Dan's Motel

My review was written in April 1982 after a Midtown Manhattan screening: "Dan's Motel" is a low-budget episodic feature presenting several separate stories of "little people" whose paths intersect at a small west coast motel. One-man filmmaker Jerry Barrish, whose main vocation is that of bail bondsman, needs to do some woodshedding in film technique and script material, but demonstrates promise with this set of character studies.

Pic is opened with a cute prologue of motel manage Sam David fantasizing a happy relationship (illustrated by Barrish footage) of a Beverly Hills couple forced to stay at his inn due to car trouble, contrasted with their real-life bickering. Sequence demonstrates the unmalicious "cute" approach of the film, as well as the banal philosophizing which limit the impact of Barrish's writing.

Three tales that follow have variable impact. First is a pretentious film noir sketch of a man retreating into himself, holed up in his motel room, serviced by a prostitute and linked to the outside world by his crippled, handless sidekick. Theme of a general malaise causing people to run away from their families and jobs is arbitrary here, and poor acting by George Berg (who reads his lines into the floor) kills this exercise, titled "The Conduit".

Pic perks up with "Kathleen", about a lonely would-be suicide (Mary Catherine Wright), cheered up by motel neighbor, a standup comic (Evan Davis). Resembling an "Insight" tv episode, segment proves to be uplifting and Davis's acting and comedy constitute the best things in the whole film.

Final seg, "The Advantage", is an indulgent showcase for composer Tallie Cochrane, who gets to belt several of her songs, suffer through an impromptu rape and then bed down a young boy. Her folksy philosophizing completes this amateur turn.

Limitations of an 8-day shooting sked (over several year period) show up in the weak technical credits of "Dan's Motel", but Barrish demonstrates a natural, easy-going way with his actors.