SAVAGE CINEMA'S FAVORITE MOVIES: "BOOGIE NIGHTS" (1997)

“BOOGIE NIGHTS” (1997)

Written and Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson

For this premiere installment of “Savage Cinema’s Favorite Movies,” I am so excited to present to you what I feel to be a towering cinematic achievement.

Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Boogie Nights” is the epitome of greatness to me as it is indeed one of the very best films of the 1990’s. It is also a film that completely transcends its own subject matter of the late 1970s/early 1980s porn film industry and provides a wholly empathetic, non-judgmental view of the various dreams and failures of a makeshift family embodied by a collective of societal cast offs. It is a heartbreaking experience, fully wrenching and at times unbearably intense but it is always, and I mean, always masterfully presented. “Boogie Nights” never strikes one false note or makes any wrong moves. It is a film that firmly announced the arrival of not only Mark Wahlberg as an actor to watch closely and take seriously but Anderson himself as a natural born filmmaker and storyteller who would eventually go on to make “Magnolia” (1999), “Punch-Drunk Love” (2002) and the ahead of its time “There Will Be Blood” (2007). This fall, Paul Thomas Anderson will return with “The Master,” his first film in five years and whose head scratching teaser trailer has recently hit the internet. But for now, I turn you to the sprawling epic “Boogie Nights,” which if you haven’t seen before, I cannot not urge you enough to get yourselves to viewing as it is essential watching.

For a filmmaker for whom “Boogie Nights” was only his second film, Paul Thomas Anderson knew exactly how to make an entrance and announce that his movie was going to be an experience unlike anything else. Opening innocuously on a black screen and softly with the sounds of Michael Penn’s score, a sad circus carousel-sounding cue, “Boogie Nights” blasts onto the glorious widescreen with the image of a movie theater marquee adorned with the film’s title and set to the blaring, brassy fanfare of The Emotions’ “Best Of My Love.”

Then, taking his cue from no less than Martin Scorsese’s “Goodfellas” (1990), Anderson, with the supreme confidence of a cinematic master, swoops his camera through a lengthy unbroken shot from the marquee across the 1977 San Fernando Valley nighttime streets and into a nightclub, owned by Maurice Rodriguez (a terrific Luiz Guzman). The camera continues to glide around the busy nightclub all the way from dark corner tables to the vibrant disco dance floor, as Anderson, as if taking on the role of a ringmaster, effortlessly introduces us to nearly the entire film’s cast. In addition to Maurice, we meet pornography film director Jack Horner (an excellent Burt Reynolds), his faithful paramour and porn film leading lady Amber Waves (Julianne Moore), as well as the otherwise nameless Rollergirl (Heather Graham), the porn film ingénue who never, ever takes off her roller skates. Next, we are introduced to fellow porn film actors Buck Swope (Don Cheadle) and Reed Rothchild (John C. Reilly) as well as cinematographer Little Bill (William H. Macy). The camera finally rests on a youthful, wide eyed figure lurking by the nightclub’s kitchen, the high school dropout and nightclub busboy, 17 year old Eddie Adams (Mark Wahlberg).

Outside of the nightclub, Eddie lives a sad life as he shares a home with his alcoholic Mother (a raging Joanna Gleason) and his cuckold of a Father. He works his days at a dead end job at a car wash. But, Eddie houses idealistically big dreams as he is determined to one day become a “big, bright shining star.” And…he also houses something else entirely…a mammoth 13 inch penis!

Always on the search for new talent, Jack Horner discovers Eddie at the nightclub, introduces him to Amber Waves and auditions him via a sexual tryst with Rollergirl. Sensing a potentially incredible new talent to assist him with helping him achieve his own dreams of creating a cinematic and artistic porn film triumph, Horner says to Eddie seductively, welcoming and encouragingly, “There’s something wonderful in those jeans just waiting to get out.”

After one final seismic blowout with his Mother, Eddie runs away from home and joins the porn film circus at Jack Horner’s compound, where he is finally indoctrinated to all of the previously introduced characters plus camera operator Kurt Longjohn (Ricky Jay), sound man and boom operator Scotty J. (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and the mysterious porn film financier Colonel James (the late Robert Ridgely) among others.

Eddie, who rechristens himself "Dirk Diggler," becomes an instant sensation, elevating the status of all around him as Horner’s films, featuring Dirk Diggler’s massive…ahem…talents, begin to win awards and pack X rated movie theaters. Big money also begins to flow into Dirk’s life, as he purchases a new home filled with the latest accoutrements, oodles of fashionable clothing and even a prized Corvette.

The remainder of “Boogie Nights” becomes a wild, wretched and relentlessly harrowing tale of success floundered and lost, with the hopeful dreams within all of the characters failing, falling and even dying with only the members of their makeshift family to cling to for support and survival.

When I first saw “Boogie Nights” during its initial theatrical run, it was nothing less than one of the most electrifying spectacles I had ever witnessed. Paul Thomas Anderson commands and orchestrates his motion picture with a superlative confidence and rock star swagger that is absolutely crucial for a movie like this one. In fact, “Boogie Nights" is actually quite a self aware experience as it fully knows from first image and the previously described opening scene to the film’s swirling curtain call and the priceless final image that it is a MOVIE!!

Anderson, as if he were P.T. Barnum, is the ultimate showman as he spins his conceptual and thematic plates in the air with extraordinary panache. It is a film that unapologetically swings for the fences as "Boogie Nights" is the epitome of theatrical. It is operatic in scope and emotional content as the events are grandly presented and overwhelmingly felt (a technique was used to even more devastating effect in "Magnolia").

Anderson’s music choices are brilliantly impeccable as he wisely chose selections that not only fit the time period but also cleverly comment upon the action. As Eddie first arrives at Jack Horner’s home to begin his porn odyssey, Anderson underscores the moments with Three Dog Night’s “Mama Told Me Not To Come.” As Little Bill finds his perpetually philandering porn star wife in the throes of yet another man, and even surrounded by an audience, Elvin Bishop’s “Fooled Around And Fell In Love” painfully plays in the background. In addition, Andrew Gold’s late 1970's AM radio classic “Lonely Boy” has never sounded more poignant. And believe me dear readers, if you have not seen this film before, Night Ranger’s “Sister Christian” and Rick Springfield’s “Jessie’s Girl” will never sound the same again.

The entire cast, from the very top to even the most seemingly minor players, deliver the goods and then some. Mark Wahlberg, in this Herculean role, is cinematic dynamite as Dirk Diggler. He completely nails the innocence and idealism of the film’s earlier sections and the crushing arrogance and larger-than-life downfall in the film’s latter half with incredible skill, heft, pathos and a boat load of humor, which walks a very thin line between hysterical and pathetic. Equally, the casting of Burt Reynolds was a masterstroke as his real life existence as a 1970’s sex symbol icon completely informs and grounds his role as Jack Horner. Like his porn filmmaker character, Reynolds, it could be assumed, has seen it all and throughout the film, he lords over the proceedings like a lion in winter with a bemused expression upon his face that winks at the audience while also never breaking character.

In addition to the two main leading roles, I was especially drawn to the high quality work delivered by Julianne Moore, William H. Macy, and Philip Seymour Hoffman as the sadly lovestruck Scotty J. who nurses a painful and unrequited crush on Dirk Diggler. In particular, I loved the masterful Don Cheadle who brings tremendous empathy to his character of Buck Swope, who is constantly searching for his perfect image and wardrobe to sell himself in a predominantly Caucasian environment and also houses big dreams of one day leaving the porn industry behind and owning and operating his own stereo store.

For those of you who have not seen this film and feel wary due to the subject matter, please allow me to assure you that “Boogie Nights” is not a film about pornography. In fact, for a film set within the inner workings of the porn film industry, Anderson never creates an experience designed to titillate or wallow in prurient fantasies. In a way, he demystifies sex and makes the act of sex completely technical and clinical. It was also surprising that if there is any sense of arousal at all within the film, it may exist in Dirk Diggler’s initial on-set filmed sex sequence with Amber Waves, which in turn is also deflated by the Oedipal tones contained within that sequence and characters.

In explanation of that last statement, and as previously referenced, “Boogie Nights” is essentially a film about a family of sorts. Jack Horner serves as the inspiring yet increasingly weary patriarchal figure while Amber Waves serves as the maternal force, especially as she takes Dirk and Rollergirl completely under her wings to compensate for her overwhelming sadness with being estranged from her own young son after her divorce. The inherent unhappiness contained within the interior lives of these characters gives them a sense of grace that one would not otherwise anticipate or suspect. Anderson goes to great lengths to ensure that everyone is a fully drawn, three dimensional human being. Therefore, he creates a canvas where we not only understand these people who happen to be making dirty movies together but we also sympathize with them and wish them wellness.

In addition to the big dreams that fuel the lives of Dirk Diggler, Jack Horner and Buck Swope, we learn that Reed Rothchild fashions himself as a magician, while Rollergirl may be housing dreams of becoming a photographer as she is often seen brandishing a camera. On a more wrenching scale, the aforementioned Amber Waves desperately wishes to reconnect with her child and Little Bill only wants to fully satisfy his wayward wife. With those characters and others, “Boogie Nights” details the drudgery and disappointments of the characters’ lives during the daylight hours and also their nights of glory where they all exist or (just believe themselves to be) world class stars.

To that end, “Boogie Nights” is an exploration of success and fame, and the illusions and delusions that lead to self-destruction. It is a film about spectacular failure. And like my beloved “Jerry Maguire” (1996), it is also a film about the pressures of keeping a sense of integrity and surviving within a rapidly changing industry due to the rapidly changing tenor of society. It was truly a risky move for Anderson to ask his audience to latch onto the lives of people whom, I would assume, many of us would dismiss, discredit, or even feel superior towards as we would never, ever do what they are doing. But I have to say that the emotional toll it placed upon me and other viewers was definitely palpable when I first saw it in the theater and remains so to this day.

For the film’s first half, "Boogie Nights" is a sun soaked ode to the promiscuous 1970s with free love, drugs and sex surrounding the events at lively afternoon pool parties at Jack Horner's home where all of the characters confess and share their deepest hopes and desires with each other. Anderson's visual palate is gorgeous as he and veteran Cinematographer Robert Elswit let the camera swoop, circle around and around and even dive into the swimming pool so we can nearly catch a contact high from the joyousness. Yet, amidst the sunshine, dark clouds lurk in a sinister fashion but are conveniently brushed out of the way as to not disrupt the fun. But the wolf is always at the door.

In one scene, a starlet overdoses at a party and is quickly ushered out of the party to the hospital through a back entrance. In another, Scotty J.'s romantic hopes towards Dirk leave him in a pool of painful embarrassment and Little Bill's tension with his philandering wife comes to a brutal head. Even the significance of Little Bill's nickname displays some crippling inner wounds dealing with his sense of feeling physically, emotionally and sexually insignificant towards his wife as well as to all of the porn film studs, most especially the ultra large membered Dirk Diggler to which he will never be able to compare. All of the dark energy which has been swirling under the surface throughout the first half of the film arrives with a shocker of a conclusion on New Year's Eve 1979, signifying nothing less than the party of the 1970s being officially and abruptly over.

The second half of the film, set in the early and socially regressive 1980's, packs a colossal wallop as Anderson magically creates the euphoric sensation of giving the audience a nearly orgiastic high the further down the characters descend and plunge. In addition to all of the previously mentioned themes and concepts, it is here where Anderson explores the theme and consequences that occur when what one performs as an occupation does not necessarily define that same person as human being. This fact severely haunts Rollergirl and Amber Waves for instance, and another character, previously seen as being fastidious, is eventually exposed as a purveyor of child pornography. And there is also the extremely painful sequence where another character is turned down for a loan simply because of their past association with the porn industry.

But, it is when “Boogie Nights” echoes “Goodfellas” once again as it nods to the climactic and relentless cocaine fueled paranoia of that film’s conclusion, where the Anderson keeps topping himself again and again, scaling new heights and unearthing an undeniably intense power. Anderson and his collaborators, through their expert, fluid, and restless camera work, editing, sound design and acting performances, ratchet up the tension as the film's collective characters make one wrong move after another or especially as they each confront their inner demons as the world rapidly changes around them. It is as if they are all surprised with how they ended up where they have ended up and the overall effect is as anguishing as it is exhilarating.

Witnessing Dirk Diggler’s epic fall due to a cocaine addiction combined with his out of control ego is akin to watching a superhero lose their powers as his mighty phallus lets him down time and again. One traumatic section, entitled “December 11, 1983,” is a powerhouse as Anderson crosscuts between two events that slowly percolate and boil into explosive violence and then, Anderson shifts his attention from those two storylines and veers towards a third which finds another character in a horrific twist of fate set inside of a donut shop.

But, nothing will ever prepare you for the film’s tour de force of a climax as three characters attempt to make a drug deal with a completely unhinged dealer (brilliantly portrayed by Alfred Molina) and his equally unhinged sidekick who randomly sets off firecrackers in the background. Anderson creates a sequence that constantly keeps you off kilter, entirely unnerved and on the edge of your seat no matter how many times you have seen it. It is a masterpiece of modern day “Hitchcockian” styled intensity.

And even then, at the conclusion of this two and half hour saga, Anderson delivers the “money shot” of “money shots,” ending his film on an unbelievable high with a scene so tragically pitiable.

For Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Boogie Nights,” it often feels as if the cinematic spirits of Martin Scorsese and the late Robert Altman (key sources of inspiration) were standing nearby guiding Anderson and his vision along. But most importantly, the film clearly established Anderson as a gifted filmmaker in his own right. His soaring talents would create works that demand to be witnessed and upheld as some of the finest American films of the previous 15 years.

“Boogie Nights” ends as it began, with the melancholy sounds of the circus leaving town, undoubtedly never to return to its boisterous glories. But, what a deliriously dazzling tapestry Paul Thomas Anderson has created and given to us to experience over and again. While I will concede that Anderson’s “Magnolia” and “There Will Be Blood” may even be better films, “Boogie Nights” remains my favorite film of his to date. It is the one that I return to the most. The one I can pop into my DVD player anytime at all and lose myself inside of. It is also the type of film, if I were in the fortunate position to make movies myself, that I would just kill to have been able to make for it is so amazing, stunning, and tremendous.

Withotu question, Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Boogie Nights” is one of my most favorite movies and if the hour were not so late, I would easily pop it into my DVD player and watch it all over again right now!!!