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The Mailer Review/Volume 3, 2009/Tough Guys Do Dance: Difference between revisions
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{{MR03}} {{Byline|first= Stephan| last= Morrow | abstract = This essay is an excerpt from Stephan Morrow’s book-in-progress, The Unknown and the General, in which Morrow chronicles his experiences with Norman Mailer on stage and screen. Morrow played the role of Stoodie in Tough Guys Don’t Dance.}} '''<big>THERE IS AN AXIOM OF THE GREATEST FILMS</big>''' that it is the supporting characters that add to the depth of the whole. If a filmmaker paints them vividly, the picture deepens in its richness. Lubitsch was the master at elevating moments like this to such a degree that they became known as his signature as a filmmaker, the “Lubitsch Touch.” Think of ''Casablanca'' with so many rich scenes that have become iconic. For example, the scene that takes place at the gambling table, when Rick suggests to the young husband in need of cash for a visa to play number twenty-two and then again, the same number. Rick then tells him to cash in his winnings and never come back. Rick turns to the croupier and asks him how the house is doing tonight? “Well, a couple of thousand less than I thought there would be,” he answers. At the bar with the jovial but careful waiter (“Cuddles”), who checks his pockets after bumping into the pick-pocketer. Scenes or moments like these each add to the richness of that world. And what is important to point out is that there's not a moment that is casually handled. Each actor makes them count, so the scenes are short but compelling. Actors walk through these scenes the moment there written for them, either by design or by instinct. As a result, there is texture and detail to the film that launches it into the realm of great work.<br> | {{MR03}} | ||
I think that Norman Mailer was savvier in this respect than people give him credit for, and he was more of an auteur than is recognized, at least as demonstrated by | {{Byline|first= Stephan| last= Morrow | abstract = This essay is an excerpt from Stephan Morrow’s book-in-progress, The Unknown and the General, in which Morrow chronicles his experiences with Norman Mailer on stage and screen. Morrow played the role of Stoodie in Tough Guys Don’t Dance.}} '''<big>THERE IS AN AXIOM OF THE GREATEST FILMS</big>''' that it is the supporting characters that add to the depth of the whole. If a filmmaker paints them vividly, the picture deepens in its richness. Lubitsch was the master at elevating moments like this to such a degree that they became known as his signature as a filmmaker, the “Lubitsch Touch.” Think of ''Casablanca'' with so many rich scenes that have become iconic. For example, the scene that takes place at the gambling table, when Rick suggests to the young husband in need of cash for a visa to play number twenty-two and then again, the same number. Rick then tells him to cash in his winnings and never come back. Rick turns to the croupier and asks him how the house is doing tonight? “Well, a couple of thousand less than I thought there would be,” he answers. At the bar with the jovial but careful waiter (“Cuddles”), who checks his pockets after bumping into the pick-pocketer. Scenes or moments like these each add to the richness of that world. And what is important to point out is that there's not a moment that is casually handled. Each actor makes them count, so the scenes are short but compelling. Actors walk through these scenes the moment there written for them, either by design or by instinct. As a result, there is texture and detail to the film that launches it into the realm of great work.<br> | ||
I think that Norman Mailer was savvier in this respect than people give him credit for, and he was more of an auteur than is recognized, at least as demonstrated by ''Tough Guys Don’t Dance,'' where he was one of few filmmakers who resurrected film noir in the 1980s. As in ''The Maltese Falcon'' or ''The Big Sleep,'' it was the supporting cast that created the dark world the film lives in. If a scene added to the feel of the underbelly of Provincetown that Mailer was trying to show, he kept it in, and it didn’t matter if it were an actor who gave him an idea or a line. Filling out the supporting characters gives detail to a script and is the kind of moviemaking that separates the wheat from the chaff, and that is why I keep beating the drum for ''Tough Guys'' to be reconsidered as an important film.<br> | |||
During the hibernation of the Provincetown winter, big betting on a cold Sunday afternoon supplied the only hot blood there was on the Cape. The dens of P-town were a wintertime haven for football, gambling, drugs, and drink. So Spider, my cohort in crime, and I were watching a football game in which it looked as if Spider was about to lose a lot of money. The scene as written is a straightforward exposition. We watch the game, Spider loses his bet, and I win mine. Spider is pretty pissed. In fact, he suggests in his anger that his moth-eaten wife Beth drink something to stop her whining. | During the hibernation of the Provincetown winter, big betting on a cold Sunday afternoon supplied the only hot blood there was on the Cape. The dens of P-town were a wintertime haven for football, gambling, drugs, and drink. So Spider, my cohort in crime, and I were watching a football game in which it looked as if Spider was about to lose a lot of money. The scene as written is a straightforward exposition. We watch the game, Spider loses his bet, and I win mine. Spider is pretty pissed. In fact, he suggests in his anger that his moth-eaten wife Beth drink something to stop her whining. | ||
That is what we were given, but Norman’s writing was rich enough to suggest more, and instead of creating it as a ho-hum moment during the game, I volunteered to try something a little more dramatic and we decided to make it the moment that my team crossed the goal line and beat the spread as the clock ran out. For non-gamblers that does not mean that my team would win the game.! In fact, they would lose by seven points. But they wouldn’t lose by as much as the bookies had said they would, which was fourteen points. And so, even though the Patriots would lose, I would win my bet, much to Spider’s chagrin. It wasn’t in the text but the explosive cheer that came out of me, accompanied by my buddy’s groan, made an otherwise flat moment come alive and it revealed a mother lode of insight into the inner lives of our characters. These were not coldblooded dudes. No, these guys had the hot lead in their veins and the room smoked when they popped off. | That is what we were given, but Norman’s writing was rich enough to suggest more, and instead of creating it as a ho-hum moment during the game, I volunteered to try something a little more dramatic and we decided to make it the moment that my team crossed the goal line and beat the spread as the clock ran out. For non-gamblers that does not mean that my team would win the game.! In fact, they would lose by seven points. But they wouldn’t lose by as much as the bookies had said they would, which was fourteen points. And so, even though the Patriots would lose, I would win my bet, much to Spider’s chagrin. It wasn’t in the text but the explosive cheer that came out of me, accompanied by my buddy’s groan, made an otherwise flat moment come alive and it revealed a mother lode of insight into the inner lives of our characters. These were not coldblooded dudes. No, these guys had the hot lead in their veins and the room smoked when they popped off. | ||