Best of QT-Fest Day 4: Riding the Gravy Train

Today I helped out a friend with his film shoot in a town about 30 minutes away. I let him know that I had strict times to be out and such, but, he needed the help so I gave him a little bit of wiggle room. Then drove about 80 all the way back. I figured if a cop stopped me I'd simply explain to them that "The Gravy Train" is playing tonight and I have to be there. I think it would've worked. Fortunately, I didn't need to.

The Outfit
Tim League took the stage and formally apologized for his comments regarding Brotherhood of Death, explaining how much he really enjoyed it (he didn't mention The Black 6). He said that he was lambasted on the internet by Harry Knowles (right here) and said that he could call into question some of Harry's reviews... but it'd be much too easy. The audience was really laughing, especially the AICN crew. He then said that he was thinking of The Muthers, which was to be the midnight screening. This upset Quentin, but Tim assured him that he was joking.

Tarantino took the stage and talked about how this film was released by MGM at a time when the head honcho was a moron. Once NY and LA were panning his films, he'd just regionally release films, often with different names in different places and just see how they worked. When Quentin saw The Outfit it was called "The Good Guys Always Win", which is a lame title until you hear the line said in the movie (I didn't believe the line could be that cool, until I heard it in the film). Then Quentin started talking about... books. There's a series of books written by Donald Westlake that feature a character named Parker. Parker is the man when it comes to being a professional thief. He's an absolute professional, what needs to be done gets done, if unfortunate things have to happen in order to get the job done... tough. He's not a cold blooded killer or a psychopath, he's just doing his job. A lot of people have played Parker in the movies, from Mel Gibson to Anna Karina to Lee Marvin, but none have actually played Parker as Westlake would sell the book, but not the character. To add to this there's been a bunch of unofficial Parkers in the movies. Two that Quentin "Knows damn sure about" are Robert DeNiro in Heat and.... Mr. White in Reservoir Dogs. Wow. Quentin pulled back the curtain and surprised us all.

The Outfit gives us Robert Duvall in the Parker role (named Macklin this time around) and does a great job in it. He's smooth, he's unrelenting, he's tough. I just would not mess with this guy at all. He starts out busting a guy in the face with a vase and just starts interrogating the guy. The guy complains about glass in his face and Macklin just doesn't care. He keeps attacking the guy until he gets his information. He doesn't bullshit around. The mob is attacking the guy for everything he did in another Parker movie, so he just finds out who is the source and demands money from them. If they don't pay, he'll just rob their places until they pay up. No nonsense, this is the way it is. I would've paid, but the mob didn't.

So, Macklin and his friend Cody go around robbing places, using just badass techniques. How do you take care of a female secretary? Punch her right in the face and knock her out. Brilliant. Duvall in this movie basically goes around kicking ass in all sorts of ways. Insane.

The Gravy Train AKA The Dion Brothers
Often movies have two names, but never have they been used so interchangeably than The Dion Brothers and The Gravy Train at QT-Fest. Doesn't matter which one you use, as long as you're talking about that movie. Everybody was talking about it before and everyone was talking about it afterwards. But, let's not get ahead here.

Quentin got up on stage and first praised Duvall in The Outfit, and then started singing the praises of Stacy Keach. Stacy Keach was one of the few people who put their star power to good use, making it so that the weirdest most unconventional films got made, Quentin says, "The most convention film he made in that time was 'The New Centurions' and that film is pretty fuckin' weird!". The Dion Brothers (Quentin's preferred title) first showed at QT-4 (I believe) and tore down the house. Ever since then, people have been asking for it again and again, and today he finally gave it to them. Quentin then went on to quote a line from the trailer that doesn't make a lot of sense out of context, but doesn't make too much in, either - "I need my pants - I have to meet my mom!". Lots of fun, then lots of laughs.

Then he drops the bombshell.

This movie was ghost written by none other than Austin's own Terrance Malick. I gasp. Literally. I was not the only one. Quentin did it too, in a mocking sort of way adding in conversations with himself - "Really?" "Really." "Really, really?" "Really". Dead serious.

As for the movie, I cannot believe it was written by Terrance Malick. The Dion Brothers is just an amazing experience with this crowd, one that cannot be replicated. This festival is about lost gems - here's a 24 karat diamond right here. How this has been overlooked is beyond me. There's no DVD, no video versions, and honestly, I'm glad about that. This is a film that absolutely needs to be seen with an audience. You can't rent this movie from blockbuster and watch it alone one night and have the same experience. We shared a film that's basically our own, it's in our memories and our hearts, and that's it. Someday I might have a chance to see this film again. I'll take it. There are too many funny moments and no way to do them justice here. There's just no way.

Before the next film Quentin came out and said that there was a point, about 2/3 of the way through the movie where the audience had been laughing non-stop for about 30 minutes about a film that nobody remembers and nobody cares about. We were introduced to the film and we embraced and love it and that's what QT-Fest is about, and he thanked the audience for that experience.

The Muthers
Quentin went on to talk about the next film, The Muthers - one of his favorite Philipino blaxploitation action flicks. Now, you don't think of the Philippines when it comes to blaxploitation, but that's where they shot some of the greats. However, a lot of these films only had one black star because the plane ticket cost more than production. Wow. So, often when they shipped a star out there they'd end up making two or three movies, just so they could save on the tickets.

What he really likes about this film is how much the actors flat-out commit to their roles. He likened it to kids playing Star Wars, when they decide to be Han Solo, they become Han Solo, putting all of their imagination into it and dedicating themselves to it, and eventually become better than the actors who originally played their roles, just because they get so into it.

I could see what he meant, the actresses did really great jobs in this movie, but, really, after The Gravy Train, it just couldn't compare. There was no way to match the energy and excitement of that film, so the Muthers just kinda fell a bit flat for me. I was pretty tired also, so that might be part of it.
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