Dish of the Day
Just some film musings of a more succinct, spontaneous and sometimes seditious nature:
Wednesday, May 17, 2023
Now playing on Watch TCM (available at no extra cost to all TCM subscribers):
Tequila Sunrise (1988)
It's interesting to me that those who fawn over Robert Towne's script for Chinatown (1974) suddenly become lukewarm at best about a few of the writer's other efforts. Examples include Chinatown's follow-up The Two Jakes (1990) or this film (which he also directed). Tequila Sunrise was intended as a glossy, character-driven crime film but with so little character or crime, one mostly remembers the gloss.
Everything and everyone, including the locations and those who inhabit them, look sensational (Conrad Hall’s cinematography was justly nominated for an Academy Award) but then again, so do most travel advertisements. There is some intriguing cat and mouse interplay between a couple of old friends: a drug dealer (portrayed by Mel Gibson) who’s trying to give up his former profession and the Detective (played by Kurt Russell) who’s assigned to make sure he does. This plot thread is inadequately interwoven with another matter regarding which one of these two will ultimately win the heart of the restaurant owner they are hot for (Michelle Pfeiffer at her loveliest). Both subjects, however, skim along the narrative’s surface like skipping stones. It seems as though exploring the grittier criminal element might have sullied the romance in play. And heightening the feelings between the trio would have shrunk the seriousness of the story’s illegal aspects. Apparently Towne’s decision was to play it safe, shifting awkwardly between both concerns with neither becoming that meaningful or relevant. Then there’s the added ingredient of Gibson’s son who contributes unwanted synthetic sentiment which only sidelines the other two aforementioned story components.
Kurt Russell, Michelle Pfeiffer
(From left) Raul Julia, Mel Gibson
Raul Julia's character and performance make up for a lot of uncertain motivation between the other characters. Everything livens up when he enters the scene.
Even in Chinatown, and more so here, Towne substitutes ambiguity, slick dialogue and story twists for building character identification and empathy. One can typically admire the intricate sparkle and shine but at the expense of emotional involvement the degree to which, I suppose, will depend on the viewer.
Tequila Sunrise will be available to watch at the subscriber’s discretion beginning Wednesday, May 17 for approximately one week’s time.
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All responses are not only welcomed but encouraged in the comments section below.
Hope to see you tomorrow.
A.G.