‘O.C. and Stiggs’ Blu-ray Review: Radiance Films

Based mostly on an issue-length story in Nationwide Lampoon journal, Robert Altman’s O.C. and Stiggs chronicles the anarchic , summer-long misadventures of highschool juniors Oliver Cromwell “O.C.” Ogilvie (Daniel Jenkins) and Mark Stiggs (Neill Barry). The vast majority of their exploits encompass wreaking as a lot havoc as humanly potential for the Schwab household, whose paterfamilias, Randall Sr. (Paul Dooley), is so blithely bigoted that he received’t even eat coloured ice cream. A working gag has the person’s spouse, Elinore (Jane Curtin), getting soused in secret through the use of a bewildering number of hidden flasks and bottles. Randall Jr. (John Cryer), for his half, is liable to studying porno mags whereas sleepwalking.

Very like M.A.S.H., one other hired-gun job throughout which Altman departed radically from one other author’s script, O.C. and Stiggs unfolds as a sequence of humorously chaotic set items, some that includes a majority of the forged interacting inside a confined area (one of many filmmaker’s most recognizable logos). The run-and-gun nature of the social satire actually aligns each of these movies with the noir parody of The Lengthy Goodbye and the Hollywood poison pen letter of The Participant. Right here Altman relentlessly pillories the John Hughes faculty of teenage comedy, which locations O.C. and Stiggs a lot nearer to Heathers than Sixteen Candles.

That is additionally one among Altman’s most doggedly intertextual movies. He calls again to himself by having The Lengthy Goodbye’s Nina van Pallandt play a personality referred to as Clare Dejavue, and Hal Phillip Walker (Thomas Hal Phillips) from Nashville turns up on the TV espousing an much more radically ultra-conservative political philosophy, which in fact makes a giant hit with Randall Sr. After which there are gags that riff on basic Hollywood: A faucet dance routine between O.C. and Michelle (Cynthia Nixon) comes straight out of Prime Hat, and a Mexican vendor quotes the “stinkin’ badges” line from Treasure of the Sierra Madre.

However essentially the most sustained parodic nod goes to Apocalypse Now, whose politics and aesthetics Altman discovered distasteful. Vietnam vet and photojournalist Sponson (Dennis Hopper) emerges from his home to the opening notes of the Doorways’s “The Finish.” And when he and his associate (Alan Autry) swoop down in a helicopter just like the (Air) Cavalry to rescue our amoral duo, it’s carried out to a remix of Wagner’s “Journey of the Valkyries.”

O.C. and Stiggs aren’t exempt from turning into topics of satire both. That is most blatant within the movie’s therapy of race and sexual orientation. In an apparently ad-libbed second, Wino Bob (Melvin Van Peebles), who could seem to suit the stereotype of the smart Black man they boys consider in, says, “Sufficient of this folklore, picturesque Uncle Remus bullshit!” And whereas O.C. and Stiggs blackmail a homosexual couple (Louis Nye and Dan Ziskie) into letting musician King Sunny Adé and his band take over from a regional theatrical manufacturing of Cactus Flower, the movie takes the time to permit them moments of actual affection and concern for one another.

O.C. and Stiggs was shot in the summertime of 1983, however MGM didn’t launch it till a number of years later. Its failure wasn’t arduous to foretell, because it departed too removed from the supply materials for Nationwide Lampoon followers, and it ruthlessly despatched up the form of cookie-cutter teen comedies that its advertising and marketing led audiences to anticipate it was. Now, nearly 40 years later, it’s excessive time for reappraisal as a classic Altman satire of the Nineteen Eighties that sits fairly comfortably among the many many acknowledged masterworks of his filmography.

Picture/Sound

The 1080p HD switch of O.C. and Stiggs, as offered for Radiance Films by MGM and Park Circus, appears nice, properly capturing the luminous cinematography of Pierre Mignot, which makes some particularly breathtaking use of magic hour lighting. Colours are vivid, black ranges are spot-on, and the superb particulars of the movie’s elaborate set and costume designs stand out properly. The Grasp Audio mono combine is actually full of life, although, given the usually chaotic sound design of an Altman movie, toggling on the subtitles won’t be a horrible thought.

Extras

The large further right here is Hunter Stevenson’s feature-length documentary The Water is Lastly Blue, which exhaustively chronicles the making of Robert Altman’s movie, with talking-head contributions from, amongst others, actors Daniel Jenkins, Neill Barry, Paul Dooley, Martin Mull, and Tiffany Helm, producer Peter Newman, and manufacturing supervisor Allan F. Nicholls. There are many nice tales and some good behind-the-scenes footage accessible right here. There’s additionally a brief interview with Robert Reed Altman, who talks about his expertise engaged on the set of his father’s movie. Lastly, the bundle consists of an enclosed booklet that accommodates two interviews with Robert Altman and an incisive essay on the movie’s sociopolitical features by Brad Stevens.

General

Radiance’s beautiful new Blu-ray makes Robert Altman’s anarchic O.C. and Stiggs accessible for some much-needed reappraisal.