Customer Reviews

Full Tilt Boogie [VHS]

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Full Tilt Boogie is a documentary by Director Sarah Kelly bringing us behind the scenes from the movie From Dusk Till Dawn. The 1996 criminals-on-run-meet-vampires movie brought together writer Quentin Tarantino with director Robert Rodriguez.

The film starred actors George Clooney, Harvey Keitel, Juliette Lewis and Salma Hayek, and Cheech Marin. Cheech appears in multiple roles, playing a border guard, a strip club barker with a hilarious "pussy for a penny" spiel, and a mexican mobster.

What is nice about the documentary, is you not only get to "meet" the stars and director, but also the folks behind the scenes, the grips, the assistants, and the other "little people" who make the movie magic reality. About halfway into the movie, the film starts looking at the troubles the flick went through when Rodriguez made the flick with a non-union cast and crew. It's intriguing to follow the union portion of the documentary.

What I didn't like about the film was the lack of Tom Savini in the documentary. Tom, one of the industry's most well known makeup/special effects artists (Creepshow, Friday the 13th, Dawn & Day of the Dead, etc) played Sex Machine in the film, and I was disappointed to not have any input from him in the documentary.

Another disappointment was the almost total absence of Harvey Keitel in the documentary. According to the narration, he was not interested in making the documentary, only From Dusk 'Till Dawn, but did do a painfully brief interview with Quentin, which left me wanting more.

The final thing that bothered me is while you do get to "meet" the folks behind the scenes, it doesn't go very far, and I was left wanting to know more about these interesting folks who made the movie happen.

But all in all, if you enjoyed From Dusk 'Til Dawn, you still will want to check out this documentary.

At the time of this review, the price is rather high (over a $100), but you have access to a DVD player, you may want to get the From Dusk Til Dawn: Dimension Collector's Series DVD, which includes this featurette along with a ton of other extras for around 25 bucks until the price drops on the VHS.

This revealing documentary follows the entire filming process of one of the defining movies of the decade. Thanks to this film we can see George Clooney fighting off females in a bar, Juliette Lewis doing karaoke and Quentin Tarantino giving a wonderful masterclass in comedy. Perhaps the most intriguing part of the film is the background fear of a union strike and the set that blew up a bit too much. I definitely recommend watching this film and seeing how this fantastic movie was made.

I saw this film two years ago at the SXSW film festival and thought it was fabulous. I was thrilled to see it in my video store last night. For a good time...watch From Dusk Til Dawn and then see Full Tilt Boogie.

I got this docu as a "pack-in" when I purchased the Collector's Edition of "From Dusk Till Dawn", it was listed as part of the "bonus material" with the DVD. Let me say this: what a pointless endevour! Who needs to see Tarantino's and Clooney's assistants sitting around talking about their employers like star-struck high school girls? They looked and acted like a bunch of grade 8 girls waiting to see who would ask them to the prom. George Clooney, Salma Hayek and Harvey Keitel never even bother to give direct interviews, so how can a docu be a docu when it excludes some of the most important characters? It generally follows the little people who tell us such important details as how Quentin likes his coffee and the mug he likes it in. Then they get into the IATSE strike because FDTD was using non-union help. Big deal! If I wanted to see a bunch of labor garbage, I would go down to my local Teamster's hall and listen to them spout off. The makers make a long drawn out point of trying to show how they got in contact with Lyle Tractenberg about his side of the dispute that consumed what felt like 10 minutes, only for him to speak off camera only. Overall this is a forced, directionless effort that adds nothing to the film, whether you are a fan or not. If you want a decent docu of something, go shoot one yourself, you'll do a better and more interesting job! And for God's sakes, don't even think about wasting money on this, rent or steal are your only logical options if you insist on seeing it.

If you had a chance to take a behind-the-scenes look at any movie made during the last ten years, "From Dusk Till Dawn" probably wouldn't be your first choice. Yes, the 1996 horror show was directed by Robert Rodriguez ("El Mariachi") and written by Quentin Tarantino. And, yes, such notables as George Clooney, Juliette Lewis, Harvey Keitel and Tarantino himself appeared in a major roles. But with all due respect to everyone involved with that fang-in-cheek action-adventure about hungry vampires at a remote Mexican cantina, "From Dusk Till Dawn" wasn't exactly the sort of cinematic triumph that evokes a burning urge to witness the creative process at work.

Even so, Sarah Kelly's "Full Tilt Boogie" is not without interest. Kelly, who previously worked as a production assistant on Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction," did not have entirely free access, or even full co-operation, as she made this movie about the making of a movie. (Keitel granted only a five-minute interview during his final day on location.) And a few scenes -- most notably, the mock-macho entrance of Clooney and Tarantino -- obviously were staged for Kelly's cameras.

At its occasional best, however, "Full Tilt Boogie" vividly and accurately conveys the day-to-day, "hurry up and wait" drudgery of moviemaking. Cast and crew heartily party when the day's work is done. And even during the actual shooting, there's a sense of play along with the practice of craft. By and large, however, you're left with the impression that working on a film can be as exhausting -- and, yes, sometimes as boring -- as working on an assembly line.

Here and there, Kelly catches flashes of revealing detail. Clooney seems amiable but oddly disengaged, as though he doesn't want anyone -- least of all a documentarian -- to get too close. (In a brief, unguardedly teary moment, his personal assistant indicates that he may not be such a nice guy after all.) In sharp contrast, Tarantino comes across as a kind of court jester, especially during his rant about the lack of beer at a location party. Throughout it all, Rodriguez looks extremely worried. He also looks like he wouldn't want to be anyplace else.

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