HBO Video
D: Stephen DeJarnett; with Anthony Edwards, Mare Winningham.
Produced by The Termi nator‘s Gale Anne Hurd, this riveting
thriller, released in 1989 without much fanfare, has recently become a cult
favorite in Britain, and with that in mind, coupled with Edwards’ current
success on the hit series ER, this seems as good a time as any for the
home video audience to rediscover Miracle Mile. Starting off as a
charming, sweet romance, the plot follows the blossoming relationship between
part-time amateur musician Harry Washello and Julie Peters, a smart,
charismatic waitress. The picture then suddenly kicks into edgy suspense when
Harry accidentally intercepts a phone call from a frantic young man in a
missile silo, who rants that the U.S. has launched its missiles and initiated a
nuclear war, meaning that the end of the world is less than two hours away. Or
is it? Convinced it’s not a joke or mistake, Harry begins a desperate attempt
to find a way to get Julie and himself to safety before the missiles arrive,
which sets a relentless chain of events in motion. Carefully balanced by some
nicely quirky humor and a number of off-beat Hitchcockian characters,
Miracle Mile is an uncompromising gem that combines action, suspense,
romance, comedy, and a pinch of social commentary in a way unlike any other
film I’ve seen. DeJarnatt’s confident direction slides between charming
na�vet� and hard-edged nihilism with the greatest of ease, and his
smart use of “real-time” following Harry’s fateful phone call plays a
indispensable role in keeping the tension level frighteningly high as the
picture works its way towards its tragic, if unavoidable, finale. Edwards and
Winningham deliver very solid performances (Edwards was quoted as saying his
role in Miracle Mile was “everything an actor could hope for”), and with
a few exceptions, most of the supporting cast is up to snuff. Much like the
excellent Tangerine Dream score that helps drive the film, Miracle Mile is a picture of nerve-jangling intensity, but with a intimacy missing from most
films of its type. – Joey O’Bryan
CRISS CROSS
MCA Home Video
D: Robert Siodmak; with Burt Lancaster, Yvonne De Carlo, Dan Duryea, Stephen
McNally, Esy Morales and his Rhumba Band.
Made in 1949, Criss Cross is an excellent example of classic
American film noir, a style of filmmaking whose glory days peaked during
the post-WWII period. As a style, film noir is defined more by its
visual and psychological characteristics than by its subject or setting (i.e.,
romance movies or Westerns). Classically associated with black-and-white
camerawork, film noir exudes an air of hard-boiled fatalism that was
certainly influenced by the American detective writers as well as Hollywood’s
massive influx of European �migr� filmmakers during the war
years. (Criss Cross director Robert Siodmak was part of that influx.)
Visually expressionistic yet partial to urban location shooting, film
noir stories most frequently involve crime and gangsters. Occasionally,
directors of recent years have attempted to create contemporary, color films
noirs. Chinatown and The Long Goodbye come to mind. Most
recently, Steven Soderbergh threw his hat into the ring with The
Underneath.
The scripts for both The Underneath and Criss Cross are based
on
a novel by Don Tracy. Structurally, both films tell essentially the same story,
although some of the elements have been modernized in The Underneath.
The differences rest more with thematics and can almost be summed up by the
difference in the two titles. Criss Cross is a visual study of the
double-cross. Its roaming, deep-focus camerawork keeps doubling back on itself
and shifts its focus between the foreground and the background. Its characters
are like lab rats in a maze, destined to follow a certain path to the end of
the line. And the lines constantly intersect. The Underneath is more
submerged in its attitude. Unusually shot in wide-screen with predominant
closeups, The Underneath emphasizes the individuals and their distance
from each other. As a title, it conveys a sense of smothering and “apartness”
rather than intersecting destinies. Also revealing is the way in which the
vices of the central characters differ in each movie. In The Underneath,
Peter Gallagher’s gambling jones is the route to all his troubles. For Burt
Lancaster in Criss Cross, the problem is his S/M addiction to his ex,
Yvonne De Carlo. Once again, the differences are telling: solipsism vs.
interconnectedness. Side by side, these two films offer fascinating material
for comparison. – Marjorie Baumgarten
EL MARIACHI
Columbia/TriStar Laserdiscs
D: Robert Rodriguez; with Carlos Gallardo, Consuelo Gomez, Peter
Marquardt.
“I’m a big laserdisc fan, so I’m excited about this whole voice-track
idea,” director Robert Rodriguez beams during the opening of his commentary
track for the laserdisc release of his low-budget surprise hit El
Mariachi, truly one of the “must buy” discs for any movie lover with a
laserdisc player (and if you’re not a movie lover, what are you doing with a
disc player anyway?). “I’ve heard some other directors’ discs,” he continues,
“and sometimes they run out of things to say, so I’m gonna try to jam-pack this
one for you….” Boy, does he ever! Just like the movie it accompanies,
Rodriguez’s commentary track is lively and full of wit as he gleefully relates
amusing behind-the-scenes anecdotes, points out continuity errors, and explains
the resourceful techniques that enabled him to make El Mariachi for such
a low budget. Beyond the commentary track, the disc is letterboxed (perhaps
needlessly) at around 1.75:1, with the picture and sound quality as good as it
can be – considering the movie’s low-budget origins. Other extras include an
amusing English-dubbed version on an additional audio track, and, more
rewardingly, Rodriguez’s hilarious, award-winning short film Bedhead (which features a bravura comic performance from Rodriguez’s little sister
Rebecca). El Mariachi is a great film to begin with, but when
accompanied by the director’s delightful commentary (quite honestly, hands
down, the best track of its type I’ve ever heard on a laserdisc), it becomes
twice as engrossing, and once enlightened by Rodriguez’s testimonies, repeated
viewings make his overall achievement twice as remarkable. – Joey
O’Bryan
This article appears in May 19 • 1995 and May 19 • 1995 (Cover).