HANDS ON A HARDBODY A film review by Steve Rhodes Copyright 1998 Steve Rhodes RATING (0 TO ****): *** 1/2
Exactly how much pain would you be willing to endure for a chance to win a Nissan pickup truck worth $15,000?
The best documentaries consider offbeat subjects that seem on the surface to have no broad appeal. Director S.R. Bindler takes us into an annual human endurance contest with the result being one of the funniest and most involving films of the year as we get to know the contestants. The best part of this life-affirming film about blue-collar workers is that the sympathetic filmmaker avoids the cheap shots while still producing a film that has the audience frequently in stitches.
HANDS ON A HARDBODY covers a contest of the same name run every year by the local Nissan dealer in Longview, Texas. Twenty-three participants are selected at random from a fishbowl filled with applicants' names. Those chosen spend days with their hands on a pickup truck.
The rules are simple and rigidly enforced by the judges. There are 5-minute breaks every hour. When not on break, the contestants must keep one hand on the truck at all times. They must stand up without leaning or squatting. Any infraction of these rules, no matter how brief, immediately disqualifies the person. The winner is the last one standing with his or her hand on the truck.
The film creates a wonderful arc as the audience goes from initially laughing at these country folks with their funny sounding, thick Texas accents to laughing with them and then, finally, empathizing with their quest. (For the record, my Texas accent is still almost this heavy although I left the state 30 years ago.) By the end of the movie, the viewers become glued to their seats wondering who among their newfound friends will next succumb to the pain and have to drop out or will be forced out through some silly blunder. Each time someone leaves the vehicle you can almost hear the audience sigh.
Benny, the winner from two years ago is back. As the film's philosopher, and clearly the man to beat, he explains that it went 87 hours the year he won. After that long standing without sleep, your body falls apart. And towards the end your mind begins to go, causing many to lose by simple slipups -- they take their hands off the truck to scratch their head, to rub their numb legs or to wave to someone.
Although the movie works as sport, the real beauty comes from the people we get to know. The strain and the intense desire cause them to reveal themselves in ways they normally wouldn't.
The group chosen at random from the people willing to submit their bodies to the ordeal is a cross section of the local population. There are people of various sizes, ages, races, and sex. The only common denominator is that they all share the lower end of the economic strata, ranging from a waitress to a transmission repairman. Deadly serious, each believes the truck will be his or hers in a few days. Each of them goes from an early machismo to a final, deadening exhaustion.
Benny, the cocksure cowboy type, was captured in a long interview before the contest started, and the film cuts back frequently to this and other pregame interviews with the rest of the highly likable group. "It's extremely wild," Benny describes the upcoming action. "It is extremely crazy. It's a human drama thing." Not everyone has the mettle, he reminds us. "If you can't run with the big dogs," he declares, "you better stay on the porch with the pups." A hunter, Benny uses the exhilaration of deer hunting as a metaphor for the competition.
The other entrants include Norma, a spiritual woman with her own 50-person prayer chain. She wiles away her time reading the bible, listening to gospel music on her headphones, and laughing out loud with "the joy of the Lord." Built like a bowling bowl and just as strong, she's certain to be a contender for this year's crown.
Janis is a large, poor woman without any front teeth. Her husband, who shares her paucity of teeth, stops by to tell the movie's funniest story. It seems he turned off their air-conditioning in the days before the meet to get her ready for standing out in the sweltering Texas heat -- they do have a portable awning over the truck. He explains that most people have a 3-ton A/C unit, but their house has a 20-ton, the size to "cool a K-Mart store." With it, he can cool their house to 15 degrees below zero. Why did he get it? Why, because he was offered such a great deal on it.
There is a Sandra Bullock lookalike, and a host of other individuals who seem straight out of central casting for their variety.
Everyone has their theory on how to win. One guy "fasts" during the match, eating only oranges and Snickers. He figures that if he doesn't put too much in, not too much will want to come out. The competitors critique each other's food choices, break strategies, and shoe preferences. Along the way, they become friends as well as competitors. After dropping out and getting some rest, they come back to cheer on those left standing, albeit just barely. Their collective stamina is amazing. After 24 hours, 16 of the 23 are still there trying hard not to pass out.
This piece of Americana has an ending that is surprising in many ways, not the least of which is how sudden and unexpected it is.
After it is all over with, Benny offers his thoughts once more for the meaning of it all. "It teaches you human values," he says of the tortuous event. "The very basic human values."
Co-producer and cameraman Chapin Wilson was at the screening we attended. He said that almost everything that Benny said ahead of time turned out to be true. The only thing they doubted was that he said there was a "Lips on a Lincoln" contest in an adjoining state. One night in a bar, Chapin and the director looked up at the television, which had a short story about the "Lips on a Lincoln" contest. Every challenger had a circle on the car in which they had to stay puckered up. Benny was proven right again.
HANDS ON A HARDBODY runs 1:37. It is rated PG for a little bad language and would be fine for all ages.
The film is playing now in extremely limited distribution. Try to convince your local art house to book it. In the San Jose area, it will be coming to one of the Camera Cinemas sometime in November.
Email: Steve.Rhodes@InternetReviews.com Web: www.InternetReviews.com
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