The Independent (2000)

A notorious B-movie director tries for a comeback by seeking out the film rights to the life story of a serial killer who wants his biography film to be a musical.

Director:

Stephen Kessler

Writers:

Mike Wilkins, Stephen Kessler

Stars:

Jerry Stiller, Janeane Garofalo, Max Perlich

2 wins.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jerry Stiller	...	Morty Fineman
Janeane Garofalo	...	Paloma Fineman
Max Perlich	...	Ivan
Ted Demme	...	Himself
Roger Corman	...	Himself
Ron Howard	...	Himself
Karen Black	...	Herself
Peter Bogdanovich	...	Himself
Fred Williamson	...	Himself
Nick Cassavetes	...	Himself
Paul Logan	...	Son
Stacy Fuson	...	Daughter
Herb Marcus	...	Old Man / Mr. Witz
Julie Strain	...	Ms. Kevorkian
Stephen Kessler	...	Steve

Storyline

Documentary look at Morty Fineman, a prolific maker of schlock independent films, who's down on his luck. Actors, directors, and writers, including Ron Howard and Karen Black, comment on his work, we see clips from some of his 427 titles, and we watch Morty try to get financing for a film about a serial killer. He hires his daughter, Paloma, as his business manager. His A.D., the long-suffering Ivan, stays by his side. Morty owes the bank $10 million from his one blockbuster failure. Can he find the financing, or is it time for Morty to retire. Meanwhile, Ivan hooks Morty up with a new film festival, in Chaparral, Nevada. Is this the ticket to renewal?

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Plot Keywords:

film director | fictional film festival | serial murder | independent filmmaking | musical filmmaking | 

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Taglines:

Morty Fineman. Artist. Visionary. Madman.

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Genres:

Comedy

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language, some violence and sexuality

Details

Official Sites:

"Fineman Films"

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

12 March 2000 (USA)

Also Known As:

Independentul

Box Office

Gross USA:

$238,431

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$238,431

Company Credits

Production Co:

United Lotus Group

Technical Specs

Runtime:

81 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Did You Know?

Trivia

Richard Paul's last film.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Ted Demme: I think Morty is a visionary.
Roger Corman: I think Morty was and is an artist.
Ron Howard: He's an innovator.
Karen Black: Very persistent. And you have to love him for that.
Peter Bogdanovich: Morty would try things, and then 2 years later someone would copy it and win an Oscar for it.
Fred Williamson: This is the only man that I've ever worked with that I feel I can't take.

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Crazy Credits

The titles of all 427 of Morty Fineman's films are shown along with the end credits.

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Connections

Spoofs Foxy Brown (1974)

User Reviews

Bad cinema done with a smile

THE INDEPENDENT (2001) ** Jerry Stiller, Janeane Garofalo, Max Perlich (Cameos: Anne Meara, Ron Howard, Roger Corman, Peter Bogdanovich, John Lydon, Ben Stiller, Andy Dick, Fred Dryer, Jonathan Katz, Fred Williamson, Karen Black, Nick Cassavetes) (Dir: Stephen Kessler)

Jerry Stiller has made a fine career for himself as a top-notch character actor and the triumphs of his long-standing marriage with comedy partner Anne Meara. But perhaps it is the past decade particularly for his stint as the bellicose Frank Costanza, the brow-beating, bellowing paterfamilias of Jason Alexander's angry George on "Seinfeld" is what he'll be remembered for after all these years ago. Now he's the lead in this quasi-mockumentary a la "This Is Spinal Tap" meets "The Player" by way of "Ed Wood."

Morty Fineman (Stiller), a truly independent filmmaker of questionable taste and lack of skills and talent, is the focus of a documentary film crew shooting the downward spiral of his illustrious career of low, low budget exploitation films the likes of Roger Corman and John Waters but without the knowing wink at the audience. Fineman's downfall is his blind ambition as an artiste whose long-suffering daughter and wind beneath his winds Paloma (Garofalo) has to endure the latest brinks of bankruptcy that has his bank offering to buy out his filmography not for its artistic merit but literally by the pound of celluloid he's burned.

Along for the ride is his protégé and gopher Ivan (the gifted character actor Perlich) who desperately attempts a comeback for Morty by investigating every film festival to showcase his ouevre. Naturally not one is interested save for Chaparral, Nevada whose town's main point of business is prostitution. To add insult to injury Fineman winds up working his new offices of his trade outside a dingy motel.

Stiller acquits himself nicely as the clueless yet empassioned director of dreck whose specialty is message films of his own political bent via busty babes scantily clad with semi-automatic weaponary touted between their ample cleavage. What works for the film on the whole is the tongue-in-cheek sendup of the industry with its accurate depictions of what bad films look like from shoddy stock footage and badly acted scenes to its so-scary -they -seem -real take-offs of trailers to 1960s and 70s junk films. The use of real-life filmmakers like Howard and Bogdanovich tries to lend a hand to its wink-wink/nudge-nudge insider take/satire send-up by giving it an air of authenticity but by the last third the one-joke gimmick runs out of gas and feels flat.

For those who love awful movies and wonder who the heck makes this crap then they have a true hero in Morty Fineman, a man ahead of his times .whenever that was.