morrison-dylan-fan
Having been mesmerised by her performance in Dario Argento's 1977 Horror film Suspiria,I decided to take a look at Jessica Harper's other IMDb credits.Focusing on the movies which she featured in from the 1970's,I was shocked to find,that in amongst her Woody Allen,Argento and Brian De Palma credits,Harper had starred in an NC-17 film filled with an amazing cast.Checking up for the movie on Amazon UK,I was disappointed to find a single copy of the movie being pricier than I had expected (20 pounds.)As the weeks began to pass by,I kept finding myself looking at the DVD,which eventually led to me giving in to my excitement for seeing the film,and at last taking a look,at the almost buried in time inserts.The plot:Originally finding himself as Hollywood's bright young thing of the 1930's,a film director, (nicknamed "the Boy Wonder" sees his luck go completely down the drain,when all of the Hollywood studio's slowly start to change from embracing silent movies,to only making movies featuring sound.Secluding himself inside a hollow Hollywood mansion,"Boy Wonder" finds that the only opportunity the he has left in Hollywood is to make films in his mansion for an "Adult" movie producer called Big Mac.Mac tells the director that if he succeeds in making this movie a hit,than he promises to give him a six-deal contract.Being supported by his drug-addled girlfriend Harlene,"the Boy Wonder" decides to make an "adult" movie,which shows the actors entering the "zone" and "reaching their peak".Ignoring the stress that he is putting on Harlene and a cheap,wannabe Hollywood star called Rex,The Wonder Dog,due to the producer and his girlfriend (Cathy Cake) always looking over his shoulders,the "Boy Wonder" starts to suspect that this will be a much more troubling shoot than he had originally expected,when his lead actress/girlfriend Harlene is suddenly found dead in his bedroom from a drug overdose.View on the film:Backed by Denys N. Coop's (who also worked on Carol Reed's The Third Man) elegant,sun lit cinematography,screenwriter/director John Byrum, (who sadly had his own life imitating art moment,with being the director and co-writer of Bill Murray's 1984 dream project:The Razor's Edge,which despite having a good amount of support from the studio, (who let Murray make the movie,so that he would sign up for Ghostbuster's) ended up being a box office bomb,and stopped Byrum from building on the amazing skill that he shows here) gives the film a strong,daring theatrical approach.Making the setting of the movie be one location filled with only five characters,Byrum uses long,flowing 3 plus minute takes for 90% of the film,which cleverly allow for the performances of the brilliant cast to feel unexpectedly "natural" and slowly getting into a "grove" with each others character.Initially only giving the bare minimum of character motive and backgrounds for the first 30 minutes,John Byrum's sharp screenplay slowly unravels and builds to a disturbing intensity as the wild,frenzied,half drug-inducted haze of the characters personalities start to crash over the camera being able to fully show them reaching their peak performance.Going in the complete opposite direction of her performance in Suspiria,Jessica Harper gives a gripping performance,wild,weird and confident performance as Cathy Cake.Being only one of two actors (the other being Dreyfuss) to feature in the last 30 minutes,Harper shows that she has no fears at all about going toe to toe with Dreyfuss,as Harper goes almost completely naked for the section of the film,she smartly decides to have Cake ooze confidence and have a strong laid back attitude in the films intense (but not too explicit) sex scenes,which feature moments that would make any current Hollywood star run a mile away!.Leaving behind any sign of sanity or confidence behind,Veronica Cartwright gives a wonderfully deranged performance as Harlene,which can go from being sweetly tender, (such as giving "the Boy Wonder" a push to not give up) to being jaw-dropping insanity (a scene about Harlene filming an "Adult" section of the movie has Cartwright franticly move around and look as if Harlene may be about to break into two pieces.Channaling the soul of a reclusive Howard Hughes ,(who would die two years later),Richard Dreyfuss impressively stops the "Boy Wonder" from simply becoming a woe-is-me down & out by giving him a wicked sense of humour,to show Big Mac (played by a nice'N' mean Bob Hoskins) that he is not an easy push over,and also a growing sense of doubt and anxiety,as the "Boy Wonder" starts to wonder if the Hollywood lights are fading away,to leave him in the dark.
ragreen259
After reading all of the reviews, I've come to the conclusion that people who enjoy movies, and apparently have a clue, enjoyed this movie for what it was. The people who talk smack about it, well, they all thought they were going to see some x-rated f*** flick, and were bummed that it didn't have any penetration or money shots in it. People ragged because it was X rated and say that was why it failed. I think it had more to do with the way it was distributed. Midnight Cowboy was originally X too, and it did quite well. Then there was Boogie Nights, which wasn't X rated, but dealt with the same subject on a broader scale--the porn industry. Did people go to see that, thinking that they were going to see a bunch of mainstream stars in a f*** flick? No.And look at who is in this movie--Dreyfus, Bob Hoskins, Veronica Cartwright and Jessica Harper! Geeze, how could anyone be thinking they were going to go see smut, then be disappointed because it turned out not to be... actually so disappointed, that 25 years later, all they can still remember about the movie is how disappointed they were when they went to see it when they were a kid that there was no money shot or semen-covered faces, that they blunder their way onto this site and give a lame review, because their libido was let down by art yet one more time. See this movie--but don't expect Deep Throat.
victorsargeant
I am please others have found this little unknown film, to be the treasure it is....I thought I was the only one who likes this film.True story I hear. So there I am at the salad bar at the Hollywood Sizzler, and who is next to me, but Richard Dreyfuss, hiding under a baseball cap.I had to write him a note, before this rare opportunity slipped away. "Dear Mr. Dreyfuss, your performance in "Inserts" was worth an Oscar. You were brilliant. The whole cast was perfect. I loved the "Cuban Gothic" house. Thank you for taking such a professional risk. Bravo." Signed: An Admirer Paid a waitress $5 to take it over to him. He was with his wife and kids, with his back to the room. I then slipped out after he opened the folded note and read my words. Read what others who love film have written about this underground classic yet to be discovered? The whole cast went on to become big movie stars after making this little masterpiece. Bravo to the writer, cast and crew.
