User:TPoole/sandbox: Difference between revisions

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Gable). And fictional films like ''Citizen Kane'' (1941) had employed documentary

film aesthetics nearly three decades before ''Wild 90''.

In some respects, John Cassavetes’ ''Shadows'' (1959) was a particularly important link to the chain that led to Mailer’s first three films. Shot on location in New York with an improvised story, the fictional film exemplifies the

kind of raw and authentic vitality that Mailer would seek a decade later. However, Mailer’s visual style would be quite different than Cassavetes’ style.

Mailer’s departure from all of these earlier examples came in part due to

his embrace of direct cinema. Handheld camera and existing lighting mark

his first three films. While Pennebaker and others had already made direct

cinema documentaries, they were still exploring its possibilities when Mailer

began his filmmaking career. He directed ''Wild 90'' and ''Beyond the Law'' in

1968, the same year that the Maysles Brothers completed ''Salesman'' (1968).

Two years later, Mailer finished ''Maidstone'' at roughly the same time that the Maysles Brothers finished ''Gimme Shelter'' (1970).

In other words, rather than simply being inspired by a movement that had stopped moving, Mailer conducted his own fictional experiments while direct cinema was the prevailing force in documentary film. His films not only appropriated then-recent film history, but also engaged in a conversation with the unfolding present. Perhaps that is why, as Mailer tells us in “A Course in Filmmaking,” his ideas were a “conception which was more or less

his own, and he did not feel the desire to argue about it” (217). Put another way, he did not believe his films incorporated very much film history.

Of Mailer’s first three films, the inaugural ''Wild 90'' is the most austere. Onscreen text informs us, “Once three guys from Brooklyn were hold up in

a room and couldn’t get out for various vague reasons.” These guys, who are

“Maf Boys,” have already spent 21 days in that location when we meet them. One is Prince, played by Mailer. Another is Buzz Cameo, who shares his first name with Buzz Farber, the actor who portrayed him. The third is Mickey (aka, “20 Years”), who also bore the same first name as the man who assumed the role: Mickey Knox, the only one of the three who was a professional film actor.

@@ Line 48: / Line 48: @@
 Gable). And fictional films like ''Citizen Kane'' (1941) had employed documentary
 film aesthetics nearly three decades before ''Wild 90''.
+In some respects, John Cassavetes’ ''Shadows'' (1959) was a particularly important link to the chain that led to Mailer’s first three films. Shot on location in New York with an improvised story, the fictional film exemplifies the
+kind of raw and authentic vitality that Mailer would seek a decade later. However, Mailer’s visual style would be quite different than Cassavetes’ style.
+Mailer’s departure from all of these earlier examples came in part due to
+his embrace of direct cinema. Handheld camera and existing lighting mark
+his first three films. While Pennebaker and others had already made direct
+cinema documentaries, they were still exploring its possibilities when Mailer
+began his filmmaking career. He directed ''Wild 90'' and ''Beyond the Law'' in
+, the same year that the Maysles Brothers completed ''Salesman'' (1968).
+Two years later, Mailer finished ''Maidstone'' at roughly the same time that the Maysles Brothers finished ''Gimme Shelter'' (1970).
+In other words, rather than simply being inspired by a movement that had stopped moving, Mailer conducted his own fictional experiments while direct cinema was the prevailing force in documentary film. His films not only appropriated then-recent film history, but also engaged in a conversation with the unfolding present. Perhaps that is why, as Mailer tells us in “A Course in Filmmaking,” his ideas were a “conception which was more or less
+his own, and he did not feel the desire to argue about it” (217). Put another way, he did not believe his films incorporated very much film history.
+Of Mailer’s first three films, the inaugural ''Wild 90'' is the most austere. Onscreen text informs us, “Once three guys from Brooklyn were hold up in
+a room and couldn’t get out for various vague reasons.” These guys, who are
+“Maf Boys,” have already spent 21 days in that location when we meet them. One is Prince, played by Mailer. Another is Buzz Cameo, who shares his first name with Buzz Farber, the actor who portrayed him. The third is Mickey (aka, “20 Years”), who also bore the same first name as the man who assumed the role: Mickey Knox, the only one of the three who was a professional film actor.