Monday, August 28, 2006
NEARLY RICH
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was
This is the story about Melvin Dumar's fifteen minutes of fame.
He picked Howard Hughes up in the desert and was kind to him. Years later, Hughes had his mysterious henchmen leave a will at Melvin's service station leaving Melvin a lot of money.
This movie is about the period between picking Howard up and finally dealing with the fallout of the will proceedings.
This is a film about people on the edge of financial disaster. They are as close to trailer trash as you are going to see in a movie of this kind. They are treated with great love and affection by the director Johnathan Demme.
There is not a smirk or a sneer in the film.
This is good as I would have bailed.
These are the kind of people that I grew up with; my family. Struggling. Good. But way off the mark when it comes to making wise decisions.
I am not sure how they pulled this off.
I think they simply told the truth as best they could. No embellishment. No tragedy either.
It is not a sad story.
The Dummars get out of the whole enterprise with grace and dignity.
I liked it a lot. It is a small film with modest goals.
The goals are exceeded.
I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5.
Yes. That is Jason Robards Junior as Hughes. He pulls a great performance out of a very small hat; maybe 15 minute, if that.
