The state

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• James Keepnews says:

  October 20, 2009 at 12:20 pm

  Wow – did this ever have any kind of Stateside release, in theat­ers or on video? I’ve seen it men­tioned in Wenders filmo­graph­ies before but I had no idea about its fas­cin­at­ing meta-movie struc­ture, much less its incred­ible cast (good look­ing on your Garfield/Goorwitz shoutout). If I’d seen it at the time of its ini­tial release, it sounds like it could have been my teen­aged self’s favor­ite film of the dec­ade, i.e. lifetime…

• bill says:

  October 20, 2009 at 1:56 pm

  “the eer­ie tale of a cursed film”
  Sold.

• lazarus says:

  October 20, 2009 at 2:48 pm

  So does my enjoy­ment of Hammett (which I saw not too long ago for the first time) make me a huge Wenders apo­lo­gist, Coppola apo­lo­gist, or both?

• Jimmy says:

  October 21, 2009 at 12:38 am

  James,
  To the best of my know­ledge, this film had a lim­ited release. I was for­tu­nate to get a VHS copy years ago and it has always been a favor­ite. I’m glad to learn it is now avail­able on DVD (in glor­i­ous black and white).
  As men­tioned in Glenn’s review, great cast. Sam Fuller steals each scene he’s in. My old friend, Allen Garfield, is per­fect as the Coppola char­ac­ter. One of his best per­form­ances, along with the tune “Hollywood” which he cre­ated and per­forms at the end of the film. A pure gem.
  You may or may not know, Allen suffered a massive stroke in 2004 and has been liv­ing @ the MPTF Home since then. Sadly, he and many oth­ers may be forced to move soon unless some sort of mir­acle hap­pens to keep the place open. Running out of time.
  Here’s a link should you be inter­ested in learn­ing more:
  http://savingthelivesofourown.org/
  “Hollywood, Hollywood, nev­er been a place people had so good, like Hollywood, like Hollywood…
  What did they do to your head, my friend, what did they do to your head?…what did they do to your head, my friend, in Hollywood…
  When did you learn you were dead, my friend, when did you learn you were dead?…when did you learn you were dead, my friend, in Hollywood…
  Hollywood, Hollywood, nev­er been a place people had it so good, like Hollywood, like Hollywood”
  ‑Allen Garfield
  Keep a good thought.

• Glenn Kenny says:

  October 21, 2009 at 7:52 am

  @ Jimmy: Thanks for the info. I think the situ­ation involving the MPTF home is just awful. I will indeed keep a good thought for Allen and the rest of the folks there.
  @ laz­arus: My descrip­tion of the cir­cum­stances of the cre­ation of “Hammett” should in no way be taken as a dis­missal of the film. It’s been some time since I’ve seen it, but if memory serves, its final form is quite a bit bet­ter than it seems it might have had any right to be!

• Griff says:

  October 21, 2009 at 8:44 am

  I was saddened to learn of Allen Garfield’s con­di­tion. What a fine act­or! I cer­tainly hope that the ter­rible situ­ation with the MPTF is sat­is­fact­or­ily resolved soon – what a crime.
  I thank Jimmy for post­ing the price­less lyr­ics to “Hollywood, Hollywood” – the song is such a high­light of THE STATE OF THINGS.

• tc says:

  October 21, 2009 at 8:49 am

  Glenn, has Wenders (or any­one) ever gone into detail about which ele­ments of HAMMETT Coppola changed/distorted/wrecked? As I remem­ber, it does give off a def­in­ite vibe of too many cooks, but I liked it quite a lot any­way. I’d also love to see STATE OF THINGS again – bits like the con­fu­sion of cam­era and gun at the end have stuck with me forever – and am depressed to hear about Garfield’s situ­ation. He was won­der­ful in it, as in most things he did.

• Glenn Kenny says:

  October 21, 2009 at 11:30 am

  @ tc: A com­menter on the Auteurs’ piece left this link to a 2001 Wenders inter­view in which he does a bit of revi­sion­ism and waxes con­cili­at­ory re FFC:
  http://thehollywoodinterview.blogspot.com/2008/03/wim-wenders-hollywood-interview.html

• Griff says:

  October 21, 2009 at 11:33 am

  Well, regard­ing HAMMETT, it would be inter­est­ing to see some­thing of Brian Keith’s per­form­ance in the Jimmy Ryan role; all of his work was com­pletely re-shot with Peter Boyle. Ronee Blakley’s work was sim­il­arly dis­carded when Marilu Henner replaced her as the pic­ture’s female lead.
  Keith may simply have not been avail­able for the re-shoot – most of the film was re-shot – but Blakley was replaced in large part because of the sud­den end­ing of her mar­riage to dir­ect­or Wenders.

• Jimmy says:

  October 21, 2009 at 3:44 pm

  Glenn/Griff,
  A com­ment writ­ten by Allen’s sis­ter, Lois, a month ago, on the MPTF peti­tion. Breaks my heart/pisses me off. I hope Hollywood A‑list step up before it’s too late.
  7:27 am PDT, Sep 23, Lois Goorwitz, New Jersey
  My broth­er, Allen Garfield, was an act­or for over 30 years. He has been at the MPTF long term skilled nurs­ing facil­ity since 2004 after hav­ing suffered a massive stroke. It is a sin, and quite sick­en­ing, that the MPTF has gone back on its long stand­ing prom­ise and com­mit­ment to take care of their own by clos­ing this facil­ity. Residents, includ­ing my broth­er, were prom­ised that they would be taken care of for the rest of their lives. Was that a lie? Where is the com­mit­ment to char­ity for your own that was always a cent­ral mis­sion of the MPTF?? And worse yet, staff are try­ing to scare and intim­id­ate res­id­ents into leav­ing. This is a hor­rible state of affairs, and the exec­ut­ives should be ashamed of them­selves. I can only hope that there will be enough out­rage by the enter­tain­ment com­munity so that the MPTH exec­ut­ives will be forced to retract their decision.

• James Keepnews says:

  October 21, 2009 at 5:02 pm

  Jimmy – Thank for let­ting us know about the ter­rible cir­cum­stances sur­round­ing the MPTF home and regard­ing Mr. Garfield’s con­di­tion (+ for the note from Ms. Goorwitz). The mind reels think­ing about all the great work he’s done: _The Conversation_, _Hi, Mom!_, _Deadhead Miles_, prob­ably my per­son­al favor­ite of his, _Get Crazy_. Et, to be sure, cetera.
  I’ll def­in­itely for­ward the peti­tion link to my lists.

• Jimmy says:

  October 21, 2009 at 8:25 pm

  You’re wel­come James. Thanks for passing the MPTF/petition link to oth­ers who may be inter­ested in learn­ing what’s going on.
  I’m going to make an effort to vis­it Allen as his 70^th birth­day will be on Nov. 22. Need to make sure he’s up for vis­it­ors before hand.
  No ques­tion, he’s done fine work over the years. A few of my favor­ites, besides the above men­tioned, ‘The State of Things’ are ‘The Conversation’ ‘Nashville’ and ‘The Stuntman’
  Also, many years ago I had the pleas­ure of see­ing him per­form in Arthur Miller’s ‘A View From the Bridge’ as Eddie. Man, that was a night in the theatre I’ll nev­er forget.
  Great actor…wise teacher…good man…old friend.
  Yes, please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

• Jonah says:

  October 26, 2009 at 3:54 am

  The Portugal scenes in STATE OF THINGS cast a won­der­ful spell. You can almost smell the sea breeze. There are a lot of par­al­lels with Godard’s PASSION, made around the same time. Even some of the same scenes of off-set tor­por are repro­duced in the two films.
  The stuff in Los Angeles seems much less sure-footed to me, and I think the end­ing is mis­judged. But this is prob­ably the second-to-last of Wenders’s fic­tion fea­tures I’d watch for pleasure.
  Have folks seen Chris Petit’s RADIO ON, from 1980? It’s a British film that basic­ally attempts to “do” a Wenders, from the high-contrast B&W pho­to­graphy to the atten­u­ated nar­rat­ive and Krautrock soundtrack. It’s even got Wenders’s wife, Lisa Kreuzer. It’s lovely to look at but seems like so much attitudinizing–a cri­ti­cism that could be leveled at most of Wenders’s later work.

• Mike Starr says:

  November 21, 2009 at 11:41 pm

  I am a ex Emergency Medical Tech that got my start shortly after the movie Mother Jugs and Speed came out..Ive been a big fan of the movie for years..Im try­ing to put togeth­er a set of auto­graphs of the cast…Im look­ing to see if Allen Garfeild is able to sign a still from the movie I have.Im cur­rently in New Orleans (been here as a first respon­der since Katrina) but Michigan was home…can any­one help me…?

• Jimmy says:

  November 24, 2009 at 9:39 pm

  Mike,
  You can try send­ing it to Allen @
  Motion Picture Television Home
  23388 Mulholland Drive
  Woodland Hills, CA. 91364
  Attention: Allen Garfield (1 East)
  I would include a self addressed-return envel­ope with cor­rect post­age to make it easy for him.
  I called to wish him a Happy Birthday on Sunday, how­ever he was not able to come to the phone. I was told that he was in good spir­its and enjoy­ing his day. Hopefully, I’ll get out to vis­it him soon.
  All the best with the still.

• NKB says:

  December 5, 2009 at 1:23 pm

  Thanking you on behalf of the res­id­ents in the long term care units the Motion Picture Home who can­not speak in this for­um for them­selves, and who wish to remain in their Home as they were prom­ised. Here’s a way you can help – a dir­ect link to the online peti­tion: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/keepthemptfhomeopen
  We will let Mr. Garfield know that you are think­ing of him, and of work, and of his friends at MPTF, and will read these posts to him.

• Mike Starr says:

  December 6, 2009 at 12:08 am

  Thank You Jimmy Ill get that sent out this week„„„Funny I would be think­ing of him the day before his birthday.……