21 Comments
Aug 1, 2023Liked by Scott Tobias

Can't wait to get the new Criterion Blu from the library. I'm about to read Devil in a Blue Dress for the first time, so perhaps I'll make it a double feature with a rewatch of that adaptation as well!

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founding

Book and movie are both top-notch! Devil in a Blue Dress should by rights have been the first in a long series of Easy Rawlins movies.

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author

Great piece, thanks for doing this!

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author

Alan! Buddy! It's been a bit.

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founding

Love this interview, and this film. I got tears in my eyes at the end too. I’ll definitely be getting the Criterion Blu-ray, and I can’t wait to rewatch this.

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Aug 1, 2023Liked by Scott Tobias

Great inteview! Incidentally, I just looked up Franklin's Corman films and one of them starred Todd Field!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_of_the_Eagle_2:_Inside_the_Enemy

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Out of Time is underrated - Franklinheads should seek it out

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Aug 1, 2023Liked by Scott Tobias

Loved reading this interview. Back in the days of One False Move and Devil in a Blue Dress, the names of directors didn't resonate with me unless they were famous auteurs. Finding out later that both movies, each of which I raved about to friends when I saw them as VHS new releases, were directed by the same man was a genuine shock.

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founding
Aug 1, 2023Liked by Scott Tobias

I understand that rights issues are stupid complicated, but it's sad that not every new Criterion release ends up spending some time on the Channel

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author

My assumption is that it'll pop up on the Channel eventually. Perhaps they're wanting to have a window for physical sales before making it available to subscribers.

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founding

I'd understand that as a strategy, but wish they'd be open about it.

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Well timed that this interview popped up in my inbox today. Watched the new Criterion release of One False Move last night, it was excellent. Reminds me that I still need to watch High Crimes and Out of Time.

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Aug 1, 2023Liked by Scott Tobias

Went back and watched this again ahead of this interview, and I wondered if Franklin had North by Northwest in mind for that beautiful shot of Fantasia arriving at the cotton fields. It’s a remarkably intricate shot for a movie of this budget, but it does a lot of work--even though we’ve already been splitting time between locations, that shot turns the page to a new chapter wherein the plot finally arrives in town and somehow changes the scale of the whole thing. The crop duster glides over the bus and loops back around, mocking the painful fits and stops that characterize the three criminals’ cross-country drive, maybe misting pesticide over a woman who has been shooed and chased off when she hasn’t been dominated or disregarded. Whatever chunk of the budget it required, it was worth it.

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author

I think you're absolutely right about that being the shot.

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Aug 2, 2023·edited Aug 2, 2023Liked by Scott Tobias

Thank you for such a great interview.

I'm familiar with Franklin's work in television since I'm a fan of multiple shows where he was a director, but sadly, I've only seen one of his features (Out of Time). So, I'm definitely gonna have to check out One False Move, not only because it was his big break, but because of Bill Paxton, too. He was truly a gem of an actor whom we lost way too soon. Franklin's description of him fits perfectly.

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author

Thanks, Akos! I think you should definitely check out this film and DEVIL IN A BLUE DRESS, which are Franklin's best IMO. I also think he did exceptionally well closing out the second season of MINDHUNTER. It's not easy to follow up heavy-hitters like David Fincher and Andrew Dominik, but Franklin really brought that series home.

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Yeah, I just put both on my watchlist. Thanks for the recommendation.

Yes, he did some excellent work on Mindhunter, and I totally agree with you: following Fincher and Dominik must've been quite intimidating but he absolutely nailed maintaining the grim and threatening atmosphere the directors before him established.

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Oh man, his note about taking the tone from Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer for the violence in One False Move makes so much sense, both from a tonal perspective and also, that movie was also done super on-the-cheap.

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Aug 2, 2023Liked by Scott Tobias

I really need to see this again. What I remember is it being a bit rough around the edges, but the violence so stark and nasty. Didn't know about Carl Franklin's connection to Roger Corman ... but ONE FALSE MOVE does feel like one of the better Corman pictures (FIGHTING MAD) or ROLLING THUNDER (not a Corman picture but it could have been). Something that straddles the arthouse and the grindhouse. Michael Beach!

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The violence is really bracing. Franklin's response to my question about it is my favorite part of the interview. That juxtaposition between a TV projecting images of a family clowning around on a home movie and that same family being terrorized is so disturbing, and Franklin's way of thinking about it as "TV news"-like is really smart.

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Aug 4, 2023Liked by Scott Tobias

I’ve read this three times now and one takeaway is it’s remarkable how accurate Franklin’s assessments of his own film are--at least to the extent that they resemble or flatter my own--and his discussion of the violence’s quality, particularly with regards to its ‘emptiness,’ is the commentary’s most piquant aspect. It speaks to a rare level of filmmaking control, and I’m newly curious to check out Mindhunter.

I felt the same way after the Once Upon a Time in the West piece: Every base was covered. This substack really is a special resource, thanks again guys.

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