Bus Riley's Back in Town

I really love this movie -I saw it after Parks' series 'Then Came Bronson' which started when I was just seven years old. I honestly don't know how I remember the show.

I have done some research on 'Bus Riley...' and found that the movie was significantly changed by Universal; I don't know whether it was done during shooting or after the bulk of shooting was complete but a great deal of the original story was cut with new scenes filmed to 'push' Ann Margret as a Universal Studios talent. (William) Inge's original script had Judy (Janet Margolin, an absolutely lovely woman) as Bus' girlfriend. He came back to a job at the garage -with James Doohan playing a larger role and was not satisfied, unfulfilled and fell into the relationship with Ann Margret. Michael Parks, Janet Margolin and James Doohan had diminished roles as a result of the forced changes to the movie.

I cannot substantiate this version of events but have seen enough references to it to lend credence to the story -I believe it is why the AM character seems to make no sense at times.

Now, having said that, I still love this movie. I find Michael Parks to be an actor of rare talent and I believe he may have been blacklisted for being difficult to work with. I do think he is a better actor than James Dean, whom he was frequently compared to.

This is the kind of film where the title says all. Michael Parks who was attempting to be a 60s version of James Dean is back from Uncle Sam's Navy and looking to settle down. Jobs like mortician and vacuum cleaner salesman don't quite work out, but he's got a pair of women in tow.

Janet Margolin is the daughter of a friend of Parks's mom and she's a sweet innocent thing. But his former girlfriend Ann-Margret has up and married money rather than wait for Parks. Still her older husband is away all the time and Ann-Margret has an itch that needs scratching which Parks is only happy to oblige.

The main reason to see Bus Riley's Back In Town is for Ann-Margret. She really sizzles in the part of the sex hungry man trap. Despite some less than stellar reviews, folks plunked down their money to see her.

She's still worth seeing.

There's a lot to like about this film, even though it's slight and, too often, dramatically crude. The director, Harvey Hart, went on to do mostly television in his career and that's a little surprising, because he frames scenes in very thoughtful, compelling ways. The story doesn't have quite the depth or psychological complexity to support all those hysterical camera angles, (he had to have been influenced by Elia Kazan's classic "East of Eden" - which interestingly, he later went on to direct the TV movie remake of) but it keeps the movie from getting boring - which it all too easily could have become.

The best thing about the film is the cast. Michael Parks. Ann-Margret. Kim Darby. Janet Margolin. They're all bright, young, attractive, appealing (and in Ann-Margaret's case scorchingly sexy) - you don't mind spending an hour and a half with these people. It's particularly interesting to watch Parks in one of his few fully fleshed out roles. He was often criticised for being a 2nd rate James Dean imitator, but there's very little of that here. As in "The Happening" which he would appear in a couple years later, he shows a real talent for physical, self-mocking comedy - sort of lampooning the expectations of his Dean-like appearance. In fact, you get the feeling he's struggling to shed all that "sensitive young rebel" baggage, and is much more comfortable just being a clown.

Parks unfortunately slogged and mumbled his way through a lot of wretched movies throughout his career but here he IS an actor. There is one key exchange which illustrates this perfectly. He walks into a bar after a disillusioning encounter with a Mortician friend he thought was going to give him a job, no strings attached and has the following conversation with the bartender: "Bus, you look like you just got back from a funeral." "I did." "Whose?" "Mine, I guess." Not especially original dialogue, but Parks is able to put a spin on that last line which makes it sound fresh and, more importantly, real.

For a film that never quite comes together, (and in fact falls apart in the 2nd half) it boasts an unusually high number of memorable scenes: Parks' early morning, exhilarating embrace of his kid sister (Darby) his first day back; A-M deliberately running her expensive car into his new convertible so that he'll have to notice her; and my favorite - Parks walking out on her in some club, and A-M following him slowly in her car as he mills through the deserted streets of his hometown. The two of them really connect in some of their early scenes together (they're as good as anything between Beatty and Wood in "Splendor in the Grass") so it's really disappointing when the decision is made to reduce A-M from a 3 dimensional character to 2 dimensional as the story unfolds. The relationship simply isn't explored in a satisfactory or believable way.

Nevertheless it's fascinating watching this curiosity, through the miracle of video, that's been virtually buried for 35 years.

I have watched this classic and contemporary film at least three (3) times over the past fifty-two (52) years. I will most certainly watch it again when the Criterion Collection eventually come to realize how important this film is to the North American culture of the second half of the last century. I am quite sure the Criterion Collection will eventually release this beautiful contemporary film on an extended Blu Ray format fully restored with extras that will include historical interviews with Director Harvey Hart and many of the key actors in this Peyton Place kind of small town atmosphere.

Michael Parks and his chiseled good looks plays the returning home from over seas navy seaman Bus Riley. Bus displays his own unique moody yet still charming persona that emulated the likes of James Dean and a younger Marlon Brando. Bus Riley's solemn temperament matched wildly and sexually against the 24 year old married vixen Laurel played by Ann-Margret. Director Harvey Hart brings to the screen the warmth and loving charm of the three (3) family members who Bus Riley lives with who are his mother played by Jocelyn Brando (the older sister of Marlon Brando), and his two sisters the younger Gussie, (played so lovingly and filled with innocence by Kim Darby) who is filled with life and yet still empty of any jealousy towards either brother Bus or older sister Paula, played by the attractive Mimsy Farmer.

There are many lonely ladies in this Peyton Place sort of town, one of which happens to be the divorced mother of Judy who who lays around on her couch watching romantic movies, and drinking herself into a state of stupor. Then one day the young and rather naive Bus Riley knocks on her door to sell her one of his new "top secret atomic" vacuum cleaner which he quickly gets her to sign a contract for in exchange for providing her a handsome young shoulder to cry on. But Bus does have a conscience and when he discovers that this lonely lady is Judy's mother who is her mothers sole caregiver and housekeeper and he recognizes Judy as his own sister Gussie's best friend, he quickly finds a way to dissolve the just signed contract and save Judy's drunkard mother from going further into debt.

The film is about young love, old love, personal financial gain, parental disdain, deception, heart break, the sexual revolution, it even touches on homosexuality which was a taboo topic in 1965. The Riley family has its own share of despair as we wonder why Bus's father is not in the picture, nor present in the household. Bus just returning from a three (3) year overseas tour serving in the U.S. Navy appears to have left abruptly after breaking up with his younger seventeen (17) year old virginal girlfriend Laurel, only to discover upon his return home to find out she has married a very wealthy but much older man.

There are many good actors in this film and multiple story lines. I believe that Ann-Margret's and Michael Park's performances were worthy of at least an Academy Award nomination for best actress and best actor respectively. This film moves along seamlessly from the opening scene to the last scene where the Riley's kitchen door closes behind us, the audience. It is a film filled with regrets, but more importantly it is also a film filled with compassion, awakenings, second chances and redemption.

I love this picture and therefore I give Bus Riley's Back In Town a perfect 10/10 rating. I trust the Criterion Collection has this beautifully directed and acted 1965 film on their short list for a new restored release before the end of this quarter century.

Bus Riley comes home to find that the girl he loves has married a wealthy, older man. Now he must make a new life for himself. The critics, at the time panned this one, badly. It's a good story and the acting is superb, it is not Parks' fault that he looks so much like James Dean! During the story Riley is given career choices and the choice of right and wrong concerning his former love(played so sexily by Ann Margaret). This is a simple story of how he deals with these choices. Parks' performance hints at brilliance, had he been given better roles in the future.