Brief thoughts on BAD LIEUTENANT: PORT OF CALL NEW ORLEANS

[MFalc1]

From the reactions of the critical community, one would think that
Werner Herzog's collaboration with Nicolas Cage was some kind of
classic gonzo mashup of genre convention and Method actor playing
Improv games with co-stars.

Not really.

BAD LIEUTENANT is a sometimes-meandering two-hour mixture of Steven
Bochco-esque police procedural (which makes sense since Bochco almunus
William Finkelstein wrote the script and shows up in a role that sort
of channels Mark Rydell playing Marty Augustine in THE LONG GOODBYE),
a few riffs from/shoutouts to Abel Ferrara's original 1992 character
study with Harvey Keitel planting his feet at the bottom of the
metaphorical swimming pool and a lot of let's-throw-Cage-in-a-scene-
with-another-actor-and-see-what-happens.

There are some bits involving iguanas and alligators--presumably
Herzog's main contribution. One can't help but regret that Klaus
Kinski is deceased; imagine the
kind of thespic bouts of one-actor-upstaging-another he and Cage would
have engaged in.

In short, Herzog's previous venture into the mainstream, the Sam
Fuller-influenced RESCUE DAWN, is definitely superior. And there's a
new DVD release of the original THE BAD LIEUTENANT--waiting to be
bought, as well as a reminder of what Ferrara could achieve before his
artiness descended to look-what-a-deep-thinker-I-am fare like THE
FUNERAL and THE ADDICTION.

Mark L. Falconer
http://www.poetry-arts-confidential.blogspot.com
[with new post about the end of the Oprah show as we know it]
http://www.youtube.com/terrymcca