“Patti Rocks,” a true independent film just as that term was about to take on new meaning in America, is a good example of the almost-great film. The slender narrative is an excuse to have two buddies get drunk and philosophize about (mostly) sex. The trick ending is the last third of the film when they are joined by a woman (Patti) who has her own blunt thoughts on the matter. The problem for me (other than the occasional bad acting moment) is the perceived wow factor the filmmakers thought audiences would have at hearing such frank talk. “Patti Rocks” was a foul-mouthed film in 1988, but nowadays not so much. Nothing you don’t hear on Comedy Central. If I had a time machine I’d love to go back and tell David Burton Morris to downplay this gimmick and stick with what’s working so well in the film — a remarkable portrayal of mid-American blue collar guys living their lives. The bar, the apartment complex, the “deserter” friend who has a management position. This all seems very real and is wonderfully observed.
I left New Jersey at age 17, but for a few summers I went back and worked the occasional bozo job. I met and hung out with guys like this. More importantly, I knew women like Patti. Patti who, in movie terms, ain’t all that attractive, but would sure be the object of much attention at a garage or after-work beer joint. “Patti Rocks” is a real late-80s curiousity. IFC has it in rotation now; you should check it out.
And it’s a travesty that it hasn’t come out on DVD yet. I’m also curious about the previous film it’s based on — can’t recall the title, but in the opening credits, there’s a “based on characters created in the motion picture …” screen. I’d love to see that movie, and researching it let me now these two guys starred in a small indie movie a decade earlier (mid/late 70s) as the same characters earlier in their lives … probably when they were both working at the same garage, the more sane guy got promoted to manager, and had to can his errant, pussy-hound buddy for taking advantage of his friend rising to that position. I’ve searched high and low for that movie, but no luck at all.
I still think this stuff is a bit of a shock for people to hear. Because aside from cartoon characters, you rarely hear “real people” talk like this in movies … although you hear real people talk like this all the time. The pussy-hound character reminds me so much of an old friend who was ALWAYS on the make and damaged beyond repair in how he viewed women (basically as sperm receptacles … save for his wife, mother and daughter). And the other male character was just dead on in his portrayal of a guy in shellshock after an unexpected divorce.
But I defy you to find other movies this frank (and rank) in dialogue — there aren’t many. I think if you go back to the 70s and 80s, there was much more freedom in characters being able to say verboten things, whether it regarded race, sex, ethnicity, etc. I just watched Law and Disorder again (the mid-70s NYC flick with Borgnine and Carrol O’Connor as regular-guy, auxiliary cops in their lower-east side housing project … imagine that …. working-class white people living in Manhattan …). Some of the racial quips and portrayals in that movie were very frank … yet still stuff I see and hear all the time, i.e., more realistic (although less pretty and P.C.) than what movies tend to portray.