Crazy Kind of Love is another small indie film entry from Virginia Madsen. The film is from 2013, it’s based on the novel Angel Angel by author April Stevens which was first published in 1995. Its budget is definitely low, but it’s another one I thoroughly enjoyed. Once I’d switched my brain off anyway.
Augusta (Virginia Madsen) is a Mother of two young adults, she’s having a rough time of it. She found out her husband and the Father of her two kids was having an affair, he ultimately leaves the family behind and it breaks her.
She has a full nervous breakdown and spends her time in her bedroom generally just trying to find the will to carry on. Her youngest son, Henry (Graham Rogers) lives at home and hates seeing his Mum like this and so sets about doing what he can to help. Not that he’s in much of a fit way to do this, he’s a massive pot head and has his own problems to deal with. Henry meets a girl himself along the way, Bette (Amanda Crew). She’s, well, an interesting character – Who I do like – But, if this wasn’t a movie, I’d be questioning a lot of her actions.
Bette ends up pretty much inviting herself to live with Henry and his Mum, eventually Henry convinces his older brother Matthew (Zach Gilford) to come home to help get Augusta out of the funk she’s found herself in. It’s Henry’s drug dealer, Jeff (Sam Trammell) plays a huge part in getting the family to heal, yeah – it’s a quirky bunch of characters for sure. Henry isn’t your typical badass kind of drug dealer, he’s the enlightened hippy kind.
I mentioned earlier that you had to switch your brain off for it, and you do. It’s very easy to pick holes in if you want to be cruel, but the heart is in the right place. There’s a lot of stuff that just wouldn’t happen in real life, and that’s OK – This is a movie and it’s allowed to happen like that.
I don’t know if I’d call Virginia Madsen’s role in this one a supporting one or not. She’s definitely one of the main characters but at the same time we don’t see a lot of her in comparison. It is a fine performance though, she plays the part well. Sadness exudes out of her when it should and as the film goes on and she starts to come round a bit you can see the spark return to her.
It’s a fine example of the kind of work she can do when she’s given the chance, the kind of performance you wish more people were made aware of.
It’d be easy to pick this one apart but overall I think I’d be happy to recommend watching it. It’s an indie flick, it has some great performances by some talented people and provided you don’t go deep on it, it makes for a great easy watching movie.
Availability:
Good on Region 1 DVD and streaming on Amazon Prime
And so another film which I couldn’t get along with. This was another one that was actually my first time watching it. I’ve never fancied it, I’m not a fan of Ben Stiller or Janeane Garofalo or their comedy and it always put me off with those two being in it.
(To be fair one of my all time favourite films is The Secret Life of Walter Mitty with Ben Stiller, he gets more of a pass these days for that, but I’m still not a fan, really)
I zoned so far out of watching this film while I was watching it that at one point I genuinely wondered if I should just start again but I couldn’t bring myself to do it and just tried working it out.
Nobody knows anything is a comedy, in the very loosest sense of the word. I get the impression that it was trying to be *something*, but I don;t know what. I’d guess they were going for a satire vibe with a certain crowd when they were making it?
It’s a film about Hollywood and what it takes to get a film made there. Sarah Wilder (Alanna Ubach) wants to make a film, she thinks it’s going to be easy. Till she tries to get it done. She only has one proper contact in the industry in the form of her Uncle (Michael Lerner) who is has-been Screenwriter back in the day. He tries to help and she embarks on a ride through the weird and wonderful world of Hollywood, meeting various characters and getting into “situations” as she does.
Some are in it for a few seconds, some a few minutes.
It’s that kind of film. Like, it’s something special they all wanted to be involved in. Or, something. Like I said, I guess it’s some form of satire if you know that kind of world enough.
There is surprisingly little to be found on the film online, which is kind of telling. It doesn’t even have a Wikipedia page. Any reviews I could find were short and not-so-sweet, mostly, it just seems to have “been”.
“Nobody knows anything. Not one person in the entire motion picture field knows for a certainty what’s going to work. Every time out it’s a guess and, if you’re lucky, an educated one.“
And, if nothing else this kind of proves his point. With all the star power floating around this film, it should, in theory, have been a lot better than it is.Virginia rocks up to do her bit quite late in the film, she’s a lawyer and doing her best to make the most of what she has to work with. It’s hard to make any real comment, I was definitely only half watching, despite Virginia and I was losing the will at that point.
Meh. Maybe some people will and do like this, I don’t. Not every film is for everyone, I get that, I mean I like Highlander 2 so maybe my opinion really shouldn’t count for anything…
Availability:
Region 1 DVDs are pretty easy to find, should you want to do…
Burn Your Maps is a film that I enjoyed far more than I thought I was going to do. It’s another supporting role in an indie for our Virginia Madsen, but it’s a good one, and a damn good movie to boot. It’s a film from 2016, written and directed by Jordan Roberts and based on a short story of the same name by Robyn Joy Leff.
Wes (Jacob Tremblay) is a 9 year old boy with a bit of a problem. You see he’s really a Mongolian Farmer who has been born in the wrong place.
Or, so he tells his parents at least.
Wes’s parents, Alise (Vera Farmiga) and Connor (Marton Csokas) are already struggling in their relationship, they’ve recently lost an infant daughter and their son’s behaviour is putting an even bigger strain on their marriage and nobody is happy.
Wes has been wearing his Mongolian Nomad Halloween costume for a month straight which is driving Connor round the bend with anger, not helped by Alise’s refusal to force him to take it off.
In a bid to escape the pressure of it all Alise makes the decision to allow her son to be who he wants and the two take off on an adventure to Mongolia to see, well, just to see. She takes along one of her Mongolian students, Ismail (Suraj Sharma) to help them navigate the desolate country.
I won’t say much more. This is a film that deserves to be seen by as many people as possible. Sure, it’s a bit janky in places and clumsy in others, but for me at least, the idea of it outweighs all of that. I love movies that are about “people” and the things that can and do affect their lives. Especially when they have adventures like this. They might not be “real” but they can be heartwarming and uplifting.Virginia Madsen isn’t in the film much. She plays a Nun, Victoria, that they meet along the way. She imparts some wisdom and then she’s on her way again. Short, sweet but memorable. It’s little roles like this that she takes that I think remind us, almost of what could have been with her career. She just rocks up, does her thing and it stays with you. I’m glad she gets to do this, I’m sure most people would want more but doing this is better than nothing. Recommend you track this one down and give it a watch. It’s something different and a film worthy of your time.
Availability:
Not horrendous but you won’t be tripping over copies. I had to order it from the US, other than that it was relatively easy.
Not one for me this one – I had every intention of rewatching this but after about 20 minutes I found myself distracted and playing with my phone more than I should have been.
Mr. North is a comedy film from 1988, it follows Theophilus North (Anthony Edwards) as he makes his way through life with a special ability, the power of, well making feel better. A literal special touch along with an uncanny ability to be where he is needed at that moment in time. He plays down these gifts and even denies them beyond an ability to transfer electricity which he puts down to nothing more than a mundane quirk.
The film is based off a book, Theophilus North by Thornton Wilder. The book would later be renamed Mr. North so it would match the film and hopefully increase its audience.
One summer he comes across the Bosworth family, through them he meets many more people who are intrigued by Mr. North.
He gets a job working for James McHenry Bosworth (Robert Mitchum), James is housebound thanks to his over cautious daughter, Sarah (Tammy Grimes). Mr North reads to him but becomes more than that and helps James get out of the situation he’s found himself in by giving him back the courage that has been lost from him.
While there he comes across Sally (Mrs Madsen), a maid for the family. She’s ln love with a man from a wealthy family but fears her lowly status stops her from being able to pursue such a man. Mr. North encourages her that she’s better than that and gives her the courage to chase after what she really wants.Eventually all of his good works catch up to him and he finds himself on trial for being a charlatan, he doesn’t claim to be anything special but that doesn’t stop people accusing him of being. The people he helps come to his defence.
Etc.
I actually can’t put my finger on why I’m not hugely into this film, I think it’s the setting. I tend not to be bothered about rich folk and their problems. It’s a very polite film with well spoken people and good manners and it’s not a world I can really understand.
It scores relatively highly on most sites, think we can put this down to my personal preferences.
Virginia is excellent as always, for her I paid attention while watching. It’s not a role that gives her plenty of screen time, this is very much an Anthony Edwards centric tale, but she does get her fair share to do even if she’s just one of many Mr. North helps along the way.Mr. North is directed by Danny Huston who would later on in life become Mr. Madsen, the lucky so and so. Also notable (by me at least) of being the first film Virginia would make with Harry Dean Stanton also in the cast list)
Availability:
Not bad, but not great either. You can find copies but they tend to be for more money than you want to pay for a film this old – Though that might be just because I’m not a huge fan of the film. VHS copies are also kicking around with some regularity.
This is definitely one for the “Why?” section. And, one I didn’t actually rewatch for this project. It’s not that it’s a horrendous film, it’s just one that you only need to see once in my opinion.
Hot to Trot was released in 1988, as pretty much a Bobcat Goldthwait vehicle. He was all the rage at the time. Unfortunately, and, no – I’m not a fan.
It stars Bobcat Goldthwait as Bob Goldthwait, uhm, Fred Chaney, who is Bobcat Goldthwait, I mean, challenged… Whose Mother dies and leaves to him a horse and half of her stock broker business. Oh, the horse can talk. Called Don.
Yes. Talking Horse. I know. It hurts me too.
Annnnnnnnnyway. His Mothers Stepfather, Walter (Dabney Coleman), wants the business for himself, in typical comic book cheese ball family friendly villain of the era. He offers to buy the business from Fred to take it off his hands but Fred isn’t having any of it.
Fred takes Don back to his Horse family, who can all talk, and then returns back to the office to take up a job in the family business. Not long in the job Don gets a hot stock tip and phones (!) Fred to clue him in. He takes the chance, does his stock thing and makes a shed load of money.
Don and Fred team up to make even more money, which enrages Walter who can’t work it out. He sends in his secretary Allison (where out Mrs Madsen comes in) to find out Fred’s secrets.
Oieeee – You know the rest, don’t make me type it.
Anyways. It’s pretty much a family friendly affair and harmless enough, one to watch with the kids. I dare say some of them might even find it funny.
While I was getting the captures for this page I couldn’t help but notice that Virginia did indeed seem to be dialling it in on this one. It’s crossed my mind before that she did this one because it might have offered more comedy roles going forward. But the look on her face might betray her in some scenes… Particularly when she’s in the background of a scene. I don’t know, just a feeling I got when I was skipping around looking for her. I could be and am probably wrong, but if you do own a copy, or get a copy, then just watch.
Hot to Trot tanked, badly – And, it deserved to do.
It’s not often I’m this down on a film, I can normally see the good in it somewhere. I’ve said that kids might enjoy this one, and while I did mean it, I wouldn’t put my kids in front of it. It’s one of the rare films, out of all films ever that has a 0% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Virginia herself always knew that it wasn’t a particularly good movie for her, speaking with Will Harris from The AV Club she’d outline her reasons for doing the movie;
“That was a real low point in my career. But I’ll tell you why I did that movie: Because my sister had three little kids, and they knew that Auntie Gina was a movie star, but they could never see Auntie Gina’s movies because they were too grown-up. I really wanted to make a kids movie for them, and I purposely sought one out that they would love. This was with a talking horse and animals and Bobcat [Goldthwait]… I mean, it couldn’t have been more tailor-made for them. Although it could’ve had a better script. [Laughs.]
But, I mean, Steve Tisch was producing it, it was a studio film, and Tim Kazurinsky and all these wonderful comedians were in it. And they loved it! That movie actually came out in movie theaters, so they got to go to the movie theater and see Auntie Gina with big ’80s hair with a talking horse, and they just thought it was the coolest thing ever. I got big points at their school for being in that movie. So, yeah, that was specifically for them. It was not a career movie. It was a family movie.”
So, I mean – At least from her point of view the movie hit it’s intended audience…
ANYWAY – That’s enough of that.
Availability:
Pretty good. but expensive for the trash that it is – AND – Word to the wise, the movie is part of the Warner Bros Archive Collection, This means if you order the DVD then it’ll have a “DVD-R” sticker on the sleeve. This is legit, the DVD’s are made to order and this is how they’ve been producing them.
This one, isn’t as good as it should or could have been. On paper, it’s right up my street. I love these small indie movies that have a story to tell about real people. But, it somehow misses the mark and falls straight into my “nearly good” bucket.
The Salinas part of the title refers to the City in California where James Dean was heading on the night of his fateful crash that led to his tragic early death.
We pick up the story at a crossroads in the town. There are a handful of people there making their way through the small lives as best they can. There’s a Diner and little tourist traps to make the most out of the passing trade.
Max Harris (John Mahoney) owns the Diner, working for him Manny (Ian Gomez) and Clare (our Virginia). The Diner serves as a hub for the town, everyone collects there. Probably due to the lack of anything else to do. Clare is clearly one of the reasons to go to the place, she’s one of those “soul of the place” characters. She’ll probably be there till the day she dies. Max is trying to convince the local James Dean memorabilia selling Zelder (Nathan Davies) to let him buy the local Truck Stop from him so he can take another piece of the town. Not in any shady way, just a man trying to make a buck.
The small town life is disrupted somewhat when a film crew arrives to make a movie about the death of James Dean.
The movie crew make themselves at home in the town and get to know the residents of the little town. It charms them, and they are charmed by certain members of the crew.
We get to meet the town and the quirks that come with it. There is more to Max than first seems and the film slowly reveals those secrets.But, that’s where the trouble comes in. The first and second act are good, I was and am perfectly happy with this kind of film. They are often charming, heartbreaking and sometimes can stick with you for a long time after.
It’s the third act where it all starts to come unstuck. It’s almost eye rolling when Max’s life starts to catch up with him. And, it’s a honest to God shame that they couldn’t come up with something better to hang the film on.
The cast do a far better job than the film deserves. I don’t want to say Virginia wastes her work here, it’s an excellent performance and a real reminder of just how good she is at her job. BUT, I don’t know… I wish she could have done it somewhere else. John Mahoney is also excellent in this, his Max is perfectly realised… Well… Mostly, again I can’t help but think it’s a waste.
John and Virginia have of course worked together before in Frasier many years ago. It’s nice to see them both maximising their talents here instead of a sitcom, which and I know I’m repeating myself, makes it all such a shame.
(NOT that there is anything wrong with Frasier, it’s one my all time favourite comedy shows!)
It’s not a bad film, it’s watchable and kills an hour and a half well. There are far worse films out there and, sadly, worse films in Virginia’s catalogue.
Availability:
Not that easy to get hold of. I had to order my copy from Australia, and pay for it. It wasn’t the film that was expensive, it was the postage. I’ve seen both Greek and Russian copies for sale on sites like eBay and Amazon but I can’t speak for those other than they’re available and cheaper than what I paid.
Scooby Doo in Where’s my Mummy? Is a 2005 animated film based on the American Saturday morning cartoons found on the Cartoon Network.
Scooby Doo should need no introduction.First introduced in 1969 the show follows the adventures of Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and of course Scooby Doo. The gang drive around in a van named The Mystery Machine solving all kinds of, well – Mysteries calling themselves Mystery Inc as they do. The show has bounced around networks since it was first broadcast and has been with the Cartoon Network since 2010.
Where’s My Mummy? Is the ninth movie from this version of the show. It had a small run at the cinema before being shown on TV and then released on home video. It has the distinction of being the last Scooby Doo movie to be released on VHS. Well, damn.
The film begins in Ancient Egypt, we see Cleopatra (an animated Virginia) running for her life, making her escape to the Great Sphinx of Giza. She makes her way into a secret tomb and hides her treasures before issuing a curse on history.Back to the present day and we hook up with Velma who is helping to restore the Sphinx, who accidentally stumbles across a necklace once owned by Cleopatra. She shows it to a colleague and it start’s shining a light on the entrance to the hidden tomb Cleopatra used.
Meanwhile the rest of Mystery Inc are on their way to meet Velma but they break down along the way, they meet a nomad. Amahl Ali Akbar who gets them going again (Triple-A, geddit? geddit?). Amahl drops them outside of the Sphinx, just in time for them to meet the host of a Supernatural TV show who is trying to get some credibility by filming the curse that may have been released by finding Cleopatra s tomb.
The gang meet up and adventures ensue, YOINKS!The adventure seemed fun enough, for it’s intended audience. But it’s not for me this kind of thing. Even when I was a kid I was never a fan of the Scooby Gang, really.
Going back to what I’ve said before about Virginia and her voice acting, it really is on point. She narrates the opening sequence with some proper gravitas about it. Unlike her turn as Silver Sable (which I watched at around the same time) you could better tell it was her this time, it’s a similar tone to her “Mother that will do anything to protect her kids” voice that she has. It suits the role though, no complaints. She does her thing here and does it well.
Availability:
Good, no problems finding it on DVD and seems to be on TV with some regularity.
Ahhhh. I rewatched this not long after Fire With Fire. I said when I wrote about that it was such an 80s movie you would have had to have been there to understand.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Modern Girls ups that ante to a whole other level.
Released in 1986 Modern Girls is very much an 80s film. It’s so 80s it would be hard to make the film today without it feeling like a parody. It is of course not a parody but instead a true product of its time.
Moden Girls takes three women, or, girls, all in their early twenties, all working mundane jobsand all living life to their full in the Los Angeles nightlight. Kelly (our Virginia) works in a Pet Store and has a knack for being able to sell them, Margo (Daphne Zuniga) works in telemarketing and we meet Cece (Cynthia Gibb) just as she’s getting fired from her job in a Department Store.All looking for love in the wrong places, they’ve got the stereotypical 80s males all preening around them and out for what they can get. That’s not to say these ladies aren’t out for what they can get either, there is a game to be played and they are all in.
The main part of the film kicks in when Margo and Cece are getting ready to go out for the night, they’re almost ready but discover Kelly has gone without them, and taken Margo’s car to boot. Kellys date for the night, Clifford (Clayton Rohner) arrives to pick her up, she’s not there obviously, and the two girls convince him to drive them into town to find her.
What follows is a crazy, and probably impossibly implausibly long night as the girls (and Clifford) get dragged on a roller coaster of ups and downs invoiving mistaken identities, drug spiking, detective work, music video direction, car problems and various near sexual assaults.Honestly, I thought I’d had some pretty funky nights myself till I started watching 80s films about nights on the town. There is enough here crammed into one night then most people will have in a month’s worth of nights out. Well, that or I’ve led a very sheltered life.
On a side note, I got about half way through this before I started wondering if a film like this would be made today. It deals with some pretty messy themes at times, especially when it comes to Kelly with the drugs and potential assaults. It was only a PG-13 in the US and has a 15 rating in the UK. I’m no prude when it comes to this kind of thing but the thought of watching it with my school going teenage kids doesn’t fill me with happy thoughts.Virginia shines in this film though, her depiction of Kelly is spot on and I can’t think of anyone else who I’d rather have seen in the role. I think I was particularly impressed with her for Kely being so far apart from Lisa in Fire with Fire. I didn’t hate her performance in that, but it was a very different type or role and character, considering the two were released in the same year it’s all the more impressive. And then when you get to thinking about her other roles before in Mussolini, The Hearst and Davies Affair and A Matter of Principle, even more mind blowing.
Kind of interesting and a bit of accidental foreshadowing that one of the first times we see Virginia past the opening blurb stuff she’s lying on a bed reading about Bruce Willis, funny that in just a couple of years she’d be cosing up to him in Moonlighting, i had a little “ha” moment when I clocked it.
It’s a weird one to try and recommend. The eightiesness of it all kind of dates it, but not in a bad way. Modern Girls wasn’t really a success when it was released, but it’s done OK for itself in the home market and became a bit of a cult thing. There are many a webpage / blog post that think this film is one of the best things to come out of the eighties.
I’m sure if you were there and lived it then you’ll have an easier time enjoying it. It really is like a time capsule of a different time, different place and a different way of filmmaking. Even if you weren’t there at the time Modern Girls does have something to offer that way.
I’ve said it before and will no doubt say it again, sometimes you’ve just got to find out these things for yourself.
If nothing else you should watch Virginia in one of her more serious roles before you watch this to realise just how talented she is.
Availability:
It can be found on VHS if that’s your thing, it has had both a DVD and Blu-Ray release in recent years but they can be hard to find, and expensive.
I bought a copy on DVD from eBay, and paid well for it – I actually thought it might be fake because it had a “DVD-R” label on the back and the disc was blue. Turns out that it’s real. The DVD’s are made to order so they are legit – Just a heads up if you weren’t aware like I wasn’t.
Scoundrels is an American ABC Television remake of the hit New Zealand TV3 show, Outrageous Fortune. The Americans weren’t the only one to remake Outrageous Fortune, it also got remade by the British as Honest which was shown in ITV.
The Americans where the only ones to try and remake it twice, the first attempt, Good Behaviour didn’t really go anywhere after a TV movie.
Scoundrels (and all the other versions) follows the adventures of a Mother of a family of crooks who go attempt to go straight after the Father is sent to jail.
(All versions of the show have one actor to play the twins, kinda cool they all do it).
Cheryl is the one who decides that they should all straighten up and fly right and she tries her best to lead by example. The rest of the family aren’t so keen on the idea but play along, mostly.
Leading the way Cheryl would take various jobs but struggle to hold on to any of them for any length of time without something getting in the way.Logan and Cal, although twins couldn’t be further from each other. Cal would have no real interest in the criminal life and would pass his Bar Exam to be a lawyer early in the first show. Logan would be a keen to make money where he can but after a misguided attempt to rip off local Crime Boss “Mr Hong” (George Cheung) Cheryl brokers a deal with him for Logan to pay off his debt.
Heather just likes money, however she can get it. She begrudgingly gets a job as a waitress working in am exotic bar after a failed attempt at modelling. The owner would promise her more work as a model, eventually.
Hope would have the brains out of the kids. She wasn’t overtly criminal, but she wasn’t afraid to walk on the wild side for a quick buck.
The family are all kept in their place by Sergeant Mack (Carlos Bernard) of the local police force who keeps an eagle eye on them, unconvinced at their claims to be turning over a new leaf. Scoundrels ran for a total of eight episodes in 2010 and received mixed reviews from both critics and viewers. It’s not hard to see why, it’s a very average show to watch which doesn’t really being with it anything new to the table. I wouldn’t say it was bad, it’s watchable enough, but there isn’t any real hook and you can take or leave it. All the usual shenanigans occur over the course of the series. It’s all quite predictable with no real surprises to keep anyone on their toes. It really is popcorn TV.
Virginia doesn’t exactly stretch herself on this one. It’s the “matriarchal tough no nonsense woman who’d do anything for her kids ™” we’ve seen her do a few times in career at this point. It’s not a bad thing, she’s really good at pulling that kind of role off. But, don’t expect any level of deepness that you’ve not seen before.
But, she seemed to have enjoyed her time on the show as brief as it may have been. Speaking to the LA Times about making the show she would have this to say;
“I had so much fun making this show. I found my hours weren’t crazy. My favorite way to work is in an ensemble. When I was doing lead roles, when I was an ingénue, that wasn’t a comfortable place for me to be. I don’t necessarily need to be the star. And when you work in an ensemble, it’s exciting and it’s fun and it’s creative, and I work really well as a team. I like the family feeling.”
Weird really, Outrageous Fortune remained popular and on air for 5 years, it even earned a prequel series, Westside. But, to be fair none of the remakes did as well as the original. Do they ever?
Availability
Not even released on any physical format as far as I can see. Google Play have the episodes to own digitally.
Back on HBO on May 23, 1987 we got to see Virginia Madsen play up her more sensual side as Dixie Lee Boxx in the hit film Long Gone, based on a 1979 book of the same name by Paul Hemphill. Or, you might know it as Stogies, it went by that name in Europe.
The film is set in 1957 and revolves around The Tampico Stogies baseball team struggling to keep going. The team is owned by a corrupt family who are just in it to make as much money as possible from the team without wanting to put anything into it.
Despite this the team do their best to overcome all the challenges before them and prove they aren’t as down and out as everyone thinks they are, or would have them believe.
The story revolved around the Star Player and Manager of the Stogies, Cecil ‘Stud’ Cantrell (William Peterson), he’s the classic ageing player with only one or two chances to make it big in the game kind of character. Bit of a trope these days, but there we go.
Early on in the film we see him introduced to Dixie after she performs (or, mangles) the National Anthem at one of their games. She got the job after recently winning a beauty contest and has been crowned Miss Strawberry Blossom 1957. The fact that she does poorly with her rendition of the anthem is overlooked by the crowd, mostly because of her outfit. Bless her. Virginia’s character isn’t as shallow as you might imagine being a Beauty Queen in an 80’s movie. Virginia plays her well as a woman with dreams, hopes and desires with an emotional edge – And she does it well. The way she interacts with Cecil and the rest of the team might be cliched these days, but it’s done well and you can never argue with the portrayal.
Cecil and DIxie get an introduction, they get together for a one night stand which turns out to be not what either of them want and over time they realise they are made for each other.
Before long the team takes on two new players, and they begin to realise they all want to make The Stogies the best they can be. They start winning and surprising everyone, and themselves. As the story moves on the team face a few home truths and their determination sees them winning against all the odds. If it all sounds familiar, then it’s probably because it’s a pretty much cut and paste sports story from around the eta, and beyond.
Which brings me to…The film came out a good long while before a similar, more successful film came along called Bill Durham with Kevin Costner and Susan Sarandon. According to the iMDB trivia for the Long Gone Mrs Madsen sat in the same row as the Writer / Director of Bill Durham, Ron Shelton, at a Premiere of Long Gone and would see him taking notes.
“He sat there during the film taking notes, which I thought was entirely rude, then maybe four years later I’m reading (a script) for him and I said, yeah, I met you at the screening of Long Gone. He goes: ‘Oh, yeah, we stole every shot from your movie.’ Like he’s proud of it. I was like, grrrrr.”
Mr Shelton of course denies this, though he admits being at the Premiere.
The involvement with the movie stayed with Virginia, she’s expressed fond memories of it over the years since it was released and in particular working with William Peterson;
“I’ve run into him a couple of times, and it’s like we really shared something. We all have roots in this movie, and everybody still holds it in their hearts. People ask me what was my favourite film to work on … and it’s at the top of the list. One of the best times I ever had.”
Speaking with The AV Club in July 2013 she’d also have a little reminisce over the film;
“Oh, God, that’s arguably the best time I ever had on a movie. Well, no, it’s not my No. 1 best time, but it’s one of the best times, because it was me and [William] Petersen and just a bunch of guys out of Chicago. Just me and a baseball team. [Laughs.] And a girlfriend! I had a girlfriend to hang out with, and then it was all those boys. And it was so sexy! Oh, my God, the whole thing… It was a hot, sweaty summer in Florida, we had a cool director from Brooklyn, and the guys were just so much fun. It just ranks up there as one of the best.
That was a part where I was cast as a blond bombshell, but I got to be Virginia. I got to be the tough girl from Chicago, not playing the victim. She really was a character who owned her sexuality and didn’t give a shit what anybody thought. To learn how to flaunt it was very difficult for me, because I was modest, so sexier roles for me at that age were really hard for me to pull off, because I wasn’t comfortable. My sexuality was not overt, so to play it… When they would cast me in roles like that, I felt awkward. I felt totally unsexy. Like, I knew I looked sexy in Slam Dance, but I didn’t feel sexy. But when I was Dixie? Aw, man, I was a bombshell. [Laughs.] It was great. I had a big smile on my face for that one.”
In my opinion, Long Gone is good for what it is and when it was. It has a lot of heart, the characters are likeable and it’s never going to offend anyone. There are some, touchy, subjects given the film’s setting, particularly so when the KKK take exception to one of the players on the team being black. It’s handled well, especially for the time the film was made and an early show of progression in this kind of backward thinking. Still, it’s right to show this kind of mentality than shy away from it and it stands as what it is.
I’d definitely recommend a watch of the film, it still held my attention on a recent rewatch despite me having seen it several times over the years.
Availability:
Another film that despite many people having fond memories of hasn’t ever had an official DVD release. HBO apparently lost the rights to the film back in 2004 so it’s unlikely anyone else is going to pick it up at this point. But, you never know.
There are VHS copies floating around, and a home made dodgy DVD version that you can find on eBay and the like. It’s minimum effort but at least this one comes with a nicely made up case unlike some of the others which just arrive in a cardboard sleeve.
Of course, being a film this old you can find copies floating around the web and YouTube…
Henry meets a girl himself along the way, Bette (Amanda Crew). She’s, well, an interesting character – Who I do like – But, if this wasn’t a movie, I’d be questioning a lot of her actions.
It’s Henry’s drug dealer, Jeff (Sam Trammell) plays a huge part in getting the family to heal, yeah – it’s a quirky bunch of characters for sure. Henry isn’t your typical badass kind of drug dealer, he’s the enlightened hippy kind.
