{"id":1687,"date":"2009-03-24T21:40:42","date_gmt":"2009-03-25T01:40:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/?p=1687"},"modified":"2022-10-20T11:58:49","modified_gmt":"2022-10-20T15:58:49","slug":"bottle-rocket","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/bottle-rocket\/","title":{"rendered":"On the Run from Johnny Law in Wes Anderson’s Bottle Rocket"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Wes Anderson and co-writer Owen Wilson’s feature debut Bottle Rocket<\/em> is based on their 1992 short film of the same name. Like Kevin Smith’s Clerks<\/em> and Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs<\/em>, Bottle Rocket<\/em> may not have turned the world upside down, but is now viewed as a key filmmaker’s ur text. His signature style is already fully present: meticulously constructed of primary colors, written in torrents of words, and shot perpendicularly against exacting mise-en-sc\u00e8ne.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Royal Tenebaums<\/em> is the only of Anderson’s films to feature parents as featured characters throughout, but Rushmore<\/em>, The Darjeeling Limited<\/em>, and Bottle Rocket<\/em> all concern misfit siblings with largely absent parents. Like the Tenenbaums and the Whitmans (of Darjeeling<\/em>), the Adams brothers are privileged yet seem to possess nothing of their own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"James
James Caan and Owen Wilson in Bottle Rocket<\/em>. “This seems like a nice soir\u00e9e.”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Dignan (Owen Wilson) throws in his lot with local gangster Mr. Henry (James Caan), who proves to be both a bad boss and poor father figure. Dignan forms an amateur gang of sorts with brother Anthony (Luke Wilson) — an aimless young man suffering from self-diagnosed “exhaustion,” and their pushover friend Bob Mapplethorpe (Robert Musgrave) — of use mostly because he has access to a car. Every detail of Dignan’s grand scheme for his life is plotted out in the handwritten manifesto “75-Year Plan – Notes Re: Careers.” As he tells Anthony, “I think we both respond well to structure.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Robert
Robert Musgrave, Owen Wilson, and Luke Wilson in Bottle Rocket. “On the run from Johnny Law… ain’t no trip to Cleveland.”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

They feel the urge to steal (from a chain book store, hilariously, and even from their own parents’ home), not so much for money itself but to enable their fantasy of living independently on the road. Their dream is that being on the lam would provide the excitement they imagine their lives lack. But Dignan’s precise vision of the future is disrupted at every turn. The most cataclysmic event of all is when the romantic Anthony becomes smitten with motel maid Inez (Lumi Cavazos), and he gives up most of their illgotten spoils to help her. Dignan’s own future hasn’t factored in love; eventually he realizes he must set off on his own to find his destiny.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Lumi
Lumi Cavazos in Bottle Rocket<\/em>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The 2007 Criterion Collection edition<\/a> reprints a 1999 appreciation by producer James L. Brooks<\/a>, in which he describes how the neophyte filmmakers had little notion of how movies are actually written and made, especially any aspect thereof involving creative compromise. Their first draft was reportedly so wordy that a simple table reading proved epic:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the longest entertainment known to man, beating Wagner’s Ring Cycle before we reached the halfway point of the reading. By the time we approached the last scene, all the water pitchers had been emptied, yet voices still rasped from overuse, and there were people in the room showing the physical signs of starvation.<\/p>James L. Brooks<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The script was deemed unfilmable, beginning a long process of urging Anderson and Wilson to cut material they held dear, and they held everything dear. The movie still seemed doomed even after successfully shooting a workable script. When early cuts tested poorly before audiences, Brooks tried to console Anderson and Wilson by telling them that early feedback for E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial<\/em> was also poor, but it was saved by the music and a memorable logo. Indeed, Brooks credits the score by Mark Mothersbaugh of Devo for helping make the film work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

James Caan only worked on the film for three days, and still seems bemused by the whole thing. But the result has proven a cult classic, and launched the careers of not only Anderson but also the Wilson brothers. The Criterion Collection edition also includes Martin Scorcese’s 2000 appreciation from Esquire<\/em><\/a>, in which he credits Anderson with a rare, true affection for his characters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dignan’s belief in his imperviousness is the flm’s “transcendent moment”: “they’ll never catch me, man, ’cause I’m fucking innocent.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wes Anderson and co-writer Owen Wilson’s feature debut Bottle Rocket is based on their 1992 short film of the same name. Like Kevin Smith’s Clerks and Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs, Bottle Rocket may not have turned the world upside down, but is now viewed as a key filmmaker’s ur text. His signature style is already […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4642,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,2],"tags":[77,207,46,321,319,322,318,320,317],"class_list":["post-1687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-4-stars","category-movies","tag-comedy","tag-criterion-collection","tag-drama","tag-james-l-brooks","tag-luke-wilson","tag-martin-scorsese","tag-owen-wilson","tag-robert-musgrave","tag-wes-anderson"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/03\/bottle-rocket-field.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa9lhB-rd","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4265,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/my-new-least-favorite-wes-anderson\/","url_meta":{"origin":1687,"position":0},"title":"Snausage Fest: Wes Anderson’s Isle of Dogs","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"July 31, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"I was rather astonished to find Isle of Dogs defeat my expectations and become one of my least favorite Wes Andersons, if not the least. 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A total computer failure plugged up the works, backing up dork all the way to our eyeballs. Quotable Neil (no longer online: quotableneil.blogspot.com). Must he be so bloody clever? 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