This is the 1982 film that bankrupted Coppola's Zoetrope Studios. I went to the post-bankruptcy auction and all the props and costumes from the film were on display on the soundstage in Hollywood where the fake Fremont Street was built.
The title sequence was NOT computer-generated, although Coppola used motion control cameras. Those are all hand-built miniatures, a foot or two high, of some classic Vega$ hotel casino signs from the 1950s. They were all for sale at the bankruptcy auction.. I only wish I had had the greenbacks in my wallet to take one home with me.
(Other reviewers refer to the dance number taking place on "The Strip" - it was on a faux reconstruction, using extreme forced perspective, of a couple blocks of Downtown Vega$' famous Fremont Street long before they shut it down to traffic and installed the light-show canopy known as the Fremont Street Experience.. but I digress..
Coppola made a film about an on and off love affair in Vega$ over the Fourth of July and didn't shoot a frame of it in that city. It is nearly the purest filmic definition of eye candy I have ever seen.
The film was roundly panned by almost every critic around when it was released, save Sheila Benson in the L.A. Times who loved it and said "It will have its day." Well look at the reviews here.. although nearly 20 years have passed, it's finally being recognized for the masterpiece of film that it is.
No, there's not much of a plot. A couple falls in and out of love, tempted by others and consoled by a pair of friends. The sextet of lead actors is superb. One or more of them is in every scene and there are very few minor roles.
The soundtrack by Tom Waits and the songs sung mainly as duets by him and Crystal Gayle are modern jazzy-pop masterpieces too.. and they act as a Greek Chorus, fitting in perfectly with whatever is happening on the screen. If you like this movie, get the soundtrack. You will listen to it many many times.
Coppola used a huge number of effects in this film including theatrical scrims, false walls, mirror effects, huge panoramic backdrops of sunsets.. you can but sit back and soak it all in as it bathes you in its beauty.
This is one of a very few films that I loved so much that I immediately bought its original VHS retail version when it was released, bought the soundtrack on LP and actually wore it out, bought another one, and bought the CD version.
It might not tell an important story in the grand scheme of things.. the plot is small to non-existant. That's not the point. The point is that this is true evidence of the genius of a modern filmmaker pulling out all the stops and literally to make something he cared about deeply.
If you're looking for thrill-a-minute action, go elsewhere. If you're looking for a simple love story wrapped in a work of sheer artistic beauty then Watch it.. watch it repeatedly.. and bask in its wonderful rainbow. Unique among modern films. A+.
The title sequence was NOT computer-generated, although Coppola used motion control cameras. Those are all hand-built miniatures, a foot or two high, of some classic Vega$ hotel casino signs from the 1950s. They were all for sale at the bankruptcy auction.. I only wish I had had the greenbacks in my wallet to take one home with me.
(Other reviewers refer to the dance number taking place on "The Strip" - it was on a faux reconstruction, using extreme forced perspective, of a couple blocks of Downtown Vega$' famous Fremont Street long before they shut it down to traffic and installed the light-show canopy known as the Fremont Street Experience.. but I digress..
Coppola made a film about an on and off love affair in Vega$ over the Fourth of July and didn't shoot a frame of it in that city. It is nearly the purest filmic definition of eye candy I have ever seen.
The film was roundly panned by almost every critic around when it was released, save Sheila Benson in the L.A. Times who loved it and said "It will have its day." Well look at the reviews here.. although nearly 20 years have passed, it's finally being recognized for the masterpiece of film that it is.
No, there's not much of a plot. A couple falls in and out of love, tempted by others and consoled by a pair of friends. The sextet of lead actors is superb. One or more of them is in every scene and there are very few minor roles.
The soundtrack by Tom Waits and the songs sung mainly as duets by him and Crystal Gayle are modern jazzy-pop masterpieces too.. and they act as a Greek Chorus, fitting in perfectly with whatever is happening on the screen. If you like this movie, get the soundtrack. You will listen to it many many times.
Coppola used a huge number of effects in this film including theatrical scrims, false walls, mirror effects, huge panoramic backdrops of sunsets.. you can but sit back and soak it all in as it bathes you in its beauty.
This is one of a very few films that I loved so much that I immediately bought its original VHS retail version when it was released, bought the soundtrack on LP and actually wore it out, bought another one, and bought the CD version.
It might not tell an important story in the grand scheme of things.. the plot is small to non-existant. That's not the point. The point is that this is true evidence of the genius of a modern filmmaker pulling out all the stops and literally to make something he cared about deeply.
If you're looking for thrill-a-minute action, go elsewhere. If you're looking for a simple love story wrapped in a work of sheer artistic beauty then Watch it.. watch it repeatedly.. and bask in its wonderful rainbow. Unique among modern films. A+.