February Film Notes

Payday
For proof the ‘70s truly were the golden age of American cinema, look no further than the forgotten 1973 B-movie Payday, recently released on DVD. Rip Torn stars as Maury Dann, an up-and-coming pill-popping, whiskey-soaked, self-absorbed country singer on his way to Nashville and, hopefully, an appearance on the Johnny Cash show. Veteran television director Daryl Duke's film plays like Monte Hellman apprentice work, as hard-luck characters arise or disappear without warning and the plot meanders wildly like Dann's Cadillac on a stretch of Georgia highway. Torn is impressive, entertaining and occasionally frightening in the lead role, and though he can't sing for shit, we're only exposed to a few of his Shel Silverstein-penned songs. This isn't exactly cinema-verite, but you've never seen so much sweat, smoke, Pomade, polyester, Wild Turkey, Schlitz and white bread in one film. It's a lot of fun, a little troubling and it ends with an out-of-the-blue bang. That such minor, flawed ‘70s films as this one were so engaging and true-to-life says a lot about the state of Hollywood then and now.

Killer of Sheep
Meanwhile, across the continent in the Watts section of L.A., Charles Burnett would soon be making Killer of Sheep. Burnett's casual, neo-realist style is as different from Duke's corn-pone melodrama as Sheep's struggling, ghetto-dwelling characters are different from Payday's sleazy Southerners. This film was completed in 1977 but never given a wide release until last year. It's long been a legendary ”hidden” film, declared a national treasure by the Library of Congress and the National Society of Film Critics, which previously selected it as one of its “100 Essential Films.” If 30 years of film history and excessively lavish praise might make one wonder what the fuss is all about on first blush, Sheep is still a beautiful piece of work, and repeated viewings reveal the depths and charms of Burnett's carefully crafted, plot-less film. Documentary footage apparently taken on the fly melds effortlessly with the stark settings and set-pieces of a group of individuals for whom every day is some sort of struggle, while still finding tenderness and small triumphs in their dismal surroundings. The soundtrack is great, the photography gritty-but-luminous and the largely non-professional cast a joy in every scene, especially the kids.