Hey folks, Harry here.... You might remember Moriarty's Review of A NIGHT AT THE GOLDEN EAGLE back over a month ago. And you may remember a few comments I've made about the film, or heard my radio broadcast about the film on XM Satellite radio where I called it an amazing film. It is, the movie combines the disgust with society from TAXI DRIVER, the sweaty hell of ANGEL HEART and the heartless funk of the best seventies films. This is truly a superior movie. SEEK IT OUT! Here's our man...
Harry:
Just saw a great little film that MUST get some attention, as it is one of the more original pictures I think we'll see this year, and one that I'm sure you will love, just based on it's dark humor alone.
It's Adam Rifkin's new film called NIGHT AT THE GOLDEN EAGLE. The story isn't unlike FOUR ROOMS, in which there are a number of plotlines going on in one hotel, but the similarities stop there. The difference here is that instead of a posh five star hotel, the GOLDEN EAGLE is the worst flea-bag joint on L.A.'s Skid Row and the people who reside here are really down on their luck.
The cast includes Vinnie Jones, Natasha Lyonne, Ann Magnuson, and a bunch of relative unknowns, but the unknowns are terrific!
The jist of it is this, without spoilers: Two low-life criminals are about to start a new life in Las Vegas, one reluctantly, the other enthusiastically. Until one of them can't get it up with a hooker and he takes it out on her. Meanwhile, a pimp named Rodan (b/c he's like a pterodactyl - saving these girls, as he swoops them away from their horrible lives -- and yes Vinnie Jones plays Rodan!), has a new find - a 15 year old girl from the suburbs, who he gives to Ann Magnuson to show the ropes of the job to. As these stories play out, we meet a cast of local flavor who live in and around the hotel that just makes you cringe at times and laugh out loud at others. Special note going to Sam Moore -- yes, that's right - of Sam and Dave fame -- who plays a guy in the lobby watching old movies on a TV all day, claming how he used to be wealthy and that he banged Fay Wray back in the day.
But what makes this so great, is there is no Hollywood ending bullshit in this film. If you tried to guess the endings to either of those major plotlines above, what you would come up with would be formulaic answers to basic questions of plot development. But not in this one. The 15 year old girl ( a virgin )sees Magnuson go at it with a john, to see how it's done. But when it's her turn, fear turns to terror. But what comes next is waaay out there and sad. In a film full of freaks, there is an unflinching reality as to why and how.
Rifkin is largely un-noticed, and while this film won't play more than 5 theaters across the country, it won't help any. But he's got a great eye, and a unique approach to this material. You need to find this film and see it. This is very good.
Pike Bishop
