Cast:
Willem Dafoe (Vance), Marin Kanter (Telena), Robert Gordon (Davis), J. Don Ferguson (Tarver), Tina L'Hotsky (Sportster Debbie), Lawrence Matarese, and Danny Rosen (Ricky). Written and Directed by Kathryn Bigelow (#1258 - K-19: The Widowmaker and #1548 - The Hurt Locker) and Monty Montgomery.
Review:
"I guess if I had to single out a theme for what I've been up to, I'd say it's some sort of journey to explore film's potential to be kinetic. This probably started unconsciously, but it's there in one way or another in all my movies. I'm always trying to squeeze the most energy out of the frame."
Yes, this is a directing duo each making their first ever film, but we both know that Kathryn Bigelow is the drawing presence when it comes to examining a director in the first stages of a dutiful career, particularly with the way that her career has moved in the past four decades. Before she became a filmmaker, the California native studied painting at the San Francisco Art Institute and film scholarship/criticism at Columbia University, and it was in the latter place that she met Monty Montgomery (incidentally, he would later co-produce Wild at Heart, which featured Dafoe). Bigelow's first film was a short called The Set-Up, which dealt with two men beating each other up while two professors deconstruct it. Through resources of the Museum of Modern Art's Film Study Center and a small town in Georgia, the movie was shot in 25 days. The original titles for the film were "U.S. 17" before "Breakdown" (as shown on the festival circuit in 1981), and then the final title (upon its premiere in New York in 1984). Probably the easiest comparison one could make is The Wild One (1953), since that film also features a small town that encounters a motorcycle gang with a charismatic lead, although you might see traces of an imitation of an American International Pictures film (like The Wild Angels). As such, the movie has arthouse sensibilities with touches that make it set around the late 1950s/1960.
Well, there is a distinct outlier in the cast: This was the first starring role for Dafoe (a founder of the experimental theater group in The Wooster Group and someone briefly seen in Heaven's Gate the previous year). Gordon is actually more known for his neo-rockabilly singing, and he is responsible for the music in the film. Ferguson was a thirty-year actor with a handful of character roles while also being a NCAA Basketball Tournament referee for a number of years. This was the first of four Kanter roles, and L'Hotsky was a Downtown New York personality. It might not be a surprise that this film was not a particular success among the independent circuit (to the point where one can see three different release years for this film depending on the premiere from 1981 to 1984). It certainly won't be the ideal feature for everyone, because it is more of an art feature with brooding and quiet glances than anything, where action is only what you can speculate to be action, complete with select voiceovers for a film that has some presentation of "who are the real outlaws" or something. In short: the movie proves just fine, if only because its curiosity factor manages to override the decaying sense of patience one could have if they don't find the retro feel to their liking (besides, the attempt at retro hasn't exactly gone away, but Bigelow has clearly found her distinct edges in action). Dafoe is undoubtedly the highlight, if only because one can see the potential there with such a brooding actor that is distinct from the very second you see him in the opening, having a volatile presence that seeps into scenes in all the right senses that makes the movie better than it should be. Of course, the others aren't too far behind. Kanter has a vulnerable presence that invites curiosity within minimal choice words, one that lingers with Dafoe for the moments on screen together with apt patience. Gordon and the other members of the biker group aren't exactly packed with many words, but they fit the casual nature required from this pastiche requirement. Ferguson does just fine with slimy qualities that stoke a necessary chill that seems unstrapped by time. It can be a breezy or slow 85-minute stroll when it comes to this film, but I found it inviting enough in the small lunges one sees from a biker movie that has the promise of improvement for its director (not Montgomery, who shifted to producing). As such, it might not be the easiest recommendation, but if one wants to see an early showcase for both Bigelow and Dafoe with a quiet brooding experience of being on the road, you probably won't go wrong there.
Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.
Next Time: The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years (1988).
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