Bottle Rocket (1996) May 20, 2007
Posted by gproject in : Recently Viewed , trackbackDirected by: Wes Anderson
This bizarre crime caper emerged in 1996 from a first-time director, Wes Anderson, and first time writer and actor, Owen Wilson. You might have heard of them. It was produced based on a 13-minute short film (also entitled Bottle Rocket) that Anderson and Wilson wrote together back in 1994. While this feature-length version would test horribly with audiences and utlimately become a box office failure, the movie has since gained somewhat of a cult following off the back of Anderson’s later work.
While the director would later go on to make the slightly more successful, but still offbeat films: Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Owen Wilson on the other hand has tapped into a more mainstream Hollywood success, starring in numerous comedy roles and become part of the recognised ‘frat pack’ of comedic actors. It is this humble comedy, however, where it all began.
The story puts a post-breakdown Anthony Adams (played by another newcomer, Luke Wilson) into the charge of Dignan (Owen Wilson), an outgoing, outspoken man with a plan. That plan, apparently, is to join up with the elusive ‘Mr Henry’ and become master criminals as part of his multi-skilled gang. Of course, along the road to destiny they hit more than a few roadblocks, not least Anthony’s falling for a shy motel worker named Inez.
A fun script helps keep the whole thing rolling along with the interactions between Dignan and Anthony providing the funniest moments. The characters are, as in all Anderson movies, slightly bizarre, although not in a glaringly obvious freak-show kind of way, it’s just an understated quirkiness that they possess. Dignan especially exemplifies this, being the born leader of the pack when it comes to heists but still succumbing to a lack of confidence in himself when challenged by people outside his friendship group.
Wes Anderson directs with skill and while there’s a definitely a simplicity to his style here, that’s not to say that what he shoots isn’t very accomplished for a first feature. He manages to create a self-encapsulated world for his characters to inhabit - an approach that would continue to appear through all his later work. The Wilson brothers play effectively alongside each other, while the surrounding characters played by the likes of Robert Musgrave and James Caan, all come together to form a strong cast of oddities for the couple to interact with.
On the down-side, there are times when the story feels as if it might lose focus; it starts as a crime story and then morphs into a story about love and friendship before flipping back to its crime caper origins for the conclusion. However, as a whole, this undecided narrative structure actually works very successfully.
Bottle Rocket is an enjoyable offbeat tale and an unconventional launch pad for those involved. It’s interesting to see how these Hollywood ‘names’ got their start; all from such a simple production. It’s not my favourite Anderson movie, but it is his least complex in terms of characters and narrative and it is this simplicity which lifts the film. The condition, in typical Wes style, is that you as a viewer have to enter the world of the characters in order to get the most out of it.
Comments»
Interesting choice for review; I’d not heard of this one but I really like Anderson’s other films (Rushmore probably being my favourite). He’s one of only a small number of auteurs working in US cinema. Had a glance at Play and noticed that Bottle Rocket is available but it does seem to have been just dumped on disc - including the original short film would have been brilliant but there’s absolutely nothing! I may wait to see if anything better turns up (maybe if his next project is a big success or something) but it seems like it might be one of those flicks that gets forgotten about. Hopefully not.
Paul…I think Film4 have shown Bottle Rocket recently….it won’t be long before they show it again.
Thanks, Daniel, I’ll keep an eye on the papers (quite nice of Film4 to switch over to Freeview I thought!).
The Bottle Rocket DVD is indeed a bare-bones disc, although you can usually find it quite cheap (I picked it up in HMV at Christmas for £3).
If you’re interested Paul, you can download the original short film in .mp4 or .avi format from this page (4th video):
http://www.littlebanana.com/videos/index.htm
Also available from here is something called the ‘media kit’ which is a compilation of interviews, behind the scenes, and a little making-of featurette - that should hopefully quell your fix for extra material, in fact, it’s probably all that was produced.
Actually I don’t know why I’m that fussed about extras - most of the time they’re the same old stuff these days and increasingly pointless. It’s just come to a point I suppose that you feel short changed if you don’t get any. In a case like Bottle Rocket though I would have thought the short film would make an obvious choice for inclusion (depending on the rights issues). I’ll check out that link anyway, thanks.