By the way, Carl, the movie was made in ’85 it’s not part of the title.
Anyhoo, I was put on to this film by a young lady with Mike Tyson’s taste in tattoos. However, she seems to know good movie.
The film has an interesting production history. It was Terry Gilliam’s directorial follow up to Time Bandits (kind of weird how I hadn’t seen it now that I think about it). Gilliam’s original cut was 142 minutes long and Universal (the US distributor) was concerned about the length and the dark ending. The Universal chairman wanted large recuts and a happier, more consumer friendly ending. Gilliam refused, and as release was delayed. Gilliam took out a full page ad in Variety urging the release of the original version. He also conducted private screenings without the studio’s approval which resulted in a Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for best picture. This resulted in the film’s release in 1985. You following me Carl?
The film is part dystopian 1984ish future part darker Secret Life of Walter Mitty. Dash of Monty Python. Note: I have not seen the Walter Mitty film, I refer to the short story. Jonathan Pryce plays a low level bureaucrat in a society that is seemingly run by incompetent bureaucratic automation. He doesn’t really give a shit about anything and his free time is spent fantasizing about flying around the countryside and a rather specific looking blonde.
In other parts of the sprawl (read William Gibson fuckface) massively overarmed police seize a man suspected of terrorism. He dies under torture. But it wasn’t the right man. Somebody somewhere misspelled his name. So the G took and killed the wrong man. This causes something of a headache as the system can’t admit to a mistake but they have to refund the money they charged the family for the arrest (common practice, arrests cost money). When Pryce decides to deliver the money in person to solve the problem he sees a real version of the woman from his dreams. While trying to help her he inadvertently becomes a terror suspect. Abject chaos ensues.
The film has the tone of a comedy except when it doesn’t. The times it doesn’t will catch you off guard. I happened to be eating when I watched this and I had to quit early on when Pryce was speaking to his mother while she was getting cosmetic surgery. Robert De Niro pops up as a guerrilla handyman. When Central Services (repair bureaucracy) fucks up Pryce’s AC, De Niro pops up to fix it. It seems like he’s some sort of freedom fighter but he just wants to fix what’s broken. It was him the cops were looking for when they killed the wrong man thus setting this whole thing in motion.
This is a must watch. Just don’t eat during it. Great ending. Also, now that I’ve seen this I understand better what Sucker Punch was going for. Failed at it but I understand the ambition better now. But yeah, Ox signs off. Give it a download.