leaning towards comedy is apparent and appreciated. Everybody loves a pratfall or a good joke. Adv. players can be so serious sometimes....

One of my favorite movies also happens to take place in Vegas, although it has so little to do with gaming it is not often thought of as a 'Vegas movie.' My only connection to Vegas through the years has been with movies until I finally took my first visit last year, right after 9/11. I thought, "The world could end tomorrow and I have never been to Vegas." After waiting so long I have to say that not a week goes by that I am not planning another trip back. In April I spent an all-too-brief time downtown. There is no place on earth like Sin City. I even loved 'Viva Las Vegas' and have seen all the above mentioned movies at least once.

Now that I have sufficiently teased everyone: My favorite is "One From The Heart." This Coppola film was the first film made after 'Apocalypse Now' through his Zoetrope Studios and was shot with revolutionary video effects and without one 'exterior' from the real live City of Dreams. This co-production with Paramount's Barry Diller was almost universally panned, and as the saying goes, "People stayed away in droves." In fact, Diller pulled out at the last moment and Coppola was forced into bankruptcy. Not until his daughter's film 'Virgin Suicides' was released a couple of years ago was any film produced and released with the Zoetrope banner. This was the film that killed Zoetrope for 20 years. All he had left was his office and his winery. No good deed goes unpunished. He bet his entire BR on one roll of the dice and crapped out. Whatever became of poor Francis?

So why did I like it? Well, it starred Frederic Forrest, Terri Garr, Raul Julia, Harry Dean Stanton and Nastasia Kinski.... all in their prime. It was truly revolutionary and experimental...insanely bold and idiosyncratic... sort of like Coppola's 'Citizen Kane' except the heroes are working class citizens of Vegas...waiters, lounge singers, musicians, circus girls, etc. The movie takes place on one magical Fourth of July night when our couple is breaking up on their fifth wedding anniversay. The soundtrack is filled with Tom Waits songs and is melancholy and frighteningly sad and beautiful. Each one of our characters is offered the liason of a lifetime with the dream of romance found....but in the end, our married couple both realize that love is deeper than romance and watch the sun rise on another working class morning in Vegas together again, at last. It is profoundly touching and despite all the special effects, bad singing, and stylistic excesses...a moving story of two people who belong to each other and so stay together. Hank and Frannie... how common, how human, how 'American Dream' gone wrong ... how utterly Vegas.

Another cool aspect is you see all these landmarks and scenes that fill the screen saying 'This is Vegas!' but it was entirely shot at Zoetrope Studios. The soundtrack was the only critically acclaimed part of the film, as Waits was nominated for the Oscar. This film was so bad it was pure genius. It is like Vincente Minelli on peyote... it is so ambitious it was doomed from the start... sound familiar?

Also, Rebecca De Mornay's film debut.

[Bettie]

> Thanks for starting such an interesting
> thread, Bettie. I think you are a great
> asset to RGE and those of us who like to
> make conversation through our fingers. Your
> leaning towards comedy is apparent and
> appreciated. Everybody loves a pratfall or a
> good joke. Adv. players can be so serious
> sometimes....

Tee-Hee! (I blush)

> So why did I like it? Well, it starred
> Frederic Forrest, Terri Garr, Raul Julia,
> Harry Dean Stanton and Nastasia Kinski....
> all in their prime. It was truly
> revolutionary and experimental...insanely
> bold and idiosyncratic... sort of like
> Coppola's 'Citizen Kane' except the heroes
> are working class citizens of
> Vegas...waiters, lounge singers, musicians,
> circus girls, etc. The movie takes place on
> one magical Fourth of July night when our
> couple is breaking up on their fifth wedding
> anniversay. The soundtrack is filled with
> Tom Waits songs and is melancholy and
> frighteningly sad and beautiful. Each one of
> our characters is offered the liason of a
> lifetime with the dream of romance
> found....but in the end, our married couple
> both realize that love is deeper than
> romance and watch the sun rise on another
> working class morning in Vegas together
> again, at last. It is profoundly touching
> and despite all the special effects, bad
> singing, and stylistic excesses...a moving
> story of two people who belong to each other
> and so stay together. Hank and Frannie...
> how common, how human, how 'American Dream'
> gone wrong ... how utterly Vegas.

Wow, with a description like that, how can I NOT go rush right out and rent it THIS VERY SECOND? Well, for one, I'm still in my pjs. And, I really won't have time for another couple of weeks, but I cannot believe that I haven't heard of this movie. Of all the movies that everyone listed above, this one goes right on the top of the must-see list. Thanks for clueing me in! Plus, I LOVE Tom Waits - very cool!

Bettie