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| Brother's David and Jason Staebler. |
Bob Rafelson followed up one of his best films, Five
Easy Pieces (1970) with another collaboration with Jack Nicholson The
King of Marvin Gardens (1972). This film that has just been restored
prior to a UK cinema re-release, obviously the studio think it’s time to
reappraise ‘one of the great undervalued films of 1970’s American
cinema[1]’
But I’m afraid no amount of restoration can improve the films tediously
pretentious story line. It attempts to tackle similar themes to his previous
movie including dysfunctional families and that sense of disillusionment that
seemed to exist at the turn of that century.
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| Sally and her stepdaughter Jessica. |
Set in a bleak decaying out of season Atlantic City.
Nicholson plays one of two brothers David Staebler a rather aloof, depressed
late night radio presenter. His loud-mouthed brother Jason (Bruce Dern), a con
man that’s always chasing that elusive get rich quick scheme, invites David to
join him on a real estate scam. The party also includes two women that
accompany Jason on his criminal endeavours. The older of the two is Sally
(Ellen Burstyn), the younger one is Sally’s stepdaughter Jessica (Julia Anne
Robinson). The two have a strange relationship with each other and Jason. In
one scene we find the two women topless in a hotel room having a water pistol
fight in which Jason is invited but David excluded! Even the talented actors on show can’t rescue
this gloomy dull movie from the dreary tedium that its non-story evokes. I
think Rafelson meant it as a metaphor for a decaying America, but in my opinion
he didn’t succeed!
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