No Embalo da América

Telling Lies in America is a semi historically accurate examination of the late 50s/early 60s payola scandal told via a fictitious hustling DJ Billie Magic (Kevin Bacon) who comes to a Cleveland Top 40 radio station as his 4th station in 3 years. His tactic: hire a high school boy via a "Man of the School" competition won via the kid voted in the most mailed-in post cards. Billy rightly figures the winner usually forged most of the signatures and so would be the ideal young bag man for the payola cash envelopes.

Enter 17 year old Hungarian refugee Karchy Jonas (Brad Renfro) eager to graduate and be popular at an exclusive Catholic school that his law professor father Istvan Jonas (Maximillian Schell) struggles to afford via a working class job. Billy showers Karchy with high pay, fancy meals, offers of entry to Broadcasting School, lets him drive his fancy Cadillac convertible and hires a classy hooker to seduce him. Karchy falls for an older girl Diney (Calister Flockhart) at his previous work and gets a record contract via Billy for his black singer friend Amos (Damien Fletcher). When the police come investigating Billy, they threaten Karchy and his dad with being denied US citizenship if he doesn't implicate Billy in payola. You will have to watch the movie to see with how Karchy threads that needle.

The movie is carried by Bacon who knocks it out if the park as the epitome of a sleazy morally bankrupt DJ. Schell is solid as always. Renfro by then was a Hollywood darling at only 14 with all the right looks. Whilst he's a great actor, he's a bit out of place in this movie trying to play a high school senior and a Hungarian refugee supposedly only in the US for seven years. And having him dating Flockhart's character when Calista was almost 20 years older than Brad....hmmm, somewhat of a casting mismatch. Overall an OK movie with a cool ending.

"Lies..." tells of a Hungraian immigrant 1960 high school boy who falls in with a corrupt D.J. (Bacon) on payola and jeopardizes the possibility of U.S. citizenship for himself and his father. The film showcases good performances by Bacon and Renfro, delivers the usual "slice of life" stuff, doesn't breach realism so as to make the emotional "buy in" impossible, and even conjures up some lessons about the importance of telling the truth...and lying. After all, we're all liars, aren't we.

Yes, I live in Northeast Ohio, but that's not the only reason I truly enjoyed this movie. The daughter of an acquaintance, 'Giggly Girl' Angelique Osborne, had a tiny part and I originally watched to see her. Now every time Bravo plays this movie on IFC Fridays, the phone comes off the hook, the popcorn is popped and I get good and comfy. The sentiment portrayed here, although it's roughly 15 years before my time, pulls me right in. The struggles of wanting to feel important (or at least to fit in), where to draw the lines of loyalty and figuring out what makes any of us happy are timeless. It never occurs to me that I'm watching Kevin Bacon or Brad Renfro. They become their characters. (Kevin Bacon proves he has a range most people don't realize and Brad Renfro, although beautiful to look at, also has that un-namable quality that makes you feel you're watching a future legend. Let's pray he finds his way safely.) Just as you never think about the set or the camera during a genuinely good movie, all the components of Telling Lies in America flow beautifully.

After reading some of the other reviews here, it seems some people can't be entertained with a good story and good acting. Some movies don't have to resort to the typical Hollywood recipe in order to leave a positive imprint in your mind. Too bad you have such a short attention span.

Yes, the movie deals tangentially with the payola scandals of the 50's (truly a big problem in the entertainment industry), but only as one of the many lies hinted at in the title.

The two main characters (Renfro and Bacon) do *nothing* but lie. They are balanced by the purity of the other characters (Flockhart and Schell).

Schell's character was a little underwhelming and the work by Renfro was, at times, uneven, but both were generally excellent. My only other quibble was with the settings of the film. As a Clevelander (where the story takes place and the film was shot), it's easy to understand the where the scenes took place and how the story was built around them, but I'm not sure that an "outsider" would understand the implications to the story of those different locations (the neighborhoods, the market, etc.).

The real find is Calista Flockhart. She gives a wonderfully nuanced performance, sweeter and deeper than anything you'll see on Ally McBeal. Interestingly, Flockhart spent time working on stage at the Cleveland Playhouse, so was well-suited for the role in a way.

Joe Eszterhas is not exactly known for his subtlety, but this movie is a small triumph for him and portends better things from his pen in the future.

In the early 1960s, Cleveland, Ohio immigrant teenager Brad Renfro (as Karchy Jonas) struggles with adolescence and assimilation. Mr. Renfro is working on eradicating the remnants of his Hungarian accent (his "th" sound). Meanwhile, slick disc jockey Kevin Bacon (as Billy Magic) arrives in town (one step ahead of the law), to spin "sweaty collar and dirty fingernail music" on the local rock 'n' roll radio station. Mr. Bacon is a payola player, who needs an underage kid to handle money illegal exchanges. When Renfro cheats on a radio contest, Bacon offers him big bucks to serve as "unwitting accomplice"...

Bacon swaggers through his role with perfection. And, Renfro is incredible, in a very difficult role; capturing the vulnerability of youth, as he struggles to both adopt and resist Bacon's seductive persona. Calista Flockhart (as Diney Majeski) is very effective, as Renfro's "older woman" love interest. Their performances should have received some award consideration. Maximilian Schell (as Istvan Jonas) would have been more believable as Renfro's grandfather, to support the obviously wider than envisioned cultural gap between the characters. A few of the scenes are silly, but many more work, due to director Guy Ferland and his convincing cast.

"I make things up sometimes," Renfro reveals. Don't we all. "Telling Lies in America" certainly breaks no new ground - but, it revisits cinematic themes in great style. The film builds to a fine conclusion, and the music is terrific.

******** Telling Lies in America (8/2/97) Guy Ferland ~ Brad Renfro, Kevin Bacon, Calista Flockhart, Maximilian Schell