FULL TILT BOOGIE (Miramax - 1997) Produced by Rana Joy Glickman Directed by Sarah Kelly Running time: 100 minutes
**1/2 (out of four stars)
Alternate Rating: B-
Note: Some may consider portions of the following text to be spoilers. Be forewarned.
-------------------------------------------------------------
In late January 1996, Miramax released an odd little hybrid film from their genre label Dimension Films. FROM DUSK TILL DAWN, a gloriously campy crime thriller/vampire horror B-film, based on Quentin Tarantino's first screenplay and directed by Robert Rodriguez (of EL MARIACHI and DESPERADO fame), marked the first feature film of TV heartthrob George Clooney since skyrocketing to fame with the popularity of the hit medical drama ER, and surprised the film industry by exploding onto the market, scoring an unexpected $13.2 million domestic in its opening week and heralding Mr. Clooney as a rarity -- an actor with the genuine screen presence to successfully bridge the gap between TV-based fame and a prominent film career.
FULL TILT BOOGIE, the directorial debut of Sarah Kelly, is a behind-the-scenes look at the filming of FROM DUSK TILL DAWN, but it differs from typical "Making Of Film X" documentaries in that its primary focus is the daily activities on a film set, as opposed to the creative filmmaking process, and consequently a great deal of screentime is devoted to members of the film crew usually overlooked in films of these sorts -- the ADs, the caterers, the drivers, the gaffers, the key grips, the personal assistants, and so on. The film not only serves as a document of the struggles and ordeals encountered during the filming of FROM DUSK TILL DAWN, but also as a basic introduction to the mechanics of a film production.
John Carpenter once remarked that, contrary to what one might believe, there is usually more of a festive mood on the sets of horror films than most other types of movies. Such was certainly the case during the shoot of FROM DUSK TILL DAWN, which at times resembles a ten-week frat party as much as it does a film production; despite occasional setbacks during filming, such as an overly-ambitious explosion resulting in heavy damage to the Titty Twister set and a blinding dust storm causing the postponement of the day's shoot, the cast and crew seem to be having a smashing good time. Ms. Kelly, who first met Mr. Tarantino during the shoot of Rory Kelly's SLEEP WITH ME (she was credited as key set production assistant) and is clearly on friendly terms with both he and Mr. Rodriguez, was given seemingly near-unlimited access to film both on- and off-set activities, and much of FULL TILT BOOGIE shows the cast and crew at play: beer-ladened hotel parties in the evenings (the provision of free alcohol seemed to receive an inordinate number of mentions as a favourite fringe by the interviewed crew), the principal cast kicking back at a karaoke bar in Barstow, Texas (where Juliette Lewis belts out her rendition of 4 Non Blondes' "What's Up?" -- "Nice voice," remarks a surprised bar manager), and a mischievous contest for "Best Butt" on the set. During shooting, Mr. Clooney is seen as eminently approachable, winning over the crew with his playfulness and down-to-earth charm, and is frequently caught flirting with the female crew members. Mr. Rodriguez seems to be directing the film with his guitar perpetually strapped over his shoulder, relaxingly strumming between takes. Ms. Lewis is more guarded, but is clearly enjoying herself, and Mr. Tarantino is seen amiably flittering about around the set. FULL TILT BOOGIE depicts the FROM DUSK TILL DAWN shoot as remarkably friendly and great fun, with the only complaints being the generic ones: long hours and bad food. (Ms. Kelly was worried at one point that she'd be unable to dredge up any negatives at all from the high-spirited crew.)
FULL TILT BOOGIE also skillfully handles the more-familiar aspects of filmmaking documentaries. The filming of scenes from FROM DUSK TILL DAWN are included, such as the fiery stunt sequence at Benny's World Of Liquor as well as the shooting of the subsequent explosion, and candid interviews of the filmmakers and many of the cast are featured in Ms. Kelly's film. Unlike other behind-the-scenes documentaries, where interview segments come off as carefully rehearsed and impersonal, there is a casualness and spontaneity apparent as Ms. Kelly conducts her interviews, which results in more revealing and certainly more entertaining sound bites. Her weeks on the set, creating trust and a sense of familiarity with her subjects, certainly pay off in this respect -- the interviews play off more as friendly conversations than standard recitations of key pat phrases.
It however did apparently not work with Harvey Keitel, who chose not to participate in the making of the documentary as noted in a sour, obviously bitter title card midway through the film. Smarmily noting that Keitel claimed to be on the set to film FROM DUSK TILL DAWN exclusively, and not to additionally participate in the making of FULL TILT BOOGIE, this petty sniping is a low point in the film, and the decision for Ms. Kelly to carry her spitefulness into her documentary is a wrongheaded one which leaves a bitter aftertaste.
Perhaps the most interesting section of FULL TILT BOOGIE deals with the politicized issues faced by FROM DUSK TILL DAWN's filmmakers during their tumultuous shoot. FROM DUSK TILL DAWN used a non-union crew during production, and consequently were targeted for strike action by IATSE, who threatened to shut down filming. The political maneuvering is intriguing and brings some drama to the film, although FULL TILT BOOGIE's perspective of the situation is sadly a bit one-sided: FROM DUSK TILL DAWN producer Lawrence Bender and Mr. Rodriguez discuss their reactions and opinions of the union threat at several points in the documentary, but unfortunately IATSE head Lyle Trachtenberg, when finally tracked down by Ms. Kelly and her crew in an investigative reporting-styled blitzkrieg on the IATSE union convention (which amusingly was shown to have subsequently made headlines in Daily Variety) refused to speak on camera with her due to Ms. Kelly's perceived "associations" with the FROM DUSK TILL DAWN production.
With the exclusion of the coverage of the IATSE conflict, FULL TILT BOOGIE is not a solemn, formal, staid documentary about the FROM DUSK TILL DAWN shoot; it's exuberantly cheerful and often very funny. Much of the high spirits and cheerfulness on the FROM DUSK TILL DAWN shoot comes across in Ms. Kelly's documentary, and she also playfully stages a particularly amusing introductory scene where Mr. Clooney and Mr. Tarantino, in costume as Seth and Richard Gecko, respectively, wander the halls in search of the set and are accosted by geeky autograph-seeking fanboys. ("I quit school for you!" squeals one.) While trashing the fanboys with sneers, shoves and disdain, Mr. Clooney and Mr. Tarantino later encounter and affectionately embrace an autograph-seeking fangirl.
Strangely enough for a documentary dealing with the shooting of a feature film, previous familiarity with FULL TILT BOOGIE's subject, FROM DUSK TILL DAWN, is helpful, but not at all imperative. (The documentary does open with the outrageous full theatrical trailer for Mr. Rodriguez's film, which is already beginning to seem dated -- the joke in the "Interviews. No vampires." tag may be lost to those who have already understandably forgotten about Neil Jordan's INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE.) FULL TILT BOOGIE is a joyous (almost *too* joyous -- the group cavorting sequence is a bit too happy and sunny) and often interesting document on the rigours of shooting a film and the close bonds developed by tight-knit teamwork, and should be of particular interest to those curious about filmmaking. While it doesn't capture the tedium associated with shooting a film, Ms. Kelly's film superbly captures the experience of being on a film set. I wonder if a similar documentary is in the works for the planned prequel to FROM DUSK TILL DAWN?
- Alex Fung
email: aw220@freenet.carleton.ca
web : http://www.ncf.carleton.ca/~aw220/
-- Alex Fung (aw220@freenet.carleton.ca) | http://www.ncf.carleton.ca/~aw220/ "Man, that was a big spider. It was so big I thought I saw a small dog caught in its web. We are talking big. That spider could've kicked Charlotte's ass." - Hope Davis, THE MYTH OF FINGERPRINTS
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews