The movie that killed Coppola Studios. If ever there was a beautiful failure, it is,
sadly, One From The Heart. It is a
musical-ish. That is there are a lot of
songs to describe the actors feelings, but the are all writing by Tom Waits,
and sung by Tom Waits and Crystal Gale.
They stand in for the characters musically.
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It stars Terri Garr and Fredric Forrest as a couple hitting
the seven year itch, even though they are married, and it hasn’t been seven years. Terri Garr falls for a handsome singer / waiter
that wants to sweep her off her feet (Raul Julia) and Fredric Forrest spends an
evening of magic (but no sex) with Nastassja Kinski in one her first roles.
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Set in Las Vegas, Francis Coppola ultimately built the
entire mini-downtown on a back-lot in Northern California. Vegas was compact and neon-y enough for
him. However he did kind of come up with
the idea of a Neon Graveyard, since turned into an actual museum / attraction
in Vegas. The movie is bathed in blue
lights for Fredric Forest and warm reds for Terri Garr. It is stunning.
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It is a great movie, although Coppola sliced out his own
beginning, which is magical and shows Terri Garr not as the wronged woman, but
as one of two real-life people having issues.
The original opening is on the 2nd disk. Watch it and see what I mean. I saw the original opening in LA at the Plitt
(memories!) in a packed house. It opened
in LA, Chicago and New York. Played to
packed houses in LA and empty ones in Chicago and New York. It died a quiet death.
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Some shots are freakishly good, although you can’t always
get the full effect on TV. On the big
screen Terri and her best friend (a young Lani Kazan!) are talking about the
relationship in one apartment and Fredric Forest and his friend (the ubiquitous
Harry Dean Stanton) in another apartment across town. But the shot is done on a single stage, with
the “wall” between the two rooms painted gauze.
To change locations, Copolla doesn’t cut away but raises and lowers the
lights so the wall is see through (and film through). (Actually – just watching the trailer – you see
a flash towards the end as they both hang up the phone at the same time.)
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It this movie doesn’t move you, you need your “move you”
emotions checked.
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Coppola, who had big, nay gigantic plans for a new Zoetrope
Studios, lost his shirt, the studio and his backing with this picture.
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And yes, that is a real plane that flys over the set at the
end of the movie. Look at the
trailer. They are SO YOUNG!!