5 Books I Love Part 1

Natural Born Killers: 24 Year Retrospect

Natural Born Killers: 24 Year Retrospect

   I was talking to a friend at work about the fantastic soundtrack for the 1994 Oliver

Stone film “Natural Born Killers”. It occurred to me that I had not seen the film for quite

some time even though I own it. It hit theaters 2 years after I graduated high school. I
was in a transition period and preparing to move to Jacksonville from Southern Illinois
with my then fiance. I did not see it in the theater. I’m quite sure I either rented it from
the local video store or bought it outright probably through Columbia House or some
other such service.

Columbia House

   I was/am/always will be a lover of film. I’m probably not a good critic because I love
films so much that I rarely see the flaws and focus on things that connect with me in one
way or another. When I was a kid in Arizona, I spent some time with my cousins and
there was a summer movie program at the theater where kids could see movies
relatively cheaply. Arizona is hot. Theaters are dark and cool. That’s one thing. What kid
doesn’t love popcorn and soda and candy? Certainly I did. I remember seeing films with
my Great Grandmother Naomi and she would sneak in tons of goodies in her giant
bottomless blue bag. She, like my dad, usually fell asleep after the first 5 minutes or so.
I can honestly say I have never fallen asleep while watching a movie… in a theater.

   When my mother moved us to Golconda, Illinois the summer before I began high
school, I felt like I had dropped off the face of the earth. It was a town that lacked both a
cinema and a bookstore, two requirements for me. There was a theater in Paducah,
Kentucky, but that might as well have been the moon. I didn’t have a license… or a
vehicle, not to mention, we were dirt poor. I immediately began picking up odd jobs,
mostly mowing lawns, in an effort to save up for a used VHS player from the local pawn
shop. Mercifully, someone opened up a video store and pizza joint called Pudgy’s and I
signed my card and paid my dues. This process took over a year and it felt like an
eternity. When my wife and I traveled to Golconda from our home in Sarasota a few
years back, Pudgy’s still had VHS tapes. Many I recognized from multiple rentals.

   My hunger during this forced fast has never been satiated. I watch tons of films,

many multiple times. I have an extensive movie collection and my list of favorites is

constantly evolving. I have lost friendships arguing about films. Mostly, I can’t stand

the cynicism that people bring to films. Their lack of suspension of disbelief is

something I find galling. I am still bewildered why some people hate the film

Prometheus… or The Last Jedi… or many others (too numerous to mention) with

such vitriol.

    It especially bugs me when amateur critics can’t elucidate their points. Like Free Jazz,
there are some films that you have to bring something of yourself to the table. You have
to meet the artist halfway. Some “difficult” directors may require you to evolve to a
certain point so that you can understand their work. David Lynch was one of those for
me. His work didn’t gel with me at first. I was too stuck on linear narrative to get
everything I could from his films. I have evolved and I appreciate his output
tremendously. This is a case where a film doesn’t suck because you don’t get it. It
simply didn’t connect with you. Some people find this process tedious and pretentious
and that is why you have endless sequels to sure thing franchises. Safe bets put asses
in seats, money in pockets and popcorn in gullets.

   There is nothing wrong with that last part by the way. There are so many films that

serve so many differing purposes for wide and varied swaths of people. I loved

Kong: Skull Island. It was the epitome of a fun summer film.

   I didn’t approach it like it was Citizen Kane. I went in with the right mindset and left

with a big goofy grin on my face. Some films are fun. Some are dumb fun. Some are

smart fun. Some are educational. Some are artistic. Some are flawed masterpieces

and some are just plain masterpieces. Some films fail because they are marketed

poorly and aimed at the wrong audience. Some find success later as cult favorites.

Natural Born Killers at 20

   Natural Born Killers was controversial when it came out. I remember that. I feel

confident that at least some of the controversy was manufactured by Oliver Stone himself.

I remember a Greyhound Bus trip from Southern Illinois to Arizona to see my father one

Christmas when I was a junior in high school. I read Mario Puzo’s “The Fourth K” on the

journey. Read… more like devoured. I loved that book. I was aware of Puzo as the
novelist who wrote and co-adapted “The Godfather” novel and film.  The New York
Times called “The Fourth K” a , “a garrish comic book” which was fine by me. I loved
comic books. Still do. I bring this up because Puzo’s novel and the Oliver Stone film
“JFK” both came out around the same time. I saw the film in a Phoenix theater shortly
after it was released on December 20, 1991. That was enough to set off a virulent case
of JFK fever. If you have ever suffered from this malady you know that you have an
insatiable desire to find out everything you can about the most dramatic and tragic
event in American political history.

   I was fully on board. I was jacked in. Sadly, Mario Puzo died in 1999, but Oliver Stone

kept making films. His technique was to throw in a bit of everything in the soup pot of his

directorial choices. A lot of things worked. Some didn’t. He was always willing to go

further down the rabbit hole than I was willing to follow. He lost me with some of
the more outlandish conspiracy theories. He seemed to be more open minded than I
could be about controversial things. Recently, while watching the special features on
NBK, I was reminded of some of these bridges too far.

13 Fascinating Facts About NBK

   Robert Downey jr. was brilliant in Natural Born Killers as the sleazy tabloid TV

journalist Wayne Gale. He was also struggling with his own demons in the form of

substance addiction. Drugs flowed freely on Oliver Stone’s sets. This is one of the

inherent flaws of the 60s and 70s mindset of free love and drugs. It’s all good until

someone has a bad trip… and Robert Downey Jr. was definitely on a bad trip. In

retrospect, it seems irresponsible to the nth degree to be handing out drugs to a

man who would be arrested 2 years later in April of 1996 for possession of heroin,

cocaine and an unloaded .357 Magnum. It’s a miracle that he didn’t become a statistic.

As per Oliver Stone’s role, let’s just say (to draw a parallel) I would have a hard time

reconciling with myself if I had done blow with John Belushi the night he died.

The Death Of John Belushi

   Injuries on set are, for the most part, accidents. Sometimes they are avoidable.

Sometimes not. Sometimes they are the result of irresponsible actions taken by the

director or producers. There has been a focus on this recently.

Quentin Tarantino & Uma Thurman

   Francis Ford Coppola kept the cameras rolling during this scene in “Apocalypse, Now”.

   Martin Sheen had been celebrating his birthday by heavy alcohol consumption and

injured his hand by punching glass. That’s real blood you see on the sheets behind

him. All of this ended up in the actual film.

On-Set Injuries

   Werner Herzog’s 1982 film “Fitzcarraldo” was plagued by accidents.

   Having a film crew on a paddle boat careening recklessly out of control in the rapids

of the Amazon River seems, well… reckless. The cinematographer split his hand open

and had to have it stitched closed without anesthesia.

Injuries On Werner Herzog Films

   Many film enthusiasts (myself included) consider “Fitzcarraldo” a true masterpiece.

If you pressed them, some would admit that the obstacles encountered during filming

add to the allure. This leaves a giant question in my mind. Why are we able to look past

the sins of director’s like Coppola, Stone, Herzog and yet we single Quentin Tarantino

out for recklessness during the filming of “Kill Bill”? Changing morals? Different times?

It’s worth noting that Quentin Tarantino wrote the script for Natural Born Killers.

   This is the director Randall Miller (CBGB). During the filming of the Gregg Allman
biopic “Midnight Rider” a camera operator named Sarah Jones was killed when she was
struck by a train. This was not the first death on a film set, but Miller received the
dubious distinction of being the first filmmaker to serve time in prison for the death of a
member of his crew.

      Two camera operators were injured filming this scene. Both reportedly blamed

Oliver Stone.

   Oliver Stone came dangerously close to providing Charles Manson an alibi during

the special features of NBK. As someone who read “Helter Skelter” in high school, this

was a dividing point. This was not the first time Oliver Stone expressed controversial

positions and certainly won’t be the last. I am left of center politically and in some ways

how I feel about Oliver Stone is similar to how I feel about Bill Maher. For every single

point I find myself in agreement with Maher (or Stone) there are at least 3 others

where I differ… sometimes quite strongly.

   As a young man I felt that art shouldn’t have limits and shouldn’t be afraid of controversy.

  This is “Immersion” (more commonly known as “Piss Christ”) a 1987 photograph by

the artist and photographer Andres Serrano. This is one of the images (along with

works by Robert Mapplethorpe) cited by the arch conservative Jesse Helms, who was

head of the National Endowment for the Arts, in an effort to defund the NEA.

  I defended this work quite vociferously to anyone who would listen. I felt that there

were many meanings that could be derived from it (aside from the sacrilegious) and

that each was important. Nowadays, I feel like controversial art is important for one

main reason - it sparks discussion.

   The French satirical weekly magazine “Charlie Hebdo” published cartoons of the

Islamic prophet Muhammad. On January 7, 2015 two terrorists killed twelve members

of the staff. If I could sit down with Young Mike and have an intellectual discussion, I

would love to ask where he stands on artistic freedom in the wake of this horrible

atrocity? Certainly Old Mike doesn’t have an easy canned answer to this one.

   The best statement I can make is: I do not believe in censorship of art. However,

hate speech and those who put it forth in the world are quite sophisticated in masking

ideology as art.

   My old high school civics teacher Mr. Bramlett (R.I.P.) would say something like -

You are free to say and do anything, so long as you are prepared to accept the

consequences.

   During the special features of NBK, the superb actor Tommy Lee Jones refers

to Molière when discussing the film. Molière’s satires attracted criticisms from the

Catholic Church and moralists alike. It’s clear that he viewed NBK as a satire and

the critiques of the film to primarily originate from modern day regressives.

   My question when it comes to violence in films boils down to whether or not it

is necessary. For instance, if a film is made about King Leopold II, you should

expect to see some violence. If you are watching a film called “Fuzzy Wuzzy

Bear” it’s likely to expect minimal beheadings. These are, of course, two extreme

examples and the devil is always where the lines aren’t so easily drawn. A

filmmaker might defend the right  to play with the expectations of the audience.

I would throw my lot in as well. I would add the caveat that the commercial revenues

for the film will probably reflect to which degree this is executed.

   Statistically, we know that violence is down all around the world.

Steven Pinker NPR Interview

   Statistics don’t seem to trump our own personal experiences and are often

skewed by blaring headlines.

   This is “Guernica” a large oil painting by Pablo Picasso. It was completed in

June 1937. This work was designed as a response to the bombing of Guernica

during the Spanish Civil War.

   This is an image from “Pan’s Labyrinth” a 2006 film by Guillermo del Toro.

Many people consider this to be his masterpiece. It takes place in Spain during

the Franco era of postwar Spain. I find the violence to be extremely disturbing

and upsetting… and absolutely 100% necessary.

   This is a scene from a Looney Tunes cartoon involving Elmer Fudd and Daffy

Duck. Cartoon violence was never meant to be taken seriously. The injuries

suffered by the two hapless burglars in the perennial Christmas favorite “Home

Alone” would kill the average person deader than a Dickensian doornail.

Societally we look past cartoon violence, but there are those few who moralize

about it.

   This image is from the 1995 Jim Jarmusch film “Dead Man”. Jarmusch

exercised what’s called “Economy of Violence” to great effect in the film. There are

only a handful of violent scenes in the course of the narrative and because they do

not bludgeon us like say the Battle of Zion scene in The Matrix Revolutions, the

effect is that the scenes of violence carry weight and are even more shocking.

   Oliver Stone served in Vietnam. He made what many consider to be his

masterpiece“Platoon” from his experiences.

“Platoon” (1986) was the opener to Oliver Stone’s Vietnam trilogy along with 1989’s

“Born On The Fourth Of July” and the conclusion “Heaven & Earth” in 1993. Stone’s

generation (and his personal artistic output) are shaped by 4 events:

   1. The JFK assassination on November 22, 1963.

   2. The MLK Jr. assassination on April 4, 1968.

   3. The RFK assassination on June 6, 1968.

   4. The Kent State massacre on May 4, 1970.

   Right now, in America, we are having a discussion about violence. It’s really

about America’s gun culture and violence, but let’s concentrate on the tertiary

discussions for the moment. Those who don’t want to deal with the firearms issue

tend to focus on media (aka art) as being responsible for the rash of violence. They

tend to blame primarily films and video games.

   This is a photograph of John Lennon with his assassin Mark David Chapman. This

picture was taken 6 hours before Chapman fired 4 bullets into John Lennon on

December 4, 1980. He was clutching the 1951 J.D. Salinger novel “Catcher In The Rye”.

   On March 30, 1981 President Ronald Reagan was shot by John Hinckley Jr. who

had become obsessed with actress Jodie Foster after seeing her in the 1976

Martin Scorsese film “Taxi Driver”. In his hotel, Salinger’s “Catcher In The Rye”

was among a half dozen other books in his possession.

    On April 20, 1999, two students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, entered Columbine

High School in Colorado heavily armed and murdered 12 of their fellow students

and a teacher before killing themselves.

    Both killers were fans of first person shooter games like “Doom” and listened to

Marilyn Manson. Games and music became a convenient scapegoat for the NRA

and their cronies in Congress.

Marilyn Manson on Columbine

    They were also fans of Oliver Stone’s “Natural Born Killers”.

   It is at this point that I would like to point out my personal belief that the

United States is unlikely to have a statistically higher number of mentally ill people

than any other country. Also, violent films and games are consumed all around the

world. I do agree that ratings systems should be shored up and enforced. I also

believe that increased spending on mental health services is part of a larger

solution. However, America has a real problem with the hypocrisy of Fake

Violence vs. Real Violence, and where we are willing to legislate one, we seem

unwilling or unable to deal with the other. Also, for the sake of argument, even if

disturbed individuals are stirred to violence by media, the reality is that they have

too easy access to weapons that can be used in mass killings. If we don’t deal with

that last fact, all the rest of it is ultimately useless. I have been voting for politicians

who support common sense gun safety legislation since that horrific day in 1999.

    On February 14, 2018 (Valentine’s Day) there was yet another mass shooting this

time at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. 17 were

murdered and 14 others were injured. This one was different in that the students

were roused to action and immediately began taking to social media and meeting

with politicians. We finally seem to have reached a tipping point and real action is

beginning to take shape.

   These students are heroes and deserve our support so that this truly happens…

#NeverAgain