Easier Said (1999)

Director:

H. Todd von Mende

Writer:

H. Todd von Mende (writer)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

You can't follow your dream from behind a desk

Plot Keywords:

Writing | Father Son Relationship | Summer | American Dream | Rocky Mountains

Cast

Bo Clancey	...	Jack
Tricia Gregory	...	Eldora
Alex McLeod	...	Anna Sophia
Albie Parisella	...	Ciro
Walter Rheinfrank	...	Addison
Jason Low	...	Little Al
Kurt Sinclair	...	Big Al (as Kurt Schwoebel)
Holly O'Neill	...	Vicki
Natalia Ongaro	...	Faith
Larry G. Johnson	...	Sheriff Tiny
Karin Waidley	...	Dottie
Ed Fronheiser	...	Uncle Harold
Tommy Wilson-O'Brien	...	Cracker (as Tommy Wilson)
Bret Granato	...	Elmer Lansky
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Michelle Grimes	...	Crabby Wife
Chaz Grundy	...	Video Clerk
Gary Hathaway	...	Crabby Husband
Gabe Hayes	...	Jimmy
John Mariotto	...	Breakfast Patron
Megan Vallender	...	Autograph Fan
Seph Zdarko	...	Bobby

Directed by
H. Todd von Mende

Writing credits
H. Todd von Mende		(writer)

Produced by
Carol O'Neill	....	executive producer
H. Todd von Mende	....	producer
Tommy Wilson-O'Brien	....	line producer

Original Music by
Robert Cassard

Cinematography by
Jason Lowe

Film Editing by
Kristen Helsing

Casting by
Walter Rheinfrank

Set Decoration by
Paul Garcia
Peter Higgins
Chelsea Wayant

Makeup Department
Marie Laure Frere	....	hair stylist
Marie Laure Frere	....	makeup artist

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Eric Sievering	....	second assistant director
Tommy Wilson-O'Brien	....	first assistant director (as Tommy Wilson)

Sound Department
Bret Granato	....	boom operator
Klint Macro	....	foley recordist
Bill Montei	....	sound re-recording engineer
Caleb Snyder	....	sound

Camera and Electrical Department
Mark Flett	....	grip
Dave Frauenfeld	....	camera loader
Gabe Hayes	....	second assistant camera
Chris Henning	....	grip
Chris Kallemeyn	....	first assistant camera
Steven Parker	....	key grip
Arito Suzuki	....	still photographer
Sean Tanner	....	gaffer

Editorial Department
Joe Hathaway	....	digital color timer

Other crew
Mark Clevenger	....	assistant script supervisor
Patrick Copeland	....	production coordinator
Barb Hardt	....	wrangler
Andre D. Munoz	....	script supervisor
Seph Zdarko	....	assistant to director

Production Companies

• 23 Frames LLC

Distributors

• Buena Vista Home Video

Other Companies

• M.E.G. Filmworks  sound post-production

MPAA:

Rated R for language

Runtime:

94 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Certification:

USA:R

Filming Locations:

Colorado, USA

Company:

23 Frames LLC

AWKWARDLY WRITTEN.

'Tis a scarce occurrence when a skimpily funded independent film is an artistic success, and although such is not the case in this instance, credit should be given to those who make the attempt, this particular effort primarily stumbling due to inexperience, especially relative to its scenario. In what must be viewed as being nearly a student production, an unpublished writer, Jack Buck (Bo Clancey), is unfulfilled in his position as editor for a New York City publisher, and when he is telephoned by an uncle in Colorado, offering Jack a chance to join him and manage his mountain lodge, thereby gaining the time to complete a novel, the young man eagerly accepts and resigns from his employer. His decision is easier to make when he discovers his fiancee dallying with another, but Jack is soon involved with a former girl friend in Colorado, although even greater complications appear for him at his new post when his creative flow is apparently stillborn and he faces unforeseen difficulties in managing the lodge. Other problems surface when he is beset by blandishments from a local rival who desires to obtain the lodge for conversion into a casino, and also when his former fiancee unexpectedly visits, but he nonetheless discovers a method of overcoming his writer's block in an unforeseen manner. The director, who also scripts, furnishes a highly cliched piece with enormously telegraphed dialogue and continuity flaws, most evident in a failure to give flesh to scenes supporting the storyline, and in a hurried ending, indicative as much of a lack of expertise regarding pacing and post-production polish as of budgetary constraints. Although most of the players lack film credits and want closer direction, they have theatre experience, with Holly O'Neill, Alex McLeod and Tricia Gregory contributing good turns, and the editing is effective for the most part, but the musical sound track is obtrusive and hackneyed with the mixing being quite erratic for this affair, shot largely in and near Nederland, Colorado, that benefits from multiple functions for cast and crew; the scenery is, of course, all a nature lover might want.