The only truly original film I've seen this year, The Woman Chaser takes its cue from its psycho-pulp origins and steeps itself in a brilliantly mordant mise-en-scene. Each shot bursts with ideas and mood, and Patrick Warburton is wonderful. The film is hilarious, and far enough off-center to truly appeal to those who get it. Those who like it will love it, and those who dislike it should probably look a little closer. Somehow simultaneously endearing, shocking and gritty, it's an insider's view of insanity, with all its delightfully f***ed-up characters painted affectionately by the director and his actors. Insightful and funny on the dregs of human behavior and in many ways a multi-layered riff on the nature of movies themselves - this is the one American film I would recommend over any other this year.
The Woman Chaser
1999
Comedy
The Woman Chaser
1999
Comedy
Plot summary
Set in 1950s Los Angeles, Richard Hudson (Warburton) is a shrewd car dealer who moves from San Francisco and sets up a used-car dealership. Tiring of this job, he turns the lot over to an assistant and starts writing his first movie, The Man Who Got Away. It turns out to be an uncommercial picture chronicling the story of a truck driver who goes berserk, runs over a little girl and dies fending off a platoon of police officers. In making his film, Richard enlists the help of his father-in-law, Leo (Paul Malevich),a washed-up former film director whose notable possession is a Rouault painting of a clown. Through Leo, Richard pitches his idea to the Man (Ernie Vincent),the chief executive of Mammoth Pictures who green-lights the project. Conflict inevitably arises when Richard's obsession for making the movie his way clashes with the Man. Other kooky characters include Richard's mother (Lynette Bennett),a former ballerina who lures her hirsute lug of a son into a comic pas de deux ; Richard's sexually curious stepsister, Becky (Marilyn Rising),who seduces him, and his secretary, Laura (Emily Newman),whom he impregnates with a boorish indifference.
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Movie Reviews
Wildly and wonderfully original.
Film Noir for the new millennium
Just saw 35 films at Sundance and hands down, this film stands out while most of the others are just a blur. Patrick Warburton plays "The Director" (the author's original title for the story)and he plays it to deadpan perfection. Shot in color and then transferred to a high contrast black and white title stock, paints this film in a lush visual treat. Plot and dialog holds true to the original 60's pulp and creates a harsh charm that is both parody and innovative filmmaking. Looking forward to seeing this one again as soon as it is released.
Great film!
I first heard of Charles Willeford when Miami Blues came out. I read that book & found it fantastic. I thought the movie of Miami Blues was a minor masterpiece. I began to work backwards in Willeford's novels & got to this one which I found, like much of his earliest work, very bizarre. A used car salesman who dances a ballet with his mother. This film has captured that quality perfectly, treating it with utmost respect & love & lots of very well-tempered humor. Every detail of this film works perfectly, the acting, lighting, music, quality of sound, even, or especially, the perfect pitch of B-movie voices. Less lethal than Jim Thompson, less schematic than James M. Cain, more resourceful than David Goodis, Charles Willeford now has had two well-deserved minor film masterpieces made of his work.