Hollywood Man (1976)

Director: Jack Starrett

Starring: Williams "Badass" Smith, Jennifer Billingsley, Ray Girardin, Jude Farese, Don Stroud

More Info: IMDB

Plot: Hollywood B-Movie actor, Rafe Stoker, has sunk $130,000 of his own money into the production of his own film but he can't seem to get any backers to finance the rest of the picture. He turns to the mob. He agrees to their exorbitant terms in order to complete his film. If he is unable to complete the picture on time he will lose everything; his home, future royalties from his past films as well as the rights to this current one. The mob has plans to see that he doesn't finish on time.

My Rating: 8/10

Would I watch it again? Damn straight!

I love movies that deal with making movies. THE STUNT MAN (1980) is one of this best. But that one stretches the believability a bit. This one feels real. William Smith co-wrote this with Ray Girardin (who also plays the biker hired to delay Smith's film). Smith obviously wrote what he knew. His background in B-pictures and his long acting career (he started at the age of 8 in 1942 and has since been in more than 270 films (over 100 by '76) and TV shows!!!) served him well. He'd done a number of Biker pictures in the 60s and early 70s and he used all of that to create this film.


It's gritty. It's real. I'm convinced no one could have played Stoker better than Smith did. He really looks and behaves like someone with the pedigree his character has. But of course Smith had all of that. He wrote what he knew after all. He's loaded with charisma and you believe that he's a B-movie actor turned director. The biker gang sent to foul things up is more of a group of bumbling, dim-witted caricatures but that doesn't really take much away from the overall film. Absolutely everything works here.

Stoker's frustrations are genuinely felt. The frustrations of the crew around him as a result of him are felt. They fight (argue) like real people fight. Though I've never made a film and I've never been on a film shoot, I believe this to be as close to a "fly on the wall" movie making movie as you can get without being on the set yourself. The realism is incredible.

Naturally, Stoker's making a biker picture so there's plenty of stunt work with cars crashing and bikes jumping. You get to see some of the setups involved and lots of the behind-the-scenes stuff that just makes the picture even better. The acting is pretty fucking solid. Smith impressed the hell out of me. This guy's good and it's no surprise to see that he's got more than 270 acting credits and that he's still going strong. Here's a guy you'd like to have lunch with and hear stories about his career.

"Here's Smith (as Stoker) looking like Jack Palance being kissed by Calamity Jane"

The leader of the biker gang hired by the mob to fuck things up, Ray Giradin (Harvey), does a pretty good job, too. His sidekick looks like something out of a Hanna Barbera cartoon. At one point, when leaving the hospital, he leans over the counter and reaches towards the receptionist when the frame freezes out of focus and you hear the woman scream. Then it cuts to the two of them driving in a van with Rhodes driving and saying, "I didn't mean to kill that woman, Harvey". WTF? Surely there was more to it than that in the uncut version. Oh, and Stoker's girlfriend Julie is played by Mary Woronov. Don't recognize her name? She played Calamity Jane in DEATHRACE 2000 the previous year. Neat.

What did I not like? The shitty fullscreen copy I have on DVD that is apparently the only way outside of a 35mm print I'm going to get it. Not only is it fullscreen but it appears to be a print used for TV with music swells for the commercial breaks, the nude scenes abruptly cut out in the nick of time, and the language being edited. And because it's fullscreen there are moments when it hurts...real...bad. Like when you see a bike ramp in the middle of the street and you hear a motorcycle coming from the right side, see it jump the ramp and land off screen on the left. Sad. Just fucking sad.

"FUCK I hate fullscreen!"

And just at the point when the film starts to drag a little we get this unexpected juicy scene. EASY SPOILERS.... Harvey and his pals are on a beach. Harvey picks up a sniper rifle and then, in slow motion, he starts picking off his pals ending with his skank girlfriend as she's running down the beach wearing a stolen wedding dress!!! FUCKIN'-A. END OF SPOILERS...YARRRR

And then there's the ending. HOLY FUCKING SHIT DID I JUST GET ASS RAPED OR WHAT?

APOCALYPSE SPOILERS...Stoker doesn't finish the film on time but the mob guys seem nice about it. He and his girl are waiting at a diner booth to meet with one of them to get some money back. He knows he's lost the film but he's finished it and he's very proud of it. Now he just wants some money so he can go back home. As they're waiting and talking about their bleak future two guys come in and start unloaded their guns into them. End of movie! END OF SPOILERS...YARRRR

How's THAT for an ending? I can't say enough about this film. I only wished I owned a widescreen unedited copy. I would show the world. It's an amazing piece of work and it's one of those films that, when you discover it, it keeps you excited and reminds you why you love movies. It's the kind of film that you hope you'll stumble across one day, one of those hidden gems. So, now that I've built it up so much you'll probably think it sucks. Great. Now I'm depressed.

If anyone knows where I can get a widescreen copy PLEASE email me.