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Fool For Love
But not entirely. Though based on Shepard's play and starring the good-looking, intense actor, it contains those Altman touches that mark his other "smaller" pictures like the brilliant Three Women, Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean, Streamers, Secret Honor and Vincent and Theo—all great works that show just how damn versatile Altman is. And certainly, it is actor friendly, something consistent with Altman—he allows them the freedom to develop their own characters with little interruption. Wisely, he typically casts correctly, and so someone like Kim Basinger, who in 1985 hadn't proven her mettle quite yet, gives the strongest performance in the film. She was terrific in LA Confidential, but if Oscar's were just—she would have been nominated for this film—as a put upon, trailer trash babe, she's absolutely ideal.
The story has two very broken people oozing anger, confusion and of course, heavy sexual attraction that is, in an almost satirical way, so wrong its right. Playing classic American stereotypes (or symbols), Shepard is Eddie, a jean clad cowboy who comes back to the love of his life May, a drop dead gorgeous blonde who (in the words of Karl Malden in the masterful Baby Doll: "slops around in a slip") while living in a remote Texan motel. Obviously a modeling scout hasn't been around these parts because May is attempting to go on with her life via a new beau—the safer Randy Quaid.
Meanwhile, milling about the motel is a drunken old man (Harry Dean Stanton) who watches the fireworks with both relish and worry. As we'll learn, there's more to this kook than a guy who believes Barbara Mandrel to be his wife. Chiefly, that Harry Dean is the father of both Eddie and May, albeit through different mothers. The incestuous bond has seriously screwed them up but also ties them deeply in that classic Southern fiction manner a la novelist Erskine Caldwell (Shepard HAD to have read the writer).
But the incest isn't the main batch of fireworks for Fool for Love. It's the relationship between Eddie and May and the writing and acting delivered by Shepard and Basinger. Without talking down to their characters, the film gives these people bursts of violence that range from angry words (Basinger is particularly good at letting it out) to literal, acts of brutality (for instance, Eddy breaks down May's door when she refuses to open it—May kicks him in the crotch immediately after kissing him). It also allows them humor within the darkness. When May rubs her head insanely Eddy snaps (and we're not sure why this makes us laugh) "you need an aspirin or something?" And it's also just plain sexy—not just for the actor's outward looks of Texan gorgeousness, but their taboo, fiery passion that manages to be both a play on saucy paperback fiction and real life. Leave it to Altman to balance these two elements splendidly.
Altman creates a remarkable otherworld in the dusty landscape these people inhabit. Not only does it look like an authentic, old motel but something from an existential void—a resting place for losers or a supernatural last stop in life. Shot with a painterly touch, the picture ventures into a hybrid of Wim Wenders/ David Lynchian territory that's highly provocative. Altman also successfully fuses the past with the present in scenes with Stanton, merging him into the adult characters and acting as a ghost without being pretentious about it. And this picture could play uber pretentious, but it remains grounded in an offbeat, humanistic realm that keeps it from teetering over the edge into city boy Southern Gothic.
The DVD
Video:
MGM presents Fool For Love in gorgeous Widescreen letterbox (1.85:1) that boasts the film's bright colors (Basinger in that red dress) and dusty landscape. The look is crisp and dreamlike maintaining the picture's all important combination of painterly aestheticism and poignant reality.
Sound:
The English audio comes in Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround which for the most part, sounds great, but we occasionally have a hard time hearing some dialogue. Oddly we have to turn up the movie, only to return to an incredibly loud menu page. But that's a minor quibble.
Extras:
The extras aren't plentiful but are interesting and never play like superfluous filler. Here we have a rare interview with Altman in the featurette Robert Altman: Art and Soul where the director talks about the film, actors, play and just why he wanted to make it. Incredibly detailed and proud of this project, Altman shares his feelings on how to direct actors and how he never likes to do something he feels comfortable about which accounts for the director's fascinating career. This is not the standard featurette as it's actually INTELLIGENT and we learn a few extra things about Altman. For the fan, this is a bona-fide bonus. Altman also continues his discussion in a text feature explaining more about the film that again, isn't a pain in the neck to read. Also on board is the film's original theatrical trailer.
Final Thoughts:
Fool for Love is a lovely oddity, a timeless character study and like other Altman films making their way to DVD (Three Women and up next, the great hard-to-see California Split) a picture that should be rediscovered.
Read More Kim Morgan at her blog Sunset Gun
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