Confessions of a Dangerous Mind

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Movie
German title Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
Original title Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 2002
length 113 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director George Clooney
script Charlie Kaufman
Chuck Barris
production Andrew Lazar
Jeffrey Sudzin
music Alex Wurman
camera Newton Thomas Sigel
cut Stephen Mirrione
occupation

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind is George Clooney's directorial debut from 2002 .

The film was based on the memoirs of the American show master Chuck Barris , who among other things went down in the annals of show business as the inventor of the infamous gong show and who was also the inventor of the show The Dating Game , which became known as the heart leaf in German-speaking countries.

action

The framework plot of the film takes place in 1981: the show master Chuck Barris has hidden in a hotel room in New York from his girlfriend and the rest of the world and looks back on his life in disaffection. From then on, the actual story is told in flashbacks , which begins around the early 1950s. Chuck Barris lives in New York and spends his life with unfulfilling women acquaintances, while initially trying unsuccessfully to make a career in emerging television . He worked for some time for the music show American Bandstand , where he wrote some songs that the showmaster Dick Clark had bands sing on his show. During this time he happened to meet Penny Pacino. She is the roommate of colleague Debbie, a stage worker who Barris works with on the set for American Bandstand. After all, Chuck has a one night stand with her . Penny then becomes his longtime girlfriend. Some time later, the idea of ​​his new TV show, The Dating Game, was adopted by TV broadcaster ABC . Barris now hopes to get rich and famous.

Parallel to his career as a show master, Barris was recruited by Jim Byrd for the CIA in the mid-1960s as a contract killer and then, according to his own statements, killed a total of 33 people by 1980. He works at times with the killer Patricia Watson, with whom he has a love affair. At the same time, he continues to produce various television shows. Over time, Barris actually rose to national fame. The candidates for the show The Dating Game receive prizes for trips abroad, during which they are accompanied by Barris, who uses them as a cover for his missions for the CIA. During an assignment in East Berlin in 1970, Barris was arrested and shortly thereafter exchanged for a Soviet agent.

In the years that followed, Barris' career approached its climax with the new gong show . Increasingly, however, Barris is criticized because of his shows as partly responsible for the decline in quality of television. In the multiple interspersed scenes of the framework plot, Barris later makes this criticism his own.

In the late 1970s, Byrd hired Barris to look for a double agent who, among other things, must have betrayed the operation in Berlin. Little by little, this double agent kills everyone else in the know, including Byrd. Barris must now assume that he will be the killer's next and final target. Full of fear, he is on the verge of a nervous breakdown in his own show and then hides in the New York hotel, where the film finally returns to the framework. Barris leaves his hiding place a few weeks later and visits Patricia Watson, whom he believes to be the killer, in her apartment in Boston . There Watson tries to poison Barris after spending another night together, but does not expect Barris to turn the tables and instead poison her.

In the end, Barris marries his girlfriend Penny, who had been waiting for the wedding for years. At the wedding, Barris sees a brief vision of Byrd and other people for whose death he is responsible. Barris then confesses to his wife that he was a contract killer for the CIA. Penny considers this a good joke and laughs heartily at it. After a moment, Barris laughs too.

Chuck Barris has one last show idea. Three old men, gun in hand, tell of the dreams they had as young men and how many of them have come true. The one who doesn't shoot himself wins the game show and receives a washing machine.

background

The film was produced by Clooney's friend and colleague Steven Soderbergh , with whom he has already made films such as Ocean's Eleven and Solaris . Production costs were estimated at 29 million US dollars . The film was shot in California , Florida , Mexico and Montreal .

Some Hollywood stars have made brief cameos , such as Matt Damon and Brad Pitt as candidates on one of Barris' shows. The "real" Chuck Barris can be seen in an original recording of a scene from one of his shows as well as in another scene at the end of the film. Barris acted in an advisory capacity during the production of the film.

Various music titles by the German composer Peter Thomas are used in the film. These come from various Edgar Wallace films made in the 1960s and were recorded in original mono in Clooney's film. There were the titles Theme for Lucy , Dandy Club and Traitor's Growl from Das Verrätertor and from Der Zinker the title The Dandy Walks Again .

The film grossed approximately $ 16 million in US cinemas.

References to Barris' life

The film is based on the book Confessions of a Dangerous Mind , the autobiography of Chuck Barris. His claims that he worked for the CIA are denied by the latter. Even Barris himself does not make any clear statements about their truthfulness in interviews. The film does not expressly comment on the allegations either, but leaves it to the viewer to judge them.

Reviews

David Hunter wrote in The Hollywood Reporter on December 9, 2002 that the film was one of the most promising directing debuts of an actor and had to be seen (“One of the most auspicious directing debuts by an actor (…) is another must-see Christmas offering from Miramax "). Sam Rockwell gave one of the best performances of the year. Drew Barrymore plays with inhibitions, but Julia Roberts shows a wilder side than usual. The "proven" Rutger Hauer is "excellent" in the role of a CIA agent.

Kenneth Turan wrote in the Los Angeles Times on December 31, 2002 that the story of the inventor of the most irritating shows in television history would be made into a film as the most irritating film. It is so boring ("tedious") that it is impossible to pay attention to whether the "boasting" is true or not. Clooney works "expertly" with some actors like the well-acting Drew Barrymore, but he is too indulgent towards others like Julia Roberts, who stumbles over the "wink-wink style" as a competing professional killer.

Awards

Actor Sam Rockwell was at the Berlinale in 2003 as Best Actor with the Silver Bear Award and the Golden Satellite Award nomination.

Charlie Kaufman won the National Board of Review Award in 2002 ; George Clooney was nominated for a special award from the National Board of Review . Sam Rockwell won the Phoenix Film Critics Society Award in 2003 , Charlie Kaufman for the script and the film for the use of previously released music were nominated for the same award. Maggie Gyllenhaal won the Chicago Film Critics Association Award in 2003 , and George Clooney was nominated for the same award. The film won the Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award in 2003.

Charlie Kaufman won the Broadcast Film Critics Association Award in 2003 . The film was nominated for the 2003 Golden Reel Award of the Motion Picture Sound Editors for sound editing .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Box office / business for Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, accessed January 5, 2008
  2. ^ Filming locations for Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, accessed January 5, 2008
  3. ^ Film review by David Hunter, accessed on January 8, 2008 ( Memento from September 13, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ↑ Kenneth Turan's film review, accessed January 7, 2008