In one of the late actor's signature roles, Treat Williams brings a sinister confidence to the predator of Joyce Carol Oates' "Where Are You Going? Where Have You Been?"
Just this weekend, I saw a Simpsons episode from 2012 where they use Treat Williams as a punchline - as someone who churned out a lot of direct-to-video trash movies. (And they say post-2000 Simpsons has lost its satirical edge!) Late in the episode, he turns up, voicing himself. It's only a one-or-two-line cameo, but I thought, "Hey, what a good sport."
When the news of Williams’s fatal accident hit the news, most of the talk was about Hair and Prince of the City, but the role that immediately leapt to my mind was his squeaky-voiced turn in Richard Lester’s The Ritz, and I only ever saw that once on VHS.
This is the movie I immediately thought of at the news of Treat Williams’s death. Both the movie and his performance are gripping, horrifying, and so, so powerful. I was lucky enough to see this as an 18-year-old at Sundance (actually still called the U.S. Film Festival way back then). I could afford a ticket to see just one film, and this was the one I picked. It went on to win the Grand Prize.
The film has stayed with me all these years. I watched it again last year and was relieved to find it still had the same malevolent power. Even if there was no rape, you still leave the film feeling like something has been lost at a terrible price.
Nothing is depicted, but I feel pretty confident in understanding it as a rape. She did not want to go on a "ride" with Arnold, but he coerced her into believing that she had no choice. She basically surrenders, which is not consent. Dern's shift in the final scene with him is quite striking. You feel like she's emerged from the other side of this terrible ordeal a different person, with all of that teenage naivety gone.
I agree completely, especially since it becomes more and more difficult to read Arnold Friend as imaginary as things progress. (Supernatural? Eh, could be, but that’s not my take either.) But even if one does read it that way, there’s no arguing that Connie’s been through something that changed her utterly.
I have to put in a plug for how gloriously over-the-top he was as Xander Drax ("Begins and ends with the letter X!") in THE PHANTOM (a much under-rated film).
My god, I did not remember that from Disclosure, book or film. (I read all of Crichton's stuff back then, which was not always a great time to be a completist with him.)
What a great movie; I feel it’s nowhere near as well-known as it should be. I watched it last year on Criterion Channel.
The depiction of the tension between a mom and teenage daughter is so real. There’s love there, but it can be very difficult for moms and daughters to get through the teenage years unscathed.
I read the story after watching the film; Oates’s story is brief, and a lot of flesh needed to be added to its bones to make a 2-hour feature. The writer and director managed to skillfully add to the story without taking anything away.
I feel that woman-directed pictures often have more nuance and depth regarding how relationships are portrayed. Another example being *Valley Girl* which has far more nuance than its teen-comedy premise implies.
“In one particularly brilliant improvisation by Williams, Arnold turns her attempt to retreat back to the house as a silly, whimsical dance, playfully miming her movements as a way of disarming her while still actively getting in her way.”
YES! Williams is so wonderfully oily here. This is the moment that crystallizes the awesome creepiness of his performance. It put me in mind of the penultimate scene of *Annihilation* where the alien being mirrors Natalie Portman’s movements (although she then defeats [?] the alien by turning this mirroring against it).
Don’t reward this. Though I spent an entire summer making my parents crazy shouting “slam evil” and I think I was confused why he was the bad guy since the DTV Substitutes were a weekend summer ritual from the video store.
A friend of mine worked at the local Movies Unlimited video rental place, and there was a place on the computerized customer account pages for the clerks to put notes (always late, never rewinds, BDSM pornhound, whatever). Thanks to Greg, my note said "NO SMOKING IN THE SKULL CAVE!"
Just this weekend, I saw a Simpsons episode from 2012 where they use Treat Williams as a punchline - as someone who churned out a lot of direct-to-video trash movies. (And they say post-2000 Simpsons has lost its satirical edge!) Late in the episode, he turns up, voicing himself. It's only a one-or-two-line cameo, but I thought, "Hey, what a good sport."
The movies didn't do right by Treat Williams, but he did at least get a few incredible performances in.
When the news of Williams’s fatal accident hit the news, most of the talk was about Hair and Prince of the City, but the role that immediately leapt to my mind was his squeaky-voiced turn in Richard Lester’s The Ritz, and I only ever saw that once on VHS.
This is the movie I immediately thought of at the news of Treat Williams’s death. Both the movie and his performance are gripping, horrifying, and so, so powerful. I was lucky enough to see this as an 18-year-old at Sundance (actually still called the U.S. Film Festival way back then). I could afford a ticket to see just one film, and this was the one I picked. It went on to win the Grand Prize.
The film has stayed with me all these years. I watched it again last year and was relieved to find it still had the same malevolent power. Even if there was no rape, you still leave the film feeling like something has been lost at a terrible price.
Nothing is depicted, but I feel pretty confident in understanding it as a rape. She did not want to go on a "ride" with Arnold, but he coerced her into believing that she had no choice. She basically surrenders, which is not consent. Dern's shift in the final scene with him is quite striking. You feel like she's emerged from the other side of this terrible ordeal a different person, with all of that teenage naivety gone.
I agree completely, especially since it becomes more and more difficult to read Arnold Friend as imaginary as things progress. (Supernatural? Eh, could be, but that’s not my take either.) But even if one does read it that way, there’s no arguing that Connie’s been through something that changed her utterly.
I have to put in a plug for how gloriously over-the-top he was as Xander Drax ("Begins and ends with the letter X!") in THE PHANTOM (a much under-rated film).
I am not ashamed to admit that I liked his The Substitute sequels!
Also, all this time I thought the first A Friend was in Disclosure...
My god, I did not remember that from Disclosure, book or film. (I read all of Crichton's stuff back then, which was not always a great time to be a completist with him.)
What a great movie; I feel it’s nowhere near as well-known as it should be. I watched it last year on Criterion Channel.
The depiction of the tension between a mom and teenage daughter is so real. There’s love there, but it can be very difficult for moms and daughters to get through the teenage years unscathed.
I read the story after watching the film; Oates’s story is brief, and a lot of flesh needed to be added to its bones to make a 2-hour feature. The writer and director managed to skillfully add to the story without taking anything away.
I feel that woman-directed pictures often have more nuance and depth regarding how relationships are portrayed. Another example being *Valley Girl* which has far more nuance than its teen-comedy premise implies.
“In one particularly brilliant improvisation by Williams, Arnold turns her attempt to retreat back to the house as a silly, whimsical dance, playfully miming her movements as a way of disarming her while still actively getting in her way.”
YES! Williams is so wonderfully oily here. This is the moment that crystallizes the awesome creepiness of his performance. It put me in mind of the penultimate scene of *Annihilation* where the alien being mirrors Natalie Portman’s movements (although she then defeats [?] the alien by turning this mirroring against it).
To paraphrase a line, The Phantom was the bomb, yo.
This is such a deep cut reference that I feel compelled to recognize it and give you an internet high five.
Don’t reward this. Though I spent an entire summer making my parents crazy shouting “slam evil” and I think I was confused why he was the bad guy since the DTV Substitutes were a weekend summer ritual from the video store.
“Don’t reward this” gave me a good laugh!
A friend of mine worked at the local Movies Unlimited video rental place, and there was a place on the computerized customer account pages for the clerks to put notes (always late, never rewinds, BDSM pornhound, whatever). Thanks to Greg, my note said "NO SMOKING IN THE SKULL CAVE!"