A Constant Forge Page #4

are on their way to tear your guts out.

Like he says,

the problem with most movies...

is everybody's perfect.

He said, "The leading man

is the perfect leading man...

and the bad guy

is a perfect bad guy.

Religion of the people.

I got news for him.

It's money.

Money.

That's -Jesus Christ.

My father was right.

John was really interested in...

that mixture that's in most of the people

that we know, at any rate.

I don't think he was interested in evil

as much as he was interested in weakness.

You're an amateur.

Take a walk.

John wrote characters that had to- Well...

he's always looking for the weakness

in the supposedly strong person...

or the strength in

the supposedly weak person.

Men can be ridiculous.

Men can be grown-up and still be children.

Uh, women could be nutty and be right.

You got embarrassed,

and you made a jerk of yourself. That's all.

Cassavetes'films are the greatest example

of pattern-breaking in all of cinema.

I make a jerk of myself every day. I'm -

In fact, it's what

drives some viewers up a wall...

is they say, 'Just figure out

what this character should be...

and tell me and stay with it. "

And he won't do that.

He'll never do that.

He'll have characters be

amazing and awful...

and comical and horrendous.

Second by second by second, changing.

I always understood you,

and you always understood me...

and that was always just...

how it was, and that's it.

You don't know what people

are gonna do next, and people are not just -

You know, you can't predict them.

They aren't gonna be good all the time.

They're not gonna be bad all the time.

They're not gonna be sane all the time. They're

not gonna be a lot of things any of the time.

Ah, boy, what a life!

And that was the pleasure of the discovery.

Ah, what's the matter,Jeannie?

Don't you like me?

Hmm?

Why not? Come on.

I can take criticism.

Hmm?

What's the matter with me?

You don't want me to be crude?

All right, I won't be crude.

You're married.

Oh,Jeannie, am I married.

McCarthy is self-centered

and oblivious toJeannie...

then he engages our sympathy.

Jeannie, do you know what it is

to be a promo man in a firm like mine, huh?

I'll tell ya.

You meet more millionaires

and more presidents...

than you dream could exist.

Then he's more boorish

than we could have ever imagined.

You don't want to

go in the bedroom all that time...

and not have made out,you know.

So, messed up my hair,

pulled down my tie...

pulled out my shirttail as though I was...

getting dressed or something, you know.

That I had just got out of bed with her.

Hey,Jeannie baby!

Hey. You're all right,Jeannie baby!

John wanted to get

his characters to that place...

of confusion, multiplicity,

that most oflife is lived in.

I don't know anybody

who has an easy pattern ofbehavior.

I know people who arejust sensational

one minute and absolute bastards the next.

And these moods come from specific things

that I can't put my finger on...

because I don't know their whole life.

So, I've gotta depend on that actor

to identify with his role enough...

that he can express those things.

And to get it on the screen

is something miraculous.

You know, you're a very strange man.

Well, you want me to leave, I'll leave.

There are explosions in his film

of revelation and then of pulling back.

His characters,

perhaps like aspects ofhimself..

are playing this delicate dance...

between a kind of

bursting forth of their instincts...

and fear keeping them bottled in

'cause they don't know what it could lead to.

I very often have likened his films to jazz...

because, much likejazz...

his movies have this improvised

and spontaneous feel.

They allow for occasional solo flights...

for uneven tempo...

and for moments that you just go,

"Where did that come from?"

Get out of this kitchen!

Look at - Look at your shoes, Eddie!

They're full of mud.

Get out ofhere.

Hey, Eddie, put me down. Come on.

And cut that out, Eddie!

You want spaghetti?

- Spaghetti again?

- Yes.

Now, it so happens that,

as we now know...

he scripted his films very carefully,

even if they feel so improvised.

Peter Piper picked a peck

of pickled peppers.

If Peter Piper picked

a peck of pickled peppers...

where's the peck of

pickled peppers Peter picked?

Huh?

Peter Piper picked a peck

of pickled peppers.

Everything that affects our lives...

is determined by the influence

that one sex has upon the other.

Sure, we're in the midst

of political decay and turmoil.

But that's not nearly as interesting.

That's more mental,

based on how much information you have.

The relationships

between men and women...

are permanently fixed in our instincts,

not our minds.

What I'm trying to say

is that you're a...

delicate, experienced...

exciting woman...

who I find attractive

beyond comprehension...

a woman who amazes me

with her lack ofbelief in herself.

Manny...

- Jesus Christ.

- I'm in trouble.

I'm not acting.

John has given us

so many extraordinary female depictions...

it's very easy to forget that he was

a deep, deep student of male psychology as well.

And figures like Robert Harmon

in Love Streams...

Cosmo Vittelli in

Killing of a Chinese Bookie...

are deep meditations...

on some emotional deficiency...

thatJohn perceived in men.

They were afraid to express emotion.

They kept things bottled up.

What makes up for the nonexpression...

is a kind of fake public expression.

Well, that's it.

One of our girls left.

No longer with us.

Uh, Rachel, as a matter of fact.

Gone on to bigger and better things.

The most emotional

and expressive Cosmo gets...

are actually in these unimportant,

trivial, impersonal ways.

Will somebody please tell me

what's going on?

Don't worry, Rach.

I got a lot of insurance.

And when it comes time

to interact with his girlfriend...

he has nothing to say to her.

Mabel.

Nick, played by Peter Falk-

He's a well-meaning but rather dumb guy.

The way he deals with Mabel. I mean, the way

he acknowledges that she must not be crazy.

Mabel's not crazy.

She's unusual.

She's not crazy, so don't say she's crazy.

This woman cooks, sews,

makes the bed, washes the bathroom.

What the hell is crazy about that?

I don't understand what she's doing.

I admit that.

Nick.

When he hits her, he says,

"See what you made me do?"

See what you made me do? Huh?

Having a party?

Then, when she tries to

slit her wrist with a razor...

he puts a Band-Aid on it.

I mean, Nick's way of dealing

with things is purely surface.

Nick is a construction

worker, a guy who goes out and works with his hands.

Don't discuss my affairs!

Well, all right, then. Okay.

I'm sorry.

He is a conservative,

and all of a sudden, he marries a girl.

He takes the one little

act of danger in his life-

She's a little kooky, she's a little crazy,

she loves him intensely-

It is a little embarrassing to him.

- What are you bananas doin'?

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