Payday

I remember watching this film late night in college on the movie channel Encore some 15 years ago. It is a great flick that captures what life on the road for a country western singer must have been like. As others have noted, it could serve as a biography for Johnny Cash and many others of that era who lived a life of pills, booze, and one-night stands with a little music sprinkled in between. Rip Torn is great in this movie, though it's hard now not to picture him as Arthur from the Larry Sanders Show. The one line from Torn's character that sticks with me even today is: "You only go through this life once. You might as well do it in a Cadillac." I'd love to see this movie again but I imagine it would be a hard find.

For those of you who are familiar with Rip Torn as irascible and authoritarian yet lovable characters such as Artie in "The Larry Sanders Show" and Zed in "Men in Black" be prepared for a shock. In this film there is nothing likable about Torn's character Maury Dann, a country singer currently on tour through the south. There is no wisdom behind his cynicism - he is all about using people. Specifically he is all about indulging in all the sex and substance abuse he can without regard to what it does to others. His life takes a turn to an even darker place when the boyfriend of one of his one-night stands catches up with him in a restaurant one day. This is one of those character study films that were very popular in the 1970's, and Torn does a great job playing a totally ruthless individual who has a totally different on-stage persona from his actual personality. He even does a fine job singing the country and western songs. Payday was directed by 1974 National Society of Film Critics Award winner Daryl Duke.

It's a hidden gem worth seeking out.

Rip Torn is a country-music singer, fronting his own band, well known on the circuit and just on the point of breaking out into major stardom. He's also an egotistical S. O. B. Here are a few days in his life.

It's a character study, and a rare leading role for Torn, who gets to exhibit considerable self-aware charm in the role, self-indulgently aware of he perks of even minor fame, but without the self-awareness to not take himself seriously. It's a well-written part, and Torn plays it for all it's worth, only gradually letting the audience see what an inherently unlikable character he is.

Shel Silverstein wrote the songs used in this movie.

Occasionally, in the Art of Movie Making, all things come Together with a Synchronistic Symmetry and the Result is a Near-Perfect Picture that seems as Well Crafted as it Possibly could be.

This happens, No Matter the Budget, Production Capabilities, or the Artisans Applying Their Craft. This is one of those Movies.

A Gritty, Early Seventies Character Study of a Merle Haggard Style Country Music Singer. A Mid-Level Star that Humps the Highways Playing Honky Tonks and the Sort, and with His Charming Crusty Ways, takes Advantage of Anyone on His Path to one more Payday.

It's that Payday, along with Pills and Alcohol, that Fuels the Folks in the Band and the Entourage that is Small enough to fit into a Cadillac and one more Trailing Vehicle.

Rip Torn Simply Embodies the Type and becomes completely Lost in the Role. He's "In the Skin" of this Self-Centered Warbler as He Encounters Groupies, Payola DJ's, and some Irate and Hostile Folks who Don't Care much for His Lecherous Ways.

The Movie is Mesmerizing with its Neo-Realism and Not One Scene seems Forced or Faked. The Dialog Crackles with Down Home Cynicism and Playful, Uneducated Insight, Fractured by a Hard Reality Colliding with the Hard Living.

A Compelling, Watchable, Car-Wreck of Real People Realizing the World Around Them and What They Want isn't always What They Got Coming. A Must See, Little Known, B-Movie that hasn't lost a bit of its Edge. Primitive Movie Making at its Best.

I saw this about 3 years ago - I got to admit I was slightly inebriated after a lot of alcohol, but still some of the scenes penetrated my mind clearly, with their pull-no-punches cynicism. Maury Dann (played by Rip Torn) was one of the most memorable crooks I've ever seen in film. This sombre character study from the 70's addresses the themes of power and using people, set in the world of country & western music. As Dann's world slowly but surely crumbles, we see glimpses of the past of this cynical singer star trying to hit it big and the bleak relationships around him.

I agree with the previous writer, that the film is (sadly) largely unknown, despite a great script by the writer Don Carpenter and a staggering performance from Rip Torn.