Mal-Malle

Let's face it -- the 80s will never be remembered as a stellar decade for film, especially what came out of Hollywood. Sure, sure...there were diamonds in the rough, but compared to the 70's it was a veritable wasteland. Volumes have been dedicated to explaining how and why we went from Thieves Like Us to Spies Like Us -- the birth of MTV, the Reagan influence, the rise of the sequel, Judd Nelson, etc. And though some directors turned in their best work during the period (Raging Bull, though it's on the cusp of the 70s), others found themselves surfing the zeitgeist, with results that were often painful disasters. Take for example Louis Malle's Crackers, from 1984. Everything that's wrong with 80s films can be found in this lame remake of Mario Monicelli's Big Deal on Madonna Street. But how did Malle wind up here? His began his American period with the controversial Pretty Baby (1978), followed by the truly wonderful Atlantic City (1980) and My Dinner With Andre (1981). Three years later -- this. The bouncy but cloying Michael McDonald song that opens the film (and goes on for what feels like an eternity) is the first sign of trouble. But wait -- there are some good names in the cast -- Donald Sutherland, Wallace Shawn, Jack Warden, and that young upstart Sean Penn (yes, these were the days when Warden got top billing over Spicoli) -- can it be all that bad? Surely Sutherland can bring his patented creepiness, and Shawn...well he's good in anything. Sadly, however, what we get is an extremely wooden ensemble piece with a made-for-TV feel to it. Warden plays Garvey, owner of a pawnshop in San Francisco's Tenderloin district. Sutherland, Shawn, and Penn are the ne'er-do-wells who hang around the store, desperately seeking motivation. A plan is hatched to rob the store while Warden is away, and soon a few more of the neighborhood's colorful characters are involved in the heist. While it occasionally stays close to the source material (including the classic punch line during the robbery), Malle adds a fair amount of filler, including a pointless feel-good epilogue that is cringe worthy. The incessant score, which consists of a cheesy 80s synth-and-drum-machine combo right out of a Caballero Control Corporation release makes the film all the more difficult to stomach for ninety minutes. The actors stumble their way through the film as if they received no direction from Malle at all. Sutherland skulks around with hands in pockets, while Penn hams it up with a ridiculously exaggerated southern accent. The only interesting performance is by Christine Baranski as a sleazy traffic cop who in one scene attempts to perform an erotic dance in bra and panties. It's a performance without shame, and though uncomfortable to watch at times, is one of the few signs of life in the film. Fortunately, Crackers didn't signal the end of Louis Malle, though it would take five more years until he made his triumphant return with Au Revoir Les Enfants. Perhaps one shouldn't fault Malle for trying to make un film des temps. After all, 1984 was the year that Lillian Gish and O.J. Simpson made a film together, and Jean-Claude van Damme played a gay karate man. Maybe Crackers isn't so bad after all. . . Now....stare at the poster for four minutes and yield to the power of the Sutherland!

Comments

[Charles kinbote]

Is it just me, or does the Donald Sutherland in the poster look an awful lot like Gene Wilder?

The 80s were indeed a strange decade.

[Leon B]

Very funny post Filmbrain. I also saw Crackers a few weeks ago on Sundance Channel and it is a total mess. But I'll take this over Spies Like Us anyday!

[Flickhead]

Ever see Malle’s Luna near (Black Moon, 1975)? Not quite satisfying, in my opinion, but an interesting experiment in the supernatural. And Vanya on 42nd Street (1994) certainly ranks among the coziest movies ever filmed. Meanwhile, note that Malle’s name was among the ‘thank yous’ in the end credits of Mayor of the Sunset Strip (2003)—his documentaries were an influence on George Hickenlooper.

[La Dauphine]

Found your blog through Lux Lotus. I've never even heard of Cracker's and am a fan of Louis Malle. By the way, very much love Anna Karina too! Can't wait to read more...

[Mikko Pihkoluoma]

For the canonized directors and the mainstream, the 80s was pretty bad, however I think there's a lot of stuff that is pretty underrated. The 80s gave birth to quite many of my personal favourite directors like the Coens, Spike Lee, Steven Soderbergh, Michael Mann, Jim Jarmusch, Aki Kaurismäki, Pedro Almodovar and Peter Greenaway --although, admittedly, only five of them are American, and some of them did arguably better films in the 90s.

It wasn't only Scorsese who did his most interesting work in the 80s: Stanley Kubrick, Brian De Palma, Terry Gilliam, Wim Wenders, David Cronenberg and even Sam Raimi. But, yeah, if you don't give credit to genre films the decade was pretty bad. Yet still it did produce some of the dearest of my favourite films: Blue Velvet, Brazil, Blade Runner, The Shining...

[la_depressionada]

i blame candice bergen.

[plummet]

If we're going to talk Scorsese, let's not forget that he also made After Hours and The Last Temptation of Christ in the '80s, both of which I rank up there with Taxi Driver and Raging Bull. And I like Mikko's list, but I'm not sure I agree that Kubrick did his best work in the '80s. The Shining and Full Metal Jacket are both great films, but neither quite ranks with his earlier work.

[Brad Shipston]

Well I wasn't alive very long in the 70's but I have a liking for the cheese which was produced in the 80's. As for Crackers, I can remember loving this movie as a six year old. Donald Sutherland hanging off the side of a skyscraper with those suction cups on, Wallace Shawn cooking chili (or maybe it was spaghetti'os) in the alley and Sean Penn being the bad seed type (now I haven't seen it in like 15 years so I could be wrong). It made me want to be a cat burglar when I grew up. The characters where cool and that is the main thing I took and remember from the movie. Not how cheesy of bad it was, but how cool this group was.

What can I say, I have a soft spot for buddy flicks.