Director: Lawrence Kasdan
Writer: Lawrence Kasdan & Meg Kasdan
Cinematography: Owen Roizman
Editor: Carol Littleton
Music: James Newton Howard
Notable Cast: Kevin Kline, Steve Martin, Danny Glover, Mary-Louise Parker, Alfre Woodard, Jeremy Sisto, Patrick Malone, Randle Mell, Jack Kehler, Marley Shelton, Clifton Collins Jr.
As a real corollary to the fact they don’t make those mid-budget adult crime thrillers anymore, here comes Grand Canyon to remind us how they don’t make the mid-budget adult ensemble drama anymore either. Much like Sea of Love, films like this used to be a staple of the cinema, especially in the winter months as Oscar season was warming up and studios would put their prestige pictures out into the public for consumption by critics and audiences alike.
Grand Canyon came out in the winter of 1991, right before the end of the year, in limited release, to qualify for Oscars (of which it was completely shut out except for a sole writing nomination, which it lost out to Thelma and Louise! Give me a fucking break! Though I suppose it is interesting that both films end at the Grand Canyon, but on wildly different notes), before its wide release in January of 1992. Ostensibly about 6 middle aged friends and their trials and tribulations in Los Angeles, it’s hard to remember why this 16 year old film fan went to the theater to buy a ticket to see an adult drama back then, but so I did, and at quite a weird time, as I had just gotten into some… trouble, I guess, at high school.
It was coming up on Martin Luther King Day, and in one of my classes, we were talking about MLK’s I Have A Dream speech, and the question was posed to the class as to whether his dream of a colorblind society had been achieved. It’s funny to think back now, what with all the Black Lives Matter bullshit and professional grievance mongers saying things between the races are worse now than in Jim Crow times (they either really believe this utter nonsense or just say that to keep the grift going, as activist types can never declare victory or their gray train comes to a halt, just look at all the anti-abortion folks, they finally get Roe v Wade overturned, “return it to the states where it belongs,” and then just move on from that to saying “well yeah, but now we need a federal ban!” Absolute morons. Same with race. I remember activists who said a black man would never be elected president turn on a dime after Obama’s election to saying his election proved nothing. If you have a left or right wing activist in your life, my sincere condolences, as they’ll never be content, always finding windmills to tilt at), but back then if you dared say MLK’s dream had not come true yet, you were branded a racist (this despite Rodney King happening earlier in the year, as well as the riots that followed, truly mind-boggling).
When I was growing up, if you noticed someone’s skin color, it meant you were prejudiced, now, if you DON’T acknowledge someone’s skin color as the first and most important thing about them, you may as well don a KKK hood and start burning crosses. The powers that be LOVE this kind of shit, as long as white and brown and black are fighting with each other, the establishment can enjoy their penthouses, cocktail parties and sailboats in peace.
In the class, I made what I thought was an uncontroversial remark that his dream had not been achieved and laid out all the inequality that still existed. It set off a shitstorm, where I was accused of saying black people were inferior! Had I said the same remarks now in that class, I’d be heralded as a sage and wise “ally,” but back then, as with now, to deal in reality was almost a crime. Telling the truth can get you in a lot of trouble. Some black girl ran out of the class crying and rumors started to swirl that I’d get my ass kicked by the black kids after school. Nothing says equality like threatening to beat people who have a differing opinion! Really fucking stupid shit, but it was high school.
In the end, my ass was not kicked, nothing happened, mainly because I said nothing wild, but it was upsetting, nerve-racking, made me anxious. And this was the mood and mindset I brought into the theater when I went to see Grand Canyon. Not sure what film I thought I was seeing, but I had no idea about all the racial shit in the film. Here I go to escape my troubles and am confronted head on by Mr. Kasdan and his very game cast.
Thankfully, what they gave us was a film for the ages that still resonates today.
1ST 5 MINUTES
First thing we see is the 20th Century Fox logo. I can’t really remember why, but at this time in my life, it was usually a sign of quality. 20th Century Fox produced a lot of my favorite flicks from the 80’s and 90’s, before falling unto utter disrepair, like all the rest. But for a time, Fox churned out the good shit time and time again.
Over black, we hear the sounds of a helicopter flying overhead. At this point, you have no frame of reference, but the helicopter, or “ghetto bird” as it is sometimes colloquially referred to, is a running theme throughout the picture, and a salient one. Los Angeles, where the movie takes place, is a very widely laid out city, and the LAPD utilizes helicopters in their crime fighting/intimidation, especially in South Central Los Angeles, where a lot of crime takes place. It is always up there, always watching, always prowling. A throughline is being established right off the bat, but at this point, for the audience, it’s just a helicopter sound.
And then we hear the first notes of James Newton Howard’s ethereal score. As with Sea of Love, that’s it, I’m sold. The music is fantastic, and only heightened by the first images we see, of a bunch of black guys playing basketball, in black and white (get it?) slow motion. Over these images, we see the credits. What a fantastic assemblage of star power, well, star power as far as 1991 goes. Kevin Kline! Danny Glover! Steve Martin! Alfre Woodard! Mary-Louise Parker! Jeremy Sisto! Mary McDonnell! Wow! You wanted an ensemble cast, you got an ensemble cast!
We get our first look at Danny Glover’s Simon, who is one of the guys playing basketball, before cutting to some shots of people by the fence cheering them on, before craning over that fence to what’s directly outside the playground, bunch of guys hanging around, maybe up to no good, hard to tell, and maybe a drug deal happening through the window of an old car. Again, hard to tell, which is a theme that pops up later, when you’re in a bad area, or think you’re in a bad area, hard to tell what’s good from bad because your senses are heightened for trouble.
And then we cut to our first shot of the ubiquitous LAPD helicopter flying ominously overhead, making sure everyone knows they’re being watched, but are they being protected? That’s the question that haunts the whole film. Yeah, the helicopter is there, but is it doing any good? We see crimes happen throughout the film despite the presence of the helicopter. Would there be more crimes without the helicopters? Doubtful. But the theme of being surveilled is a potent one, and when I lived in L.A., anytime one of these copters flew overhead, I thought of this movie.
Then we get our first look at Patrick Malone’s Otis, who turns out to be Danny Glover’s troubled, gang-adjacent nephew. I don’t really remember ever seeing this actor after this film, despite him giving an absolute knockout performance. A quick look at his IMDb shows he has been working steady in the intervening decades. This makes me happy. It’s tough being an actor. Imagery is key here. Otis walks up to the fence of the playground, and watches the basketball game, but he remains on the other side, the side where bad shit may be going down, almost trapped looking through the metal mesh, perhaps foreshadowing a life behind bars if he can’t make it to the other side of that fence where the better elements of the neighborhood reside. Good shit.
Then there’s a cool match cut from the basketball bouncing on the hoop in the playground to bouncing on a hoop at an L.A. Lakers game at the old GW Forum, still in slo-mo, but in vibrant technicolor now, and the music changes from ethereal and light to driving and propulsive. We get our first look at Kevin Kline’s Mack and Steve Martin’s Davis sitting courtside, obviously rich to be able to afford those seats. Martin’s character is sitting with a slim, young woman, who has her arm in his, while Kline is alone.
Kline’s attention drifts from the game to various “beautiful” women in his line of sight across the court. Interesting to note what was considered hot back then, have to think a few of these ladies just happened to be friends or relatives of some of the Fox execs or filmmaking team. I’ll leave it at that. We see the Lakers beating the Magic, whole crowd is cheering, and we cut back to Kline and he is not reacting, just sitting there stone faced. What’s up with this guy? Is he a Magic fan? I suspect something deeper, afterall, this movie IS called Grand Canyon, and we’re about to experience and witness the Grand Canyon sized hole in each of their lives.
Compact storytelling here. We know Glover’s Simon lives in or frequents a not-so-great part of town, that Malone’s Otis is stuck between two worlds, and that Kline’s Mack and/or Martin’s Davis are rich, and that Kline’s Mack is lonely. Phenomenal writing already from the Kasdan team, and no dialogue has even been spoken yet.
In the last minute of these 1ST 5, Kline and Martin are leaving the game with Sarah Trigger’s Vanessa, Martin’s girlfriend. Here we get the first of Steve Martin’s many little fast-talking soliloquies about life, with him talking about people wanting, and failing to, control their fear. He’s got some great lines in this flick, and Martin’s performance is off the charts. Born to play this part. Interesting to note that this film and Martin’s L.A. Story were released in the same year. Two quite different looks at the city of angels, but both totally capturing its spirit, which just underlines what a wonderful yet beguiling and sometimes scary place Los Angeles is.
This is a solid to very good, but not great, 1ST 5 Minutes. For me, it’s the establishment of the helicopter rotors as a sort of leitmotif and James Newton Howard’s fantastic opening title track that really deliver here. As a certified film score nut, James Newton Howard usually leaves me cold. He’s scored some great films over his now five-decade career, but his scores are very unmemorable, for the most part. Generic background music, usually. Not so with Grand Canyon. This is a score’s score, does enormous heavy lifting throughout the film, and ends on an incredibly strong brass heavy track. It's pure genius.
You are given zero indication that this movie is going to be a turkey. Far from it. And you’re left wondering how exactly the Glover/Malone and Kline/Martin stories intersect. Seems like they inhabit two different films at this point, the resolution of which is something you’re already wanting to stick around for.
The rest of the flick
This is an earnest film. You could almost retitle it Earnest Goes to Los Angeles (do people under 40 even get that reference these days?). Seriously, though, this film has a lot on its mind, and runs the gamut of human emotions and experiences, from comedy to drama to violence, it covers the waterfront, and yet never feels tonally off or that anything is not of an intricate piece with the rest.
And the writing! My god, there’s so many good lines in this film, and so many characters the Kasdans have to juggle, and a ball is never dropped, a false note is never sung. And it all starts with Kevin Kline’s Mack, an immigration attorney, who serves as the glue binding these seemingly disparate characters together.
Owing to the ensemble nature of this film, I will break down what I love about this film by examining the major storylines from each character’s perspective. This movie had such an indelible effect on me and I still use lines from the script in my daily life over 30 years later. This is not unusual for me, as my wife and kids will attest. I frequently pepper movie lines into my normal dialogue, and most people have no clue because I use the lines in the proper context for whatever conversation I’m having at that moment. Grand Canyon is full of them, as well as big ideas and thoughts about the human condition. One is usually advised to avoid such things as a writer, thankfully Kasdan and his wife, Meg, did not heed that advice, and the result is one of the smartest films of this genre to have ever been released. Some people think The Big Chill is Kasdan’s finest hour as a filmmaker, but for my money it’s Grand Canyon, and it’s not even close.
Kevin Kline’s Mack - The central, main character that ties everything together better than the Dude's rug, to namecheck another quintessential L.A. movie. He’s the cream in everyone’s coffee, the peanut butter to their jelly, the icing on their danish. You get the idea. Mack is married to Claire, played by Mary McDonnell, having what appears to be an affair (physical? emotional? It’s left somewhat ambiguous, which is nice, because both are a form of cheating, does it really matter if it was consummated? I guess it does, but for the purposes of cinema, the ambiguity is nice) with Mary-Louise Parker’s Dee, befriends Danny Glover's Simon after Simon basically rescues him from at best an armed robbery and at worst, death, is best friends with Steve Martin's Davis, is father to Jeremy Sisto's Roberto, and is co-workers with Alfre Woodard's Jane, who he decides to set up with Simon (they joke that maybe Mack set them up cause they’re the only two black people he knows). The only main characters he does not interact with directly are Glover's sister and nephew, but through Mack’s machinations, and desire to pay Simon back, he finds them a better home in a nicer neighborhood, which has mixed results, at first anyway.
What I love most about Kline's story is a nice little subplot about how a woman saved his life once, years ago, when she pulled him back from getting hit by a speeding bus. I'm nearly in tears thinking back to this sequence now as I write this. There's a lot of moments in this film that provoke that reaction. How powerful is that? Just remembering the scene brings tears to your eyes. There are some who would call that maudlin, I am not one of them. I unabashedly LOVE shit like this. I've always been fascinated with the concept of fate. And the choices we make. And the effect it may have on others. As is Mack. That this event happened on the Miracle Mile by the Mutual Benefit building (too on the nose? Maybe, but to me, it's amazing and poignant and perfect), that the woman was wearing a Pittsburgh Pirates cap (Mack's favorite team), and that she just disappeared along with the crowd after saving not only his life but his family's as well (as the premature death of a father can wreck a family, just wreck it), with the simple, “My pleasure” in response to his state of shock thanks.
And now, here, with Simon, he was "saved" again, and he's determined not to let this lifesaver go like he did the last one. Simon is bemused at this, but understands where Mack is coming from, because Simon is intuitive and in touch with his emotions and the space he inhabits. Mack, operating off the reciprocity principle, feels the need to pay Simon back in some way, which is how the subplot of Simon's sister and nephew moving to a new area, Canoga Park, comes about. Sidenote: When I moved to L.A., after watching films like this and others for years and years, coming across locations like Canoga Park or Latigo Beach, was like being in a dream. Just iconic shit from my memories, all of a sudden right in my face, not an image on a screen, but a real thing. Los Angeles is a magical place if you grew up watching films. Not hard to understand the allure…
The whole concept of fate and miracles and happenstance is the lifeblood of this film. And I am here for it!
But what is Mack’s figurative Grand Canyon? Not immediately evident. Is it the space between him and his wife? Is it the chasm he’s trying to fill by befriending Simon? Throughout the film, Mack tries to help people, and is called out on it even at one point. Is that his Grand Canyon?
Mary McDonnell's Claire - I've never been a huge fan of this actress. Not really sure why. I'm not a big Dances With Wolves or Battlestar Galactica fan, and can't for the life of me name anything else she's been in. But here, she is sublime. Not only does she have my Favorite Line in the film, but she is also in my Favorite Scene, a scene, much like the Mack Miracle Mile flashback, that makes me cry just thinking about it.
Her main storyline deals with her burgeoning empty nest syndrome. Her son, Roberto, is going to sleepaway camp as a camp counselor, almost all grown up now. She drops him off at the parking lot where all the buses and campers are gathered for the big start of summer send-off, and she lingers as the rest of the crowd dissipates and the buses depart for the camp, until only she and her car remain. As she is about to get in her car, she looks off and we get a mindflash, back to when Roberto was just 2 years old and she's buckling him into his carseat, asking if he's ready for an adventure with Mommy, to which he happily replies in the affirmative.
We then cut back to her at the parking lot, the hint of a tear in her eye at this memory. I’m not joking, I had to stop writing just now, remove my glasses, and wipe my tears as I wrote the previous two sentences. I’m such a softie! Even before I had kids, the scene made me emotional, and now that I have kids of my own, and have similar thoughts when I see how big they are getting, I can't help but cry. This movie SPEAKS to me as a human, as a son, a brother, a husband, a father. As the saying goes, the days are long but the years are short.
My daughter asks why she never sees me cry, wants to know the last time I cried, so I told her I cried just earlier that day. It was about this film and this very scene. My wife, who knows me well at this point, asked what movie it was, knowing that basically the only thing I cry at on a regular basis these days are movies or TV shows, and as I started to remind her of the film and scene, I couldn’t finish because my voice quavered and I was crying! And then she started crying! We were both crying just remembering this scene and how it now applies to our lives. And it really is as this movie presents it. It feels like a goddamn jumpcut as a parent, I swear, they were just babies in diapers and then BOOM they’re not. Before I was a parent, I could understand this scene on an intellectual level, and even a surface emotional level, but having kids, it brings up deep emotions and plumbs depths you perhaps didn’t know you had. It is absolutely bonkers that a scene so simple, even cliché in some respects, can be so powerful. All these years later and the scene retains its emotional wallop. The whole film retains it, but this scene in particular is so strong, and will always be my Favorite Scene in a film with some truly perfect scenes, so no small feat.
Claire also has my Favorite Line. One of her subplots is that she goes jogging for exercise, and one day comes upon an abandoned baby, wrapped in a blanket and hidden behind some bushes. Only the baby's weak cries alert her to its presence. But instead of calling the cops, she brings the baby home, breaks out some of Roberto's old clothes, and gives the baby milk. Seems this baby is filling the Grand Canyon sized hole that her only son leaving the nest has conjured. She picks up the theme from Mack's story, namely, that things happen for a reason, and just like Simon "saving" Mack, maybe there's a reason she was the one who found this baby. That maybe it was a miracle. When Mack scoffs at the miracle talk (in one of the few missteps, I just don’t feel this character would scoff at such a notion at that point in his story, even if he didn’t want to keep the baby), we get my Favorite Line, "What if these are miracles, Mack? Maybe we don't have any experience with miracles, so we're slow to recognize them." How DO we recognize miracles in a largely secular world? We're all so literal these days, everything has a rational explanation, but when something defies easy explanation, what then? I love the questions this film asks. And forces you to ponder.
Another great little moment in the baby storyline is when Claire encounters the homeless man in the alley (for the second time, as he is another recurring talisman, like the helicopter), and hears him mumble, "Keep the baby. She needs you as much as you need her." Gives me chills every time I watch it and even now just writing about it. Does he actually say the line or is it a figment of her imagination? Does it even matter? Such a beautiful little moment. We all need someone, and someone needs us. Important not to lose sight of this.
Danny Glover's Simon - What perfect casting. There are idiots that will say Glover is playing the "magical negro" role that Hollywood often portrays, that is, a black character, usually blue collar, with an unlikely wisdom, calm and prescient, especially for his station in life. “This poor black fellow needs to teach the rich white people blah blah blah.” FUCK. THAT! (A corollary, ALSO in this film, is the white savior trope, as in, Simon’s life is going nowhere seemingly, until he meets this white guy who changes his life (neglecting the fact that Simon was the one who saved Mack, but I digress). I reject that interpretation as well, mainly because I am not a race essentialist and just look at these characters as human beings and not racial constructs or stand-ins for entire races of humans, I know, I know, so silly of me! And people really think DANNY motherfuckin’ GLOVER is going to stoop to doing some magical negro role? Glover was and is an absolute force in the acting world. The whole notion is ludicrous on its face) Simon is one of the great cinematic creations.
The writing for him is fantastic, but Glover really breathes life into the character in a way few other actors could. Look at his scene where he defuses the situation with the hoods harassing Mack. Look at his scene where he talks about the Grand Canyon while sitting on the curb with Mack (this part could also be my Favorite Scene, I mean, this movie is full of them, very hard to single one out).
Look at his first date with Alfre Woodard! The chemistry between these two is off the charts. A real shame Glover and Woodard were never cast together again as a couple, they play so well off of each other, and there's such a genuine sweetness to their interactions. Two lonely people who may have actually found their "one." It’s incredibly heartwarming, and I say that with love, not some ironic bullshit. I said at the outset this movie is fucking EARNEST!
The scene where Glover introduces Woodard to his deaf daughter over some kind of early 90's tech device, always gets me. Just thinking about it now, tears are filling my eyes. It's such a touching moment when the daughter says that Woodard is the first woman Mack has ever let speak to her using that device. It fills you with so much happiness that these two people have found each other, and they're just two characters in a movie! It is a testament to the writing of Lawrence and Meg Kasdan, but also the direction. Kasdan lets the actors do their thing. They trust him and he trusts them. No flashy camera moves or wild shit, just a camera and the actors, and they kill it every time, because his casting is so spot on as to be a minor "miracle" unto itself.
Steve Martin's Davis - as expected, Martin provides the comic relief in a lot of his scenes. A high-powered Hollywood producer of low-grade action schlock, Davis is brought back down to Earth when he gets shot in the leg while being mugged for his gold watch. When you're watching the film, it comes right after the flashback to 2 year old Roberto in the car seat, so you’re already an emotional wreck, the scene starts abruptly and is extremely jarring, not only for the sudden violence, but because until this point Martin’s story was the "light" one. But this is "reality," where life contains happiness, sadness, and everything in between. I discussed it a bit in The Devil's Rejects post, but the abject realism of this shooting is really something to behold, as it is so rare as to be almost unique in cinema.
Davis gets shot once in the leg and immediately collapses, vomits on himself, and as the camera booms up to show him lying there helplessly, with a giant bloody hole in his leg, we see he has also pissed his pants. FUCK! I’m sorry, but where do you see that kind of realism in a Hollywood film? Absolutely blew me away (no pun intended) the first time I saw this. Never before had I seen violence so honestly and seriously portrayed. It was shocking and distressing and upsetting.
Then we cut to a close up of his gnarly, bloody wound as doctors in the hospital are trying to mend him and we hear them say, “see if it’s even possible to save the leg." WHAT?!? Jesus fucking Christ. After being fed a steady diet of action heroes in the cinema, who get shot and keep fighting, with nary a concern to be had, here we have what a real bullet would do to a real human, albeit still on a cinema screen, but with a verité rarely seen.
A funny subplot has Davis vowing to not make action schlock anymore, that this shooting incident has changed him profoundly, only to reverse course once he's back on his feet with a succint, "oh, fuck that." But he walks with a cane now, and for the rest of his life, as he has a pronounced limp and can barely bend the injured leg when he walks. This is the true toll of violence in society. So much so that whenever I see a young person using a cane all I can think of is that they must have been shot in the leg at some point! I know, stupid, but such is the power of this film that it echoes down through the years of my entire life.
My Favorite Shot is toward the end, when Mack drops Davis off at a soundstage on the studio lot (after some truly great dialogue, including the wonderful line, “That’s part of your problem, you know, you haven’t seen enough movies. All of life’s riddles are answered in the movies”), and the camera pulls back to show how little Davis and Mack are compared to the giant soundstage, as Davis limps through the door, forever disabled by this one act of brutality, but how small that limp is when set against the entire world, the entire Universe. Underlines one of themes of the film, espoused by Glover’s Simon, of how small we are, how we're all here for just a blip of a second compared to the sweep of eternity, how do we imbue this blip with meaning. It's a fantastically composed shot, accompanied by that great score, and the last time we see Martin's character in the film. And yes, I am crying at this part!
Mary-Louise Parker's Dee - her storyline is probably my "least" favorite in the film, if I had to rank them. She's a lovelorn secretary pining for her boss, Mack. Unclear whether they've fooled around or just kissed, but it clearly bothers her that he won't leave his wife. All fairly standard soap opera shit, but Parker is a great actress who elevates the material. She has a great moment where she gets upset that Mack can set up Simon and Jane while leaving her alone and miserable. She's happy for her friend, yet can't help but compare her situation, and it is wanting. She also has a great line about how it's dangerous to think of how much happier you could be, which is a line I reference all the time.
Another exchange I love is between her and Woodard on their lunch break. Dee says, “Jane, do you ever feel like you’re just thisfar from being completely hysterical 24 hours a day?” To which Jane responds, “Half the people I know feel that way. The lucky ones feel that way. The rest of the people are hysterical 24 hours a day.” Again, not groundbreaking stuff, and clearly a lesser story, but at no point are you bored with it, at no point are you disappointed when they cut to her, like most other ensemble films where there's a clear weak link. Problem is she doesn't really interact with any other main characters outside of Mack, so her story feels disconnected, which is maybe the point as her character feels disconnected from the world? Is that her Grand Canyon? The gulf between who she is and what she wants? At least toward the end, she seems to be headed in the right direction.
There's so much to this film that an article or analysis cannot adequately express. For instance, there's an extended dream sequence, two actually, back to back, which not only feel like real dreams with their lack of logic, but also reveal the inner lives of two of our characters, all with no dialogue, just visuals. It's not a dream sequence for dream sequence's sake. It has a purpose, and doesn't feel out of place at all despite engaging in some full-on magical realism. In Mack’s dream, he’s flying over Los Angeles, sees Simon, sees Dee in her bedroom, and the helicopter makes an appearance, perhaps alluding to the fact that they are even surveilling our minds, our very subconscious. Love that helicopter, what a brilliant touch.
And the end of the film is a real whopper, inevitable yet still surprising. Of course most of our main characters end up at the actual Grand Canyon by the end of a film called Grand Canyon. We get a fantastic crane shot over the heads of our characters and into the actual canyon, accompanied by James Newton Howard's amazing, brassy end titles, with various craning shots of the canyon itself, still there, still laughing at "me and my troubles."
What a great movie, and the rare one whose greatness is not necessarily revealed in those 1ST 5 Minutes. There's nothing bad in those 1ST 5, but also nothing that would really prepare you for the utter brilliance to follow, as so much of this film is the great dialogue and ideas discussed, while the 1ST 5 has almost no dialogue whatsoever. What it does have is great music and the intro of that ominous chopper, again, always watching, but never helping.
A better writer than I could perhaps divine the true meaning of the helicopter in this film. For me, it's enough that it plays on an emotional, pre-intellectual level. Some films scratch the emotions, some scratch the intellect, but few do both, and in such equal and powerful ways. It perfectly captured that specific early 90’s zeitgeist. The clothes and haircuts may go out of style, but the themes and philosophies of life are universal and timeless. Humans are human, no matter the era. Kasdan's film is truly one for the ages. We should all thank whoever or whatever we pray to that this film was made. You could call it... a miracle (insert arched eyebrow here).
The One Sheet
Sad to say, but another great film with a pretty terrible one sheet. Just a photo of the main cast, looking at us. Ok, and? The tagline is also uninspiring and doesn’t really connote what the film is all about. Are these people all old friends, like in The Big Chill? Check out the one sheet for The Big Chill, it’s clear the marketing execs at Fox were trying to ape this and kind of make people think of this past successful adult drama from the same filmmaker when selling Grand Canyon.
This alternate poster is interesting if ultimately also unsuccessful. First off, at least it is art, and not a photo. And are they on one of Davis’ Hollywood backlots? Where in L.A. has buildings that look like where they’re standing? Maybe Downtown L.A.? I like the Grand Canyon itself in the background, which the characters are cheering or exalting? It’s unclear. But this tagline is better. Not great, but at least gets more to the core of the film. You can see why it wasn’t used, though, I can just hear the exec at Fox, “We got 6 stars in this thing and you don’t show one of them!?” “Ok, boss, how about a picture where they’re all just standing there, doing nothing?” “Ah, perfect!”
ETA
A few days after writing this piece (I write these articles weeks, sometimes months, before posting), I was driving home, red light turns green, about to cross the intersection, when I suddenly found myself jamming on the brakes as someone came speeding through the red light. They were doing 75, easily. I nearly fucking bought it. Much like Mack. But there was no lady wearing a Pittsburgh Pirates (well, I guess it would be Miami Dolphins in my case) hat in my near death experience. Imagine I’d been hit and killed. What would my wife and kids have done? Wild to really contemplate. “There’s so many ways to buy it, especially in this city.” That line raced through my head. And then I wondered, is there an alternate or parallel universe where that crash did happen, and I did die, and my wife was left windowed and my children fatherless?
Despite just hitting the brakes, nothing else happened. Yet, later on that evening, my wrist began to throb, and my opposite arm began to hurt as well. Perhaps I was feeling the psychic pain from this other dimension of space and time where the accident occurred? How would we ever know? I love the thought of it.
Like ideas. Where do they come from? When I think of an idea for a new script, did I really come up with it, or am I merely having some form of psychic dimensional memory of a film a parallel version of me watched in another universe?
We shall never know… In the meanwhile, get yourself to the Grand Canyon, man!