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The oh so cute Rav is here with a look at the script for INTOLERABLE CRUELTY - the next Coen Film!
Hey folks, Harry here... It was a nice surprise to read this from Rav, as I was not entirely sure the boy knew how to read, much less digest said reading and output it into a review that made any amount of sense, but it seems... He can be taught! Anyway, I feel I must address his accusation that I talked him out of a double bill of FRENCH CONNECTION and BONNIE & CLYDE for a screening of BLUE CRUSH. Did you ever see THE BIG NIGHT? Remember the scene where Tony Shalhoub's Primo is told that there is a customer that wants a side of Spaghetti to go with his meal, and Primo loses it because that would be wrong. That a doubling of carbs is just uncivilized? Well... FRENCH CONNECTION and BONNIE & CLYDE are a terrible double feature. Now - FRENCH CONNECTION and THE TAKING OF PELHAM 123 - that's a double feature. Or BONNIE & CLYDE and THE LONG RIDERS - they go together.... But FRENCH CONNECTION and BONNIE & CLYDE - that's two great ingredients that don't taste great together. And personally I'd rather watch a stand alone of BLUE CRUSH - than two classics mismatched. Ya just can't put any two films together and show them... there is an art to it. CAN'T YOU SEE THAT?
Hey Harry,
So last week Knowles tricked me using his super-villain intellect to give up seeing a mint double feature of Bonnie and Clyde with The French Connection, the bastard duped me into seeing Blue fucking Crush instead man. Although I did have a lot of fun with Blue Crush and it surprised me a lot like Crazy/Beautiful did (John Stockwell is becoming a master of making good movies that look like crap by their advertising)...It was no fucking French Connection man. So I just want to tag this review with a bit of a warning, be careful when talking to that Knowles guy it might have turned out okay but it like could have been Battlefield Earth or like See Spot Run or something like that leaving one with a couple of mental scars for the rest of your life or something. I don't know, well I guess all I am trying to say here is that the next time I talk to Knowles I am going to be quite sure I wear a tin-foil hat around my head so that he cant control my mind.
Please be kind, this is my first script review. If you are looking for spoilers try somewhere else.
I'm writing in to tell everybody about The Coen Bros.'s Intolerable Cruelty, a script that has been around for quite some time and its more than all likely Knowles and Moriarty both were given copies years and years ago that are now lost under their desk somewhere sitting with copies of the Aykroyd Ghost Busters III, the first drafts of Scooby-doo, and eight copies of The Sky is Falling......or maybe just forty of the Demme rewrites of Intolerable Cruelty. See this script had quite a long history and I am going to try to trace it in less than a hundred words (email me or talk-back, feel free to bitch and moan at how inaccurate this is.). Somewhere along the way it seems Third Miracle writer John Romano came up with the story idea for Intolerable Cruelty, then Matt Stone and Robert Ramsey, the writers of Big Trouble and Life, came on and wrote the first draft, next the Coen Bros. came aboard and wrote the second draft of Intolerable Cruelty. The Coens went on to do a few really cool movies and somewhere Jonathon Demme came aboard to direct the film. He then had the film rewritten a couple more times once by Barbara Benedek and Jay Kogen. During this time the film became a Julia Roberts/Richard Gere project, then a Will Smith project, then a Tea Leoni movie, and even had Hugh Grant in position to star in it at one point or another.
Now it is in production to become the next Coen Bros. film starring George Clooney, Catherine Zeta Jones, Geoffrey Rush, and Billy Bob Thornton. What I am reviewing here is a draft of the script dated December 1994, what I assume is the original Coen draft and am pretty sure this is what STAX reviewed a couple of months ago over at Film Force. Maybe Mori or Harry have the current draft of this and can enlighten us soon. For now let's make due with my idiotic ramblings.
Intolerable Cruelty follows Miles Massey the best divorce lawyer in the business working in the high-stakes divorce capitol of the world, Beverly Hills California. Miles is a normal regular old joe-six-pack he's the type of guy that spends his free time mowing his lawn, taking in a game, raking leaves, and simonizing his lear-jet. Miles Massey isn't just the best divorce lawyer working today, he's the best of all time he's so unbelievably good no marital-dissolution problem is a challenge for him anymore, he has reached perfection for his line of work and has started to become entranced by a beautiful gold-digger. Marylin Rexroth, he just threw on the street getting everything for her husband. In an awkward way they are both drawn to each other, but both still have a couple agendas of their own to settle first.
The thing I love the most about Coen bros. films is their quirky supporting characters like Jesus, Freddie Riedenschneider, or even Brandt from Lebowski. And Intolerable Cruelty does not fail in serving a great load of supporting characters. My personal favorite character from Intolerable Cruelty was Gus Petch, a divorce private detective who specializes in nailing spouse's asses. That Gus Petch is a real ass-nailer, although he'll work for anyone with the dough. I am eagerly awaiting to see Cedric The Entertainer yell, "I'm Gonna Nail Your Ass!" for the first time. Baron Kraus Von Espy seems to be the one Coen character that John Turturro was born to play. Hopefully they will cast him as every little mannerism from him just screams for the jesus. Wrigley is Massey's right-hand man, a lanky bespectacled young atty. who seems to be attached to Miles's hip throughout most of the movie I think that there are only 3 scenes scripted where they are apart. Nonetheless Wrigley is a delight of a sidekick and I can't wait to see who they have come up with to bring him to life. Don't worry there are still plenty of characters you don't know about, like the great Wheezy Joe.
Howard Doyle, a redneck millionaire oil magnet with all his romantic intentions in place, was perfectly cast as Billy Bob Thornton. George Clooney as Miles Massey seems quite interesting I'm wondering if this is going to turn into a weird mix of his performance in One Fine Day with Oh Brother Where Art Thou?. Catherine Zeta-Jones definitely has all the beauty of Marylin Rexroth and she has proven time and time again that she can play an independent female like Marylin. It's going to be interesting to see the chemistry between the two come alive. The script had quite a few confusing lawyer-battering situations that seemed kind of like they kept them and used them in The Man Who Wasn't There, maybe in the new drafts it has been changed quite a bit.
So in the end Intolerable Cruelty is really enjoyable and entertaining all the way through, I'd say it compares best to The Hudsucker Proxy. The 94 script has me now much eagerly awaiting the final product, which I am pretty sure, will be another Coen bros. home run.
Now that all of that is done, I should point you guys over to the George Clooney fan page which has some new pictures from the set in Miles Massey gear CLiCk for GorGeous GeorGe!!!
That's it for now, in two weeks I head off to Italy to cover The Venice Film Festival for AICN. I am eagerly awaiting Takashi Kitano's Dolls down there, so like if you happen to be down around there during the festival or just want to whore your movie just drop me an email.
Rav
Email: Is it just me, or is Harry like the best wetdream material evah? Sigh - Hot flashes!
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LONG LIVE THE COEN BROTHERS!!!
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Just the title of this film makes me grin. And, oh yeah, fuck "First" posters, fuck them up their stupid asses, yadda yadda yadda...
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Let's hope this nears the quality of the incredible "The Man Who Wasn't There" - or at least "O' Brother Where Art Thou", instead of "The Hudsucker Proxy". However, I don't think there is a Coen Bros. film that I don't enjoy, it's a good year when you can have a Coen Bros. film to look forward to. Bring on 2003, please.
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Aug 18, 2002 10:44:15 AM CDT
I think the Coens should adapt Helter Skelter with Hulk Hogan as
by chaffro
"First we kill them, then we all sing a song, then we have an argument over whether the dune buggy's run on diesel or petrol and where's the cheapest gas station. Are you with me brothers?"
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Color me insane, but I really didn't like "The Man Who Wasn't There." Didn't hold my attention at all. It had some beautiful sequences and sets and the like, but as a whole, I just really didn't care for it. It's probably the only Coen Bros. movie I don't like, though, I have to admit that. This one looks pretty sweet, although I think John Goodman should have a mandatory role in every Coen Bros. movie until he dies. And maybe a few after that, as well...
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Just saw O' Brother for the third time recently. It gets better with every viewing. The Coen bros have a rare talent for making films that age very well. I'm gonna see this one again and again.
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Ya know Harry, it would have been possible for bro to have just attended one of the "mismatched" features. Not like there were dobermans and high-pressure hoses out in the lobby or anything.
Or were there? I've never been to Texas. Oh, well....I'm sure Blue Crush was better than Bonnie and Clyde anyway. Right? Hello? -
Jesus H. Christ, Harry. For someone who has such great respect for film and filmmaking, you can be real douche nozzle sometimes. And for someone who's a self-proclaimed film geek, you sure make a shitload of petty little mistakes--more than saying BW2: Book of Shadows was a good movie, I mean. "The Big Night"? I've never seen that flick, Harry. On the other hand: I, for one, think that "The Bonnie and Clyde" and "A French Connection" would be a great double feature.
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I'm posting this as a plea, not an attempt to start an intelligence insulting flame war...can someone clear this up for me? I have no desire to inflame anyone, but I really, really don't like the Coen Brothers. Not personally, of course, but every single one of their films (with the exception of MILLERS CROSSING, which was basically a remake of THE GLASS KEY) just annoys the piss out of me. Many, many people who normally get much respect from me concerning their opinions tell me how great their stuff is, but it just makes me grind my teeth. I just find it all so damned SMUG. The typical Coen Brothers attack is typified for me in HUDSUCKER PROXY, when the guy ends every sentence with "...they dock ya!" And the old guy in the beginning ending every sentence with "...including the mezzanine." Unfunny the first time, less funny with each repeated viewing. I've actually seen everything they've done (except for TMWWT,) and only enjoyed MILLERS CROSSING. Again, this is all IMHO, and many people more intelligent than I seem to adore this stuff, but...anyway. It just seems that they're more interested with showing you how quirky they can be than they are with actually constructing a good movie. BLOOD SIMPLE: weirdly paced, ultimately uninteresting. RAISING ARIZONA: too obvious to be humorous. BARTON FINK: liked the first time I saw it, hasn't stood up. HUDSUCKER PROXY: I know this is "the bad one," but it didn't seem any more or less irritating than the rest. FARGO: a bunch of Midwestern stereotypes go through some vaguely nutty stuff. Yippee. BIG LEBOWSKI: don't tell me I didn't "get" this one. A lot of my friends are a lot like these people. But the movie just annoyed me. O BROTHER: great soundtrack, OK, but basically a limp road movie with "nutty" characters. ("We're in a tight spot!" FUCKING OK, I GET IT.) Yeah, I know it's THE ODYSSEY. Big deal. Maybe there's some basic life experience I'm missing that makes it necessary to get into the groove with this stuff. Maybe there's some weird ass subliminal signal that tells everyone to love their stuff that I'm inexplicably impervious to. I feel the same way about THE ROYAL TENNENBAUMS, if that clears anything up :P (i.e. loved it the first time, got REALLY sick of it on repeated viewings. My, aren't we quirky? Just look at how quirky we are? Did Wes Anderson get a donut for every "quirky" thing he put into his movie, or something?) WTF? Help!
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I remember seeing Harry refer to Bonnie and Clyde as saying "I'm not a big fan of this." Unless, of course, he's talkin' about another Bonnie and Clyde...(probably Bonnie and Clyde Italian Style)
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Yep, JustAnotherPrick, and also Primo's objection was to too much starch -- "Would she also like a baked potatoe?" Nobody worried about carbs in the 50's. As for the Coens, their movies are kind of like jazz -- if you enjoy it, you enjoy it; if it all sounds like racket to you, nothing anybody can say is going to suddenly cause you to dig it. I'm a huge Coen brothers fan but I'm also the first to admit that their movies sometimes take work. Initially, I hated "Lebowski" but it grew on me over time. I think "Fargo" is extremely overrated but whenever I stumble onto it on TV, I can't stop watching it. "Miller's Crossing" is a masterpiece and yet... few people talk about it; it's their most beautiful, complex film but it's not even on DVD. And though "O Brother" may be their biggest success, I don't think it works at all. Which is not to say that, in five years, I won't sit down to watch it and have a completely different opinion of it.
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Aug 18, 2002 2:10:23 PM CDT
Greasing The Pole or Fuck The Coens Up Their Stupid Asses!
by drop johnson
I don't think there's really anything to explain. It's just a matter of taste. (NOT good vs. bad.. just this person's vs. the other person's) You could argue each film point by point... character development, dialogue, story structure, overt quirkiness vs. subtle cleverness... but I've had people make the same case to me regarding Jerry Lewis, Federico Fellini, Terry Gilliam, Ted Demme, The Three Stooges, and on and on. Maybe the clearest illustration of this extreme divergence of opinion is the fact that when I read your bullet point descriptions of each Coen film... I mostly think. "Aaaahh.. WHAT now?" But, that's just my feeling. If you really sum up Raising Arizona as being too obvious to be funny.. I have to say - RA's ridiculously broad nature and the borderline slapstick performances of Goodman and Forsythe MAKE the movie for me. Blood Simple... weirdly paced? I prefer 'masterfully paced and ultimately engrossing.' It's on my Top Ten of all time list.. for the ending ALONE. I'm even smiling right now, just thinking about it. I adore Hudsucker Proxy. Not sure how it got the moniker of 'the bad one' ??? No need to go film by film.. you get the idea. So, my feeling is - if you really and truly came out of Fargo defining it as a bunch of Midwestern sterotypes going through some vaguely nutty stuff... well, the Coens are most certainly NOT your cup of tea. But, that's why there are so many different brands to choose from. It's all good to somebody. :) To each his own, for SURE. P.S. I think Joel and Ethan should remake Miller's Crossing with Hulk Hogan as Tom - >>>>Leo: Hear about Rug?
Tom: Ohhhh Yyyyeah! R.I.P.!
Leo: They took his hair, Tommy. Jesus that's strange. Why would they do that?
Tom: Maybe it was Injuns, brotha.<<<<
(sorry Chaffro, couldn't resist)
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Aug 18, 2002 2:18:48 PM CDT
The Immolation of Harry or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and
by leevsbenway
Whilst between pud-pulling sessions, I pondered the true order of Coen film. One thing I could assure myself of was that TMWWT would be at the bottom of that list. Granted, the bottom of the list would be well above the heads of other compendii. So, without further ado...10)The Man Who Wasn't There 9)The Hudsucker Proxy 8)Raising Arizona 7)Crimewave (my VHS copy is from '86 and I can't even watch it anymore because of all the tape holding it together) 6)Blood Simple 5)Fargo 4)Barton Fink 3)O Brother, WAT 2)The Big Lebowski 1)Miller's Crossing!!!
Now that that's out of the way, ThePoleOfJustice...get over yourself. I was on your side until you wrote, "FARGO: a bunch of Midwestern stereotypes go through some vaguely nutty stuff. Yippee." Did you really see the movie? There was not much nuttiness going on there, IMHO. ``Quirks of joy and grief,'' as Shakespeare put it, are the signs of masterful storytelling. Let yourself go when you watch a Coen film, don't get sidetracked when you feel they are being too blunt. Also, does anyone know what the HarryHead is up to? All I could think of was Waking Life, but why is he sitting on a crate? -
Please release Crimewave on DVD. I have no idea who owns the rights since Emabassy no longer exists.
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hearing every intricacy of your goddamn personal film lives in dry paragraphs preceding the main article. Ass!
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...what bugs me about the Coens, that is. This is IMHO, of course...I think they don't like their characters. Their entire oveure consists of films which basically say "look at this poor sap." O BROTHER was three dumbasses who lucked into not getting destroyed, BARTON FINK was a snooty, pompous guy whose life basically immolated, FARGO was one ineffectual loser who screwed the pooch...etc. The only Coen Brothers film I like is also the only Coen film that doesn't do this, at least with the main character: MILLERS CROSSING. Gabriel Byrne actually seems to stand for something...and since MC was basically a remake, I think his character was the way it was because it couldn't be convincingly molded into a clueless moron. I never liked the idea that the people on the screen were simply there for the director to screw with for people's amusement (I never even liked the MR. BILL series on SNL,) so maybe that's my issue. I dunno, that whole thing just comes off as smug and condescending to me. Just one dude's opinion, so don't flame me or nothin' (heh.)
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First off, nice nick...always good to see a Burroughs ref. Second, I did indeed see Fargo, and I do think I'm justified in the "vaguely nutty" assessment. **SPOILERS** Grinding a body in a tree chopper? Shooting a cop because you were too dumb to realize $20 wasn't going to work as a bribe? These scenes weren't played straight, at least not completely: they were played for ironic laughs. Nothing WRONG with playing scenes like that for ironic laughs, but I still stand by my original statement.
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I heard Ed Burns (whose dad was a NYC cop) make the same statement a few years ago, about the cop killing in Fargo, that it was played for laughs. He even put it in the first person: "I don't think my dad getting killed is funny." I STRONGLY disagree that the scene was played that way. It was meant to illustrate that Stormare's character was a fucking psychopath, and that Buscemi's was way the hell over his head, and served to inform the rest of the film re: violent death is always around the corner. Buscemi chortling with glee at Lundegaard's wife running into the tree was played for laughs. Buscemi getting whipped by Shep Proudfoot's belt was played for laughs. I could even accept that when Herve Presnell is shot in the parking lot that they were looking to dilute the moment with humor a bit. But the trooper's death was NOT played that way. People who make that statment are reading something into it from their own twisted perspective in my opinion.
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Aug 18, 2002 5:40:22 PM CDT
"But the trooper's death was NOT played that way. People who
by thepoleofjustice
Er, actually, I read THE WHOLE FILM that way. No arguement that there's dubious humor in that, but I didn't read that into it from a "twisted" perspective, I read that into it because that seemed to be how every other scene in the film was played. One of the things that put me off the effort as a whole, to be perfectly honest.
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Generally agree with the Pole of Justice, except that Wes Anderson clearly didn't get a donut for each quirky moment in The Royal Tenenbaums. because I've seen him and he's very very thin. Fargo, however, I found genuinely disturbing, but otherwise the Coens' films say to me: You might not understand but this shot really is terribly clever! Also, don't they always have eccentric salesmen in their pictures? BTW the guy with the Hulk Hogan joke's really got something. That just gets funnier and funnier. Maybe he's a Coen brother.
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For those lucky enough not to know, it stands for "in my humble opinion." Imagine if your favorite writer used this. "Religion is the opiate of the masses, IMHO." "Do not fight with monsters, lest ye become a monster, IMHO." "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, IMHO." We know it's your opinion. We don't care if it's humble. Stop it.
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But what style. The Coens have made the best comedies of recent times, certainly Lebowski. Hudsucker and Raising Arizona were great hyper-real comic book style flicks. Fargo seemed to be a cross between the weirdness of Hudsucker and in places (such as the Trooper shooting) the darkness of the burial sequence in Blood Simple. I thought the trooper getting shot wasn't played for laughs, but Buscemi's response (Whoa Daddy...) and the expressions on the couple in the car that drive by were pretty amusing.
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1) The Coen Bros. just rule.
2) The Hulk Hogan guy and the dude who writes about the Iron Giant should be given some sort of awards for best running jokes on this site. -
Yeah, I'm as sick of putting it in my posts as people are of seeing it, but frankly, it's necessary. If you don't put what really should be obvious in there (i.e. that it's just an opinion,) you invariably have some fanboy start whining about how "you act like your opinion is the TRUTH, when it's just an OPINION...." etc. Which is not only annoying, but detracts from the people who really DO seem to think their opinion is somehow law. Necessary evil, my friend.
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I read it a few years back when I was "with" a friend of Benedek. I'm sure it is in better shape by now and will benefit with actual performance, but I thought it was predictable and lame. Since it had been so long since I had read it (at least five years) I'd kind of figured that it was a forgotten misfire. Oh well.-----Yo, Flip63hole! No word on FLESH+BLOOD, but uncut SPETTERS is hitting DVD soon.-----The Hogan jokes are much funnier than the Iron Giant stuff, brother.
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...guys on a mission DVDs. I'm talking about "Where eagles dare" in particular. The best WW2 action movie ever!! We demand where eagles dare on DVD...NOW!
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Where did they get such an idea? Actually, CZJ has played bad girls surprisingly often, so presumably she likes having fun with her image. Oh, and if there's a cahracter like 'Jesus' in this, then I'm SO there.
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I just can't get enough of rear-projected mountainscapes. Eastwood's exquisite grimacing. Burton's serious grumbling. The fight on the cable car that not only seems to last hours, but actually does. I think all will agree that cinephiles have been waiting with baited breath, no, have been defining their existences waiting for this classic to rear it's head on DVD. Ha! Re: the Coen brother's playing the cop getting shot for laughs, wasn't it some guy who once said" "Those who think look at the world and laugh, those who feel look at the world and cry". Edward Burns sounds like a jealous little tit. I'm sure the esteemed Bros. Coen, did not plan to offend anyone with that scene. What they did do, however, was plan to make a film that shows both the horror and the absurdity of life. A feat which Fargo accomplishes in spades. As for the poster who claims the Coen's don't 'like' their characters, what about Marge in Fargo, Tim Robbins in Hudsucker, The Dude, Donnie, and John Goodman in Lebowski. Just because filmakers don't flatter their characters at every turn, doesn't mean they don't like them. And for the record, in my opinion, which is neither humble, nor uninformed, Miller's Crossing is NOT their best film. It's up there, but their best film has not been made yet. It is still to come... (Could I sound a little more pompous? Could I have had more beer for breakfast? Find out the answers to these questions and more at my next seminar.)
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I'd just like to jump in here as a Coen fan, nay worshipper, and add my two cents. I always feel that to try to extrapolate meaning and depth of story in Coen flicks shouldn't extend too much - most of their films seem to be more exercises in using the medium in interesting ways. Don't read in to them too much - they're not selling anything or trying to bring truth, justice or open your eyes. But the stories - they're so tight, they're all little morality plays. That's what I love - richly drawn characitures, broad themes and execution in fine detail. There's never anything sloppy about their films. Plus, they've stuck soundly to the comedy tragedy thing. I never feel that I'm supposed to relate to any of the characters, sympathize with them or the situations they find themselves in - each film is just a little capsule of provocative entertainment, and they stand many repeat viewings. But they comment only on the human condition, they don't preach or teach. I can see why when they fail (MWWT, Crimewave) they can be pretentious, but I love the world that each film inhabits- it looks a lot like ours, but never really is.
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