A Celluloid Hero confronts a gun wielding villain as imaginary horror
becomes maniacal modernity; an empty life in red typeface. Peter Bogdanovich
directs and stars in his debut feature, homage to the legendary Boris Karloff
and an insider’s view of the bitter realities of Hollywood filmmaking while
creating a well-paced thriller whose violent nexus strikes back from the silver
screen.
The story involves Byron Orlok an
aging B-movie actor, exceptionally portrayed with dignity and class by Karloff,
and his desire to retire from the rigors of a vapid business. Orlok is courted
by a young hotshot director (played by Bogdanovich himself) to star in one last
film while Bogdanovich cross-cuts with another story of an ordinary
middle-class family and a clean cut son with an erotic fascination with
firearms. The two seemingly disparate stories finally come together at a
drive-in where the audience becomes victim, and the horrors of life prove more
frightening than art. Bogdanovich uses clips from Roger Corman’s classic THE
TERROR which stars Karloff as a fictional
template for Orlok’s latest creation. He provides an often funny and caustic
insight into the cutthroat movie-making business, as producers, advertisers and
accountants become the butt of many jokes. Meanwhile, Bobby is a good looking
All American guy, with a loving family and beautiful wife, showing no emotional
warning signs on his suicidal road to nowhere. In one spooky sequence, Bobby is
at the rifle range with his father, making small talk and cracking jokes. When
his father goes down range to set up the targets, Bobby aims his rifle to find
him in the cross-hairs…for no damn reason at all. When Bobby finally types his
note and murders his family, it is done methodically and without emotion,
actually taking the time to place the bodies in a comfortable position.
Bogdanovich tracks his camera slowly across the floor, over the bloodstains,
and climbs ever so deliberately towards the desk in a continuous shot until he
focuses upon the typewritten letter, hacked out in red, the last testament of a
madman.
Laszlo Kovacks’ wonderful
cinematography captures both timelines with a claustrophobic tension, as Orlok
the horror actor is brightly lit while bobby the average guy (whose acts are
horror) is isolated in darkness, both cramped in the tiny worlds of vehicles
and apartments. When Bobby climbs the refinery towers, Kovacks shoots with
quick zoom like a bullet striking its target, a fatal frisson that brings a
heightened and believable reality. The night sequence at the drive-in is
equally compelling, as the oblique lighting provides cover from the deadly
sniper.
The power of the story is that no
reason is given, no flashback to some imagined provocation is offered, only the
callous disregard for human life reduced to tin cans. Fortunately, Orlok may
have made a career from being the villain but in his last appearance he proves
to be the hero.
Final Cut: (B+)
