Dogtown

Dogtown is the meandering story of a young man (Philip)who returns to his hometown after 12 years of trying to make it in Hollywood. Everyone in his hometown of Cuba thinks he's a big star and asks him about the famous people he's met, but Philip was just another dream-chaser, and he's come home to lick his wounds.

While he's home, he sees what has become of all the people he went to school with: the pretty cheerleader, the athlete, and the unknowns. Maybe seeing what they've made of their lives helps him to make sense of his own.

The acting is mostly pretty good and interesting. It's interesting to see Jon Favreau as the young, greasy ex-athlete. Karen Black gives a fine performance as Philip's mother.

Overall--it's not phenomenal, but worth seeing.

Between his last acting stint in a two-part ep of "China Beach" and what turned out to be his final role-eight years later-in this indie drama, handicapped World War II vet Harold Russell made some news back in 1992 when it was revealed he sold his Best Supporting Actor Oscar-for The Best Years of Our Lives-in order to help pay for his second wife's-his first having previously passed-surgery (among other expenses) over the objections of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. After he died, the person who bought it returned it to the Academy. Anyway, here he's Blessed William, a cigar store proprietor, who helps counsel many of the stuck-in-town losers who've fallen on hard luck. A young man named Phillip is returning after a failed acting career and reacquaints with many of these down-and-out people he used to know from various schools as well as Blessed William. And, yes, one of them is a girl he had a crush on. I'll just say this was quite a touching and occasionally funny slice-of-life drama. So that's a recommendation for Dogtown. As for Russell, he continued in life until his death on January 29, 2002 in a nursing home. Having just watched all his film work since Veterans' Day, I'll end this review by saying: You had a life well-lived, Mr. Harold Russell!

"Dogtown" peers deep into the lives of a handful of middle America working class men and women, all classmates K thru' 12 in a small town, who at age thirty are old enough to know they'll never realize the dreams they dared to dream, now frozen in time, trapped, needy, clinging, and beaten down. Hickenlooper spreads this harsh slice-of-life indie drama out over a character range from the low life to the clean cut, sufficiently blurring good and bad, balancing sensationalism against realism while painting a portrait of pain on a canvass of finely nuanced visages. An excellent watch for indie lovers.

Not much to say about this film, other than mentioning Karen Black's fine cameo. She gets a chance to sing and act typically Karen - - the wacky mother/aunt role in a small Southern town that she's done too many times in the past 10-15 years. Give this woman the role she deserves! Maybe Steve Balderson's "Firecracker" really will be the comeback role some people are saying it is. Also, interesting to note is this film's young star, Trevor St. John, has become quite the fan favorite of daytime, as he is now starring on ABC's "One Life To Live". A few other interesting folks pop up like Mary Stuart Masterson and Jon Favreau, but most entertaining is Natasha Gregson Wagner as the mentally challenged daughter of Karen Black's character. She plays the character exactly how you would imagine any child raised by a Karen Black character - totally whacked out!

Philip returns home to find himself after failing n Hollywood. The small town folks of Cuba, however, seem to think he has made the big time and treat him accordingly. There are a few cliches in Cuba - the bored sheriff, the benevolent old war veteran, the wanna-be's, has beens and the ne'er-do-wells. Philip finds his mother in a de-facto relationship with one of the latter, an itinerant musician who doesn't say much but has a band which like to play early in the morning next to Philip's room. There is not a lot happening but the alcohol and testosterone flow thick and fast around these parts. Enter Dorothy, Philip's fixation since she teased him in kindergarten - she has been having a hard time of it lately and having an incestuous layabout for a father and a stormy relationship with the churlish Ezra has her pondering the dilemma "to be - or not to be". Will Philip be her knight in shining armour or should he concentrate on saving himself while he still can? Excellent cinematography and dialogue makes this a worthwhile vehicle, but watch out for the roadkill as you are passing through.