7/18/2008 9:44 PM
posted awhile ago
Re:A new pack of RESERVOIR DOGS (1992)
The Epic Tale of "The Wolves of Gomorrah Gorge."
The Conceit: Due to a trans-dimensional rift caused by the AWESOMENESS of the Inglorious Bastards screenplay Quentin Tarantino is able to jump into a dimension where the world is perpetually in the early fifties. The impish auteur (also great collaborator) is eager to see what some of his favorite directors and writers would do with his material. He gives a vague outline of Reservoir Dogs to Carl Foreman. Bitter over the HUAC hearings of 1947, Forman takes the idea of the mole cop and turns it into a commentary on witch hunting (like the Crucible set in the American West… with action and no weeping, whining, or three hour yawn-fest… just kidding).
Production: The studio loved the concept and saw Anthony Mann as the director. His surprising presentation of the morally grey double agents in T – Men and his success as a visual director of both noir and westerns would yield a fantastic visual motif. Foreman set the film in an abandoned camp… rumored to have once been a lush valley, the area is now a barren gorge of salt (Hence Gomorrah Gorge though the studio would want to back off of this title… hence the title of Guthrie's song). Mann shot the film in the Colombia River Gorge and the surrounding desert like region of Eastern Washington. It was more visually arresting than the Rocky Mountain back drop of The Naked Spur.
Rewrites: Leigh Brackett (script doctor supreme: The Big Sleep, Rio Bravo, The Empire Strikes Back) is hired to tone down the political commentary and add some sex appeal. Miss Brackett split the role of Nice Guy Eddy (now Cow Puncher Bob) into two roles: Two siblings competing for their father's approval (much like Duel in the Sun) Cow Puncher Bob, a slick but incompetent rustler, and Grifter Gurdy, modeled after Lauren Bacall's con women / gambler characters from To Have and Have Not and The Big Sleep. The love triangle between Cub, Timber Wolf, and Grifter Gurdy pleased the studio (however they were angered when they saw Anthony Mann's finished product because of the homosexual overtones that Clift brought out in the mentor relationship between Cub and Timber Wolf).
Casting:
Gary Cooper as Mr. White/ Timber Wolf: Cooper's leadership and bravery in taking a role that John Wayne thought was un-American is stellar, comparable only to his work on High Noon. Cooper's earnest desire to save the dying "Cub" is palpable. And his seeming asexuality highlights Clift's subversive performance.
Montgomery Clift as Mr. Orange / Cub: Mann chose Clift because of the actor's work in Red River. His youth and energy light up as the conflicted double agent. And the women love him in those chaps (this is why the studio eventually shelved the film, which was never to see the light of day)
Jack Palance as Mr. Blonde / Coyote: Actor Alan Ladd happened to see the dailies of The Wolves of Gomorrah Gorge before the studio locked them away. The star was so impressed by Palance's cool contained rage that he forced Shane director George Stevens to put Palance on the short list for the role of Jack Wilson. The rest, as they say, is history
Denis O'Keefe / Loren Bacall as Nice Guy Eddy / Cow Puncher Bob / Grifter Gurdy: O'Keefe's star had fallen a bit after poor reviews of Mann's Raw Deal. Mann liked to see the suave actor portray slick con men (part of his role in T – Men) so he snuck him into the film despite argument from the studio. Bacall was obvious due to Brackett's revisions, however Jennifer Jones was considered until Mann saw and disliked her in King Vidor's Duel in the Sun.
Dean Martin as Mr. Pink / Skunk: Martin was originally offered the role of Coyote. Mann thought his cool domineer would create great contrast between the perception of the character and his violent actions. Dean Martin's record label was afraid that their star was being derogatively stereotyped… an Italian in the role of an evil thief, gangster and ear removing murderer (though Frank thought it would be o.k.). Dino opted to go with the drunken comic relief instead. The scene during the second act brake where he belts out "The Ballad of the Scavengers of Dry Gorge" to the nervous thieves pined down in the gorge by the Cavalry (eerily similar to a scene in Rio Bravo) is something I wish all could see. In the time line of the story this is where Coyote removes the young deputy's ear… off camera and covered in vague dialog.
Jimmy Stewart as Joe Cabot. As always the elder statesmen Stewart gave his all in a both commanding and haunting performance as the ring leader of the train robbery gang (this would be the beginning of the psychologically conflicted, obsessive characters Stewart would be remembered for: Vertigo and The Naked Spur). Only Jimmy Stewart could corral these wild wolves. Though on the set for just a few days this cameo would prove to form a lasting friendship and yield much collaboration between Mann and Stewart.
Ralph Meeker as Mr. Brown / Hyena: Ah crazy Ralph Meeker. I think if you watch Kiss Me Deadly or The Naked Spur you can see why he would be fantastic spouting off long, near incoherent, hyper macho dialog trying to get approval from the other thieves. He's a forgotten American treasure (And from MPLS!!!
Walter Brennen as Mr. Blue / Grey Wolf: It's hard to imagine a western with out Walter Brennen playing the old coot that tells the hero they are full of it. In this film he is taunting poor Dean Martin for his alcohol problems:
Joe Cabot (Jimmy Stewart): And you're Skunk.
Skunk (Dean Martin): AH… now that ain't even a Wolf, Joe?!
Grey Wolf (Walter Brennen): Ye don't gits ta be no Wolf cas' ya stink ta' high heaven boy. (High pitch HEYUCK sound… repeat). Meebe if ya lay of that HOOCH ya could be a wolf. Right now yas just a smelly varmint (continues laughing).
Skunk (Dean Martin): Ah cram it old timer! (Skunk shoots at Grey Wolf and misses).
Joe Cabot (Jimmy Stewart): Knock it off you two! Now (stutter) Now where was I… oh yeah the train.
Alfred Ryder as Young Cop who gets his ear cut off (Deputy who gets his ear cut off… off camera [revealed in illusive dialog]): Alfred Ryder played the other undercover agent in Anthony Mann's T – Men. His character is found out and killed by the gangsters he is trying to infiltrate. His ability to show both competence as an agent for the government and fear as a mortal in trouble is HAUNTING.
Ward Bond as Holdaway (Mr. Orange's Undercover training officer) (Sheriff Holdaway): Much like Walter Brennen, it's not a great western unless you've got Ward Bond (high school football team mate of John Wayne, famous for his roles in many of Wayne's films such as the Calvary Captain/ Reverend Samuel Johnston Clayton in The Searchers). Carl Foreman envisioned this part as a Fortinbras like character that the thieves would talk about but would only appear on screen a few times to create suspense. Sheriff Holdaway leads the posse that traps the bandits in Gomorrah Gorge, which forces Cub, Timber Wolf, and Grifter Gurdy to play their final hands.
Hank Worden as Bumbling Train Operator: Foreman didn't go for the flash back structure of Tarantino's outline. His story is much more linear, leaving Cub's allegiance a mystery. He replaces the drawn out training sequence in Reservoir Dogs with the train heist that Tarantino was too cleaver to bother with. It was played for both laughs and action. Most of the laughs came from Hank Worden who some of you will remember as Mose Harper in The Searchers ("thank you… thaaank you kindly"), but more of you will remember as senior drool cup (ancient room service guy) in Twin Peaks ("thank you… thaaank you kindly").
That's it. Thanks for reading all of this non-sense.
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