THE POPCORN REEL FILM FLASHBACK:
"GRAND CANYON"
Ethereal and interconnected in Los Angeles, circa
1991 (left to right) : Mary Louise-Parker, Mary McDonnell, Kevin Kline, Steve
Martin, Danny Glover and Alfre Woodard, all star in "Grand Canyon", directed by
Lawrence Kasdan. (Screenshot by Omar P.L. Moore/PopcornReel.com via
Twentieth Century Fox)
"Grand Canyon": "Crash" Before "Crash", In 1991
Los Angeles
By Omar P.L. Moore/The Popcorn Reel
November 16, 2008
1991. The first war in Iraq under the first President Bush. The BCCI
Savings And Loan Scandal. The Keating Five. Rodney King. These
were some of the major news stories in the U.S. that year, the same year the
film "Grand Canyon" was released. Seventeen years ago on Christmas Day,
Lawrence Kasdan's film about six strangers in Los Angeles whose lives were
intertwined through fate hit theaters, and although film critics weren't so kind
to it in some publications, the film still has a strong effect today, especially
in the context of a changing America, which almost two weeks ago voted for its
first African-American president.
Many decent films about Los Angeles have been made over the years (see below)
and Robert Altman's ensemble films have influenced Mr. Kasdan, who gave us "The
Big Chill", "Silverado", "Kansas City" and "Mumford", among others. Three
years ago though, "Crash" burst onto the scene, with Paul Haggis' film about
racism and racial tensions searing through Los Angeles. The Oscar-winning
film, it could be argued, was an epilogue of the unheeded warnings of the
characters of "Grand Canyon". The L.A. police were harassing black men in
1991, as seen in Grand Canyon, and the small contingent known as the thug
element in the black community caused their share of trouble, and these elements
increased tenfold in "Crash", which also had several intersecting stories.
Some of the most important dialogue from "Grand Canyon" is spoken by Steve
Martin's character, Davis, a violence-loving movie producer and director who
experiences an epiphany after being shot by a thief on a street in the City of
Angels. "You know what everyone is trying to control? Their fear."
Davis nailed truth into the ground with that comment, and "Crash", born fourteen
years later, was an extension of his comment. "Grand Canyon" had less
racial conflict in it than "Crash", though its opening scene is so racked with
tension, anxiety and fear that you could feel the movie theater audience
collectively holding its breath. Many audience members black and white can
relate to what Kevin Kline's character goes through during that opening, and it
is a thermometer tester of a moment in the film.
"Grand Canyon" is more of a philosophical and ethereal film, with the music
score by James Newton Howard punctuating the feeling. The film is one that
the new incoming Obama Administration would likely agree with. The film is
a call to close the chasm between the haves and have nots, the blacks and the
whites, the powerful and the powerless. And while some would characterize
"Grand Canyon" as schmaltzy, idealistic and liberal, the film is littered with
several characters who violate the essence of the pay it forward ideal that they
preach by betraying the very people they claim to be helping or preaching to.
The film while somewhat polished and squeaky clean, isn't perfect. The
veneer of do-gooders is punctured but not beyond repair. (Next month, Will
Smith stars in "Seven Pounds", playing the role of do-gooder as he affects the
lives of seven strangers in Los Angeles.)
Danny Glover is Simon, a divorced mechanic with a deaf child who lives in
Washington, D.C., Mr. Kline is Mack, an immigration lawyer unhappy in his
marriage and career, Mary McDonnell is Claire, a psychologist isolated in her
marriage to Mr. Kline's character, while Mary Louise-Parker is Dee, a secretary
of Mr. Kline's who is lovelorn. Alfre Woodard is a friend of Ms. Parker's
who is looking for love. "Grand Canyon" is a well-meaning film about
adults trying to find their way and just getting through each day in one piece.
"If you're going you've only got a split second to do it otherwise the cross
traffic will whack you. It's difficult stuff. Making a left turn in
L.A. is one of the harder things you're gonna learn in life," says Mack to his
son Roberto (Jeremy Sisto) during a driving lesson on a busy street. "This
town stinks," Mack adds, hardly a ringing endorsement of Los Angeles amidst the
film's vaunted optimism. As an interesting contrast, Davis, who has been
condemned to walk with a limp for the rest of his days, says of L.A., "this town
is great".
In the final analysis, "Crash" is likely a more accurate depiction of 21st
century Los Angeles -- a balkanized, separated, sprawling metropolis, with
people nervously driving past the exits in the city that they think they have no
business exiting on. "Grand Canyon" is less bleak and pessimistic, with
hope springing up around every corner of tribulation -- and this was in the
midst of the first Bush Administration in the late 20th century. Twentieth
Century Fox released "Grand Canyon", which symbolically ends in Arizona, not Los
Angeles. "It's not all bad," Mr. Kline's character relents. Neither
film really unearths or examines the plight of the poorer members of the black
community in Los Angeles -- not that they necessarily have to, they merely -- at
least in the case of "Grand Canyon" -- glimpse them. Compare this to the
attention-getting film of 1991, "Boyz N' The Hood", John Singleton's
Oscar-nominated debut film that so powerfully got to the core of the life of
black youth in Los Angeles. Two years after that film, the Hughes Brothers
made an even more viscerally powerful film ("Menace II Society") about black
working class life in Los Angeles and wayward youth trapped in poverty, crime
and drugs. "The hunt is on! And you're the prey!", declares Charles
S. Dutton during "Menace".
Where the comparison of "Grand Canyon" is concerned, the complexities of "Crash"
are more believable, with Matt Dillon's racist cop character full of gray shade,
and while his private troubles hardly justify his public ones, he is more
authentic than the police officer who talks to Ms. Parker's woebegone character
in "Grand Canyon" and convinces her that adultery happens but is afraid to tell
her that it is morally wrong, even though he mentions that he is single and
"hasn't found the right girl".
Ironically, the power and intensity of "Crash", "Boyz N' The Hood" and "Menace
II Society" are all reflected in Davis' penultimate comment in "Grand Canyon":
"I'll tell you this though, there's so much rage we're lucky we have the movies
to help us vent a little of it."
Copyright The Popcorn Reel. PopcornReel.com. 2008. All Rights
Reserved.
Note: Some good films about or set in Los Angeles over the years: "Sunset
Boulevard", "Chinatown", "L.A. Confidential", "The Player", "Boyz N' The Hood",
"Menace II Society", "Memento", "Heat", "To Live And Die In L.A.", "Magnolia",
"Changeling", "2 Days In The Valley", "Mulholland Drive", "Collateral", "Grand
Canyon", "Inland Empire", "Crash", "Beverly Hills Cop", "Shampoo", "Pulp
Fiction", "Terminator 2: Judgment Day", "Shopgirl"
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