It’s his birthday today.
While Robert Zemeckis has gone on to be a bazillionaire and one of the most successful producers in Hollywood, he started off small and rowdy – with two films I love love LOVE – first, I Wanna Hold Your Hand, about a bunch of Beatles fans who all go to New York to try to get tickets to the Beatles’ appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, and the absolutely filthy – profane – corrupt – and gloriously funny Used Cars.
I mean …
That is not false advertising.
Both I Wanna Hold Your Hand and Used Cars were written by Zemeckis and Bob Gale. I find it difficult to forgive Forrest Gump. I’m not offended by much but I am offended by that film’s glorification of simplification and anti-intellectualism, and if you love it, I’m sorry but I’m all argued out on the Forrest Gump front. I had to deal with friends saying, shocked, “HOW could you not like it??” The critical tide has turned, and many people seem to hate it now, but I felt like I was standing alone at the time. I despise it.
But let’s not dwell. (It’s hard not to dwell, though, because Forrest Gump was such an enormous mainstream hit. I thought the whole world had gone stark raving crazy. I felt the same way about Life is Beautiful too. Any time critics say “If you don’t like this movie, check your pulse” – something is rotten in the state of Denmark.)
Zemeckis has also been at the helm of some other faves – Romancing the Stone and Death Becomes Her: adore both of them.
Contact has a very special place in my heart, and – unlike Forrest Gump – actually prized knowledge and competence and expertise. I love the Jodie Foster character. Back to the Future was, of course, huge – and unlike Forrest Gump justifiably huge. I love Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, loved its wit, loved how it utilized technology without upstaging the actual action. So far so good. I liked Cast Away but – again – did not feel the swoon of adoration so many others felt. I did not feel that it was a “celebration of the human spirit.” I’m cranky. The movie also generated the “if you didn’t like this, check your pulse” response. I’ve checked my pulse. I am, indeed, fully alive. I just disagree with you about Forrest Gump. Calm down. I’m not telling you YOU can’t love the movie. He directed Flight, a very good movie with a cop-out of an ending. Flight was rated-R and the first rated-R Zemeckis film SINCE Used Cars.
Looking at this track record (and I haven’t even mentioned his lengthy producer credits), it is VERY instructive to go back and watch I Wanna Hold Your Hand and Used Cars.
Both films are made with competence and confidence, and both include extremely complicated sequences – multiple characters, multiple narratives. Both films require perfect comic timing, broad yet specific performances, and fearlessness in pushing things forward. These movies really MOVE. There is also a sense of total chaos in both films, runaway trains of madcap adventure. A director has to create the controlled environment where chaos like that can occur.
I’ve been meaning to write about I Wanna Hold Your Hand for years. I caught it on afternoon TV when I was in high school and it launched me into one of those vivid fantasy worlds, where I was one of those kids, trying to storm the barricades.
But I HAVE written about Used Cars, for my Film Comment column. Used Cars is the opposite of heart-warming. It is also laugh-out-loud funny.
If you don’t laugh while watching Used Cars, check your pulse.
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How in God’s name have I managed to not even HEAR of USED CARS or I WANNA HOLD YOUR HAND? I mean, seriously. Never even HEARD of them until this post. (I have to believe I’ve seen them mentioned in previous posts of yours and simply not managed to mentally note them. It happens.)
GUMP is…I don’t know. I *think* I like it, but its message really doesn’t sit well with me. I think it tries to skirt a middle path between two extremes, by giving Forrest that speech at the end about dual natures of life (“I think it’s both”), but it really doesn’t present a clear picture of a life where it’s both, right? But, if nothing else, it’s well-acted and beautiful to look at. But aside from a couple of amusing scenes on YouTube, I haven’t felt the need to revisit it in years. CONTACT is a movie I do admire, though I think it falls a bit short of what it strives for…I didn’t care much for the ending when a scientist is basically forced to admit that faith is a thing in her world. I do think BACK TO THE FUTURE, ROMANCING THE STONE, and WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT all work better. Maybe Zemeckis benefits from a faster, more frantic kind of story that keeps him from lingering on “the point”. CAST AWAY is a decent example of this, I think: the first act, including the sequence of events leading to Our Hero getting stranded and his first efforts at surviving, are pretty gripping, but then the movie kind of bogs down in suicidal thoughts and meaningful chats with a volleyball. And it’s never a good sign when a movie ends without answering its most interesting question (does he follow the woman in the pickup truck and meet her, when he realizes it was HER package he just delivered?).
The “motion capture” animation stuff is a phase I could mostly do without. I do like POLAR EXPRESS, dead eyes notwithstanding, but BEOWULF just made me crazy between the animation style and the relentlessly annoying “shot for 3D” sequences.
OK, I’ve taken up enough space in one comment. Time to track down those first two movies!
// How in God’s name have I managed to not even HEAR of USED CARS or I WANNA HOLD YOUR HAND? I mean, seriously. Never even HEARD of them until this post. //
ahhhhh I’m so excited for you to see them! Used Cars is weirdly obscure – however those who love it love it LIKE CRAZY.
// CONTACT is a movie I do admire, though I think it falls a bit short of what it strives for…I didn’t care much for the ending when a scientist is basically forced to admit that faith is a thing in her world. //
I agree with this!
// Maybe Zemeckis benefits from a faster, more frantic kind of story that keeps him from lingering on “the point”. //
This is a really good observation!! His first two movies are totally zany – with no “point” really – at least not any “humanist” point. I WANNA HOLD YOUR HAND is just a romp and a celebration of the sheer mayhem the Beatles caused – and USED CARS is a cynical manifesto about the emptiness of the American dream – but it’s so good-natured and Kurt Russell is so appealing you kind of want to get in on the corruption. But yeah – no real point, and USED CARS in particular has no desire to soften its “message”.
// then the movie kind of bogs down in suicidal thoughts and meaningful chats with a volleyball. //
Right, right, I can see that. The two scenes I liked are the ones that made me think “How would I handle this??” I liked his first attempt to row himself out through that rough break – it was a great way to show that it was gonna be a bitch to get off that island. I also liked the attempt to light a fire.
Please let me know your thoughts on those two movies – you almost can’t believe it’s by RZ. There’s a real sense of craziness and youth and humor that’s irresistible.
“We’re not only smashing prices! We’re not only slashing prices! We’re blowing the living SHIT out of prices!!” That might not be an exact quote, but it’s a pretty close rendition of my favorite moment from Used Cars. I think I did an actual spit take while watching that. It has some of that pre-Code “sez you” disrespect for the niceties, plus a big loud post-Watergate, post-Vietnam, 1970s American raspberry aimed at all of the best and brightest. I Wanna Hold Your Hand is not only one of the best movies about rock ‘n’ roll – by focusing not on the Beatles, but the fans – but it’s also one of the most inspiring in its respect for the emotions and opinions of the young girls who are the heart of the movie, in both senses. I spent a couple of hours last week arguing on-line with two guys who thought the Go-Go’s shouldn’t have been elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame because their music was just for teenage girls. I Wanna Hold Your Hand knew just how stupid this outlook is – or, to put it more positively, it knew just how tremendously right these girls were. And that knowledge on the moviemakers’ part creates such a feeling of exuberance in the viewer. (It also plays fair with those who weren’t so thrilled by the changes foretold by the Fab Four, specifically in the great scene where the Four Seasons fan argues with God about why He would want this English band to make it big.)
I loathed Forrest Gump from the start. People throw the word around too easily, but I think this was a genuinely fascist movie: the guy who never has a thought, who always does what he’s told, gets what he wants and is happy, while the woman who questions authority gets AIDS and dies. Yuck.
oh my God the prices in USED CARS. also that live commercial – that’s when I lose it – particularly the reaction shots of regular families sitting at home watching the football game and suddenly THAT comes on the screen. I die!!
// by focusing not on the Beatles, but the fans //
YES. and I love that non-fans are included – people who are enraged at what the Fab Four represent – it’s so earnest and sweet. and Nancy Allen – the skeptical non-fan – suddenly swooning over the guitar in the hotel room – is my favorite moment. She succumbs!!
// I Wanna Hold Your Hand knew just how stupid this outlook is – or, to put it more positively, it knew just how tremendously right these girls were. And that knowledge on the moviemakers’ part creates such a feeling of exuberance in the viewer. //
Absolutely. I go on and on about this all the time – it’s such a PERSISTENT prejudice – even though girls have been proven right time and time again. Their sexual frenzies – lol – are always harbingers of the next best thing. Well, perhaps not always, but MOSTLY. The Go-Go’s?? EVERYONE loved the Go-Gos when I was in high school. Because they were a great band and “We got the Beat” is a crazy great song.
// I think this was a genuinely fascist movie //
I am so glad to hear your thoughts. I wouldn’t have put it this way but I see your point. I can get really really mean about this movie – and I do try not to do that – since many people I love really love it – but the movie is so flattering to a certain type of attitude that is now running rampant, and always has – to some degree – in our anti-intellectual culture – and the thought that “life is a box of chocolates” is considered to be deep and profound makes me want to set shit on fire.
Two things: I like the way you write; and I think Forrest Gump is one of the sweetest movies ever made.
Keep up the good work!
Roger – lol. Thank you!! I’m not sweet, that’s probably the problem. No, that’s definitely the problem!
Thanks though for the compliment. I appreciate it!
I Wanna Hold Your Hand is so fun! The very last scene makes me want to cheer, it’s so delightfully executed.
sooo good.