The King of Marvin Gardens & Melvin and Howard
April 30, 2006
KING OF MARVIN GARDENS (1972) was directed by Bob Rafelson and stars Jack Nicholson, Bruce Dern and Ellen Burstyn. Jack and Bob did FIVE EASY PIECES together in 1970 and in fact made six movies together over the years (check then out on IMDB).
Now people have said that in this flick the two leads are swapping character types: Jack playing the quiet, loner-artist and Dern playing the loud mouthed, cocky, born to lose con man. These roles sit so well with these guys that the casting seems nothing less than perfect. Nicholson is a great actor. He's not a great loud actor or a great cocky actor...sure he plays those roles well, but here we see that Nicholson has this guy in him. Nicholson isn't all bravado and eyebrows! In actuality he's a sad boy who was abandoned by his dad at a young age and was brought up believing that his mother was actually his older sister. Nicholson has a great ability to show us his loneliness, his vulnerability. I was quite smitten with him in this movie. He's also got that great face and happens to wear glasses throughout the film and well, that always kinda gets me.
Dern is nothing short of spectacular in this film. He's larger than life but not over the top. He's a loser and like many a loser, doesn't have the slightest notion that he's a loser. He's a small time hustler, trying to make his way up the organized crime ladder. Dern and Nicholson are brothers, Jason and David respectively. David's a ho-hum radio talk guy who tells these quiet, personal stories on his radio program in Philadelphia. Jason's a low life gopher for low level mob guys in Atlantic City. In the film we see Jason trying to make this deal so he can build and run a casino in Hawaii. And we learn pretty quickly that that is never going to happen. Along for the ride is former beauty queen Sally, played in technicolor melodramatic glory by Ellen Burstyn and the new young beauty Jessie played by never to be heard from again actress Julia Anne Robinson (I coudn't quite tell if her performance bothered me because she was really NOT good, or if she was SO good...you know when it's hard to tell?)
So the movie just let's us watch the train wreck as it happens. I kept wanting David/Jack to leave these crazy fuckers and go back to his radio show and his smelly grandfather in Philly. I really cared for him. I thought he was smart and sensitive. But the thing is he really wanted his brother to make it. He believes in him up until the last possible moment that he can. When he finally sees that his brother just doesn't fucking get it and he unleashes on him, yelling at him for maybe the first time in his life...it is a long time coming and Nicholson is great. You wonder why he has so much faith in his loser brother. But then I thought back to the beginning of the film. There's this scene near the top when Jason calls David in Philadelphia. The grandfather comes into David's room and says that Jason's on the phone. Now David doesn't want to seem too anxious but we can see that he can't wait to get down to that telephone. The way he comes rushing down the stairs doing up his robe, all I could see was the kid brother so happy that his brother was calling him. And that sums it up right there. Jason surrounds himself with people who need the dream. His brother needs the dream of the big brother who's going to save him. These girls need the dream so bad that they will gladly see past his delusions of grandeur, his rough edges... with the hopes that soon they'll be living it up on the beaches of Hawaii. And that feeds Jason's vision of himself. They are like this circle of delusion, false hope and fake glamour.
This movie is definitely worth checking out. I can't say whether it is better or worse than FIVE EASY PIECES because it's been so long since I've seen it. But it has some terrific acting in it, a great comment on the American dream and some say it's one of the most under-appreciated films of the 70s.
Oddly enough, MELVIN AND HOWARD (1980) is another one of those films that has gone largely unnoticed. Many say it is the best film of 1980 and while it received Oscar nominations and wins, it hasn't enjoyed much of the same Classic-status of other films of that year like RAGING BULL or ORDINARY PEOPLE.
MELVIN AND HOWARD is an early Jonathan Demme film starring Paul Le Mat, Mary Steenburgen and Jason Robards as Howard Hughes. Le Mat plays Melvin Dummar, another American loser, just trying to get ahead and every time he makes it a bit of the way he winds up back on the skids. One night Melvin's driving through the desert and he picks up an old long haired freaky man who tells him he is Howard Hughes. They share an interesting ride where Melvin makes Howard sing, Melvin drops him off with some spare change and off he goes back to his life living in a trailer. We then hear nothing of this mystery man for quite some time. We just follow Melvin's life, we watch him lose his wife (the fabulous, glowing Mary Steenburgen), get her back, lose her again (UGH). We watch him toil as a milk man, a gas man, a lover, a dad, all with delicate, nuanced hum our and sweet under played innocence. Paul Le Mat deserved an Oscar nomination, if not the award itself, for this perfectly balanced performance. He is so subtle. Watch this movie close. This guy isn't acting. It's magical. Steenburgen did walk away with best supporting actress that year, which is great. As did screenwriter Bo Goldman (who also penned the script for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest).
In the end, Howard Hughes dies and Melvin is mentioned as one of 16 beneficiaries in Hughes' will (to be awarded 156 Million dollars). But no one believes him. This movie is based on a true story. And while much of the world chose not to believe the real Melvin Dummar, and he did not in the end receive any of Hughes' money...the filmmakers decided to tell one side of the story only. They chose to tell the Dummar side of the story and played it out like it all really happened. There's a lot of cool shit to this story and I can't wait to Google and read all the new facts that have come about in the last few years backing up Dummars story. It's fascinating.
This film is a gem. Like KING OF MARVIN GARDENS, we're dealing with people on the fringe, people desperate to grab at that American apple pie dream until they either get it or die. But unlike KOMG, MELVIN AND HOWARD is sweet and funny. It is much more nuanced and I cared deeply for these characters, even when they were driving me a bit nuts. KOMG is a darker film to be sure. Not a comedy by any means.
MELVIN AND HOWARD deserves to be seen and applauded. Paul Le Mat should probably have been a big star after this film. But he never was. In fact, when the movie began I couldn't help but gasp: that's the husband that beat the shit out of Farrah Fawcet before she set him on fire in the TV movie THE BURNING BED (1984)! He never stopped working, he didn't drift off never to be heard from again...but people across America don't know his name and many I'm sure haven't seen MELVIN AND HOWARD, a great great film that hopefully you will see after reading this. That's of course assuming that anyone will ever see this! Ha!
all righty...see ya
KING OF MARVIN GARDENS (1972) was directed by Bob Rafelson and stars Jack Nicholson, Bruce Dern and Ellen Burstyn. Jack and Bob did FIVE EASY PIECES together in 1970 and in fact made six movies together over the years (check then out on IMDB).
Now people have said that in this flick the two leads are swapping character types: Jack playing the quiet, loner-artist and Dern playing the loud mouthed, cocky, born to lose con man. These roles sit so well with these guys that the casting seems nothing less than perfect. Nicholson is a great actor. He's not a great loud actor or a great cocky actor...sure he plays those roles well, but here we see that Nicholson has this guy in him. Nicholson isn't all bravado and eyebrows! In actuality he's a sad boy who was abandoned by his dad at a young age and was brought up believing that his mother was actually his older sister. Nicholson has a great ability to show us his loneliness, his vulnerability. I was quite smitten with him in this movie. He's also got that great face and happens to wear glasses throughout the film and well, that always kinda gets me.
Dern is nothing short of spectacular in this film. He's larger than life but not over the top. He's a loser and like many a loser, doesn't have the slightest notion that he's a loser. He's a small time hustler, trying to make his way up the organized crime ladder. Dern and Nicholson are brothers, Jason and David respectively. David's a ho-hum radio talk guy who tells these quiet, personal stories on his radio program in Philadelphia. Jason's a low life gopher for low level mob guys in Atlantic City. In the film we see Jason trying to make this deal so he can build and run a casino in Hawaii. And we learn pretty quickly that that is never going to happen. Along for the ride is former beauty queen Sally, played in technicolor melodramatic glory by Ellen Burstyn and the new young beauty Jessie played by never to be heard from again actress Julia Anne Robinson (I coudn't quite tell if her performance bothered me because she was really NOT good, or if she was SO good...you know when it's hard to tell?)
So the movie just let's us watch the train wreck as it happens. I kept wanting David/Jack to leave these crazy fuckers and go back to his radio show and his smelly grandfather in Philly. I really cared for him. I thought he was smart and sensitive. But the thing is he really wanted his brother to make it. He believes in him up until the last possible moment that he can. When he finally sees that his brother just doesn't fucking get it and he unleashes on him, yelling at him for maybe the first time in his life...it is a long time coming and Nicholson is great. You wonder why he has so much faith in his loser brother. But then I thought back to the beginning of the film. There's this scene near the top when Jason calls David in Philadelphia. The grandfather comes into David's room and says that Jason's on the phone. Now David doesn't want to seem too anxious but we can see that he can't wait to get down to that telephone. The way he comes rushing down the stairs doing up his robe, all I could see was the kid brother so happy that his brother was calling him. And that sums it up right there. Jason surrounds himself with people who need the dream. His brother needs the dream of the big brother who's going to save him. These girls need the dream so bad that they will gladly see past his delusions of grandeur, his rough edges... with the hopes that soon they'll be living it up on the beaches of Hawaii. And that feeds Jason's vision of himself. They are like this circle of delusion, false hope and fake glamour.
This movie is definitely worth checking out. I can't say whether it is better or worse than FIVE EASY PIECES because it's been so long since I've seen it. But it has some terrific acting in it, a great comment on the American dream and some say it's one of the most under-appreciated films of the 70s.
Oddly enough, MELVIN AND HOWARD (1980) is another one of those films that has gone largely unnoticed. Many say it is the best film of 1980 and while it received Oscar nominations and wins, it hasn't enjoyed much of the same Classic-status of other films of that year like RAGING BULL or ORDINARY PEOPLE.
MELVIN AND HOWARD is an early Jonathan Demme film starring Paul Le Mat, Mary Steenburgen and Jason Robards as Howard Hughes. Le Mat plays Melvin Dummar, another American loser, just trying to get ahead and every time he makes it a bit of the way he winds up back on the skids. One night Melvin's driving through the desert and he picks up an old long haired freaky man who tells him he is Howard Hughes. They share an interesting ride where Melvin makes Howard sing, Melvin drops him off with some spare change and off he goes back to his life living in a trailer. We then hear nothing of this mystery man for quite some time. We just follow Melvin's life, we watch him lose his wife (the fabulous, glowing Mary Steenburgen), get her back, lose her again (UGH). We watch him toil as a milk man, a gas man, a lover, a dad, all with delicate, nuanced hum our and sweet under played innocence. Paul Le Mat deserved an Oscar nomination, if not the award itself, for this perfectly balanced performance. He is so subtle. Watch this movie close. This guy isn't acting. It's magical. Steenburgen did walk away with best supporting actress that year, which is great. As did screenwriter Bo Goldman (who also penned the script for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest).
In the end, Howard Hughes dies and Melvin is mentioned as one of 16 beneficiaries in Hughes' will (to be awarded 156 Million dollars). But no one believes him. This movie is based on a true story. And while much of the world chose not to believe the real Melvin Dummar, and he did not in the end receive any of Hughes' money...the filmmakers decided to tell one side of the story only. They chose to tell the Dummar side of the story and played it out like it all really happened. There's a lot of cool shit to this story and I can't wait to Google and read all the new facts that have come about in the last few years backing up Dummars story. It's fascinating.
This film is a gem. Like KING OF MARVIN GARDENS, we're dealing with people on the fringe, people desperate to grab at that American apple pie dream until they either get it or die. But unlike KOMG, MELVIN AND HOWARD is sweet and funny. It is much more nuanced and I cared deeply for these characters, even when they were driving me a bit nuts. KOMG is a darker film to be sure. Not a comedy by any means.
MELVIN AND HOWARD deserves to be seen and applauded. Paul Le Mat should probably have been a big star after this film. But he never was. In fact, when the movie began I couldn't help but gasp: that's the husband that beat the shit out of Farrah Fawcet before she set him on fire in the TV movie THE BURNING BED (1984)! He never stopped working, he didn't drift off never to be heard from again...but people across America don't know his name and many I'm sure haven't seen MELVIN AND HOWARD, a great great film that hopefully you will see after reading this. That's of course assuming that anyone will ever see this! Ha!
all righty...see ya
posted by film nerd at 8:00 PM
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