Customer Reviews

Kinda Hot: The Making of Saint Jack in Singapore

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An eccentric project, but then, so was SAINT JACK. Anyone interested in Peter Bogdanovich, Singapore, films shot under unusual circumstances in unique locales, nostalgic reveries for a time long past, or the movie SAINT JACK itself, for that matter, should find this book a compelling read.

I came at it from the Bogdanovich angle; this and THEY ALL LAUGHED, the other film he shot with Robby Muller in much the same style (but in NYC) are my two favorite films by him and two of my favorite films of all time, so while I never saw this coming, I ordered it immediately upon stumbling upon it. Well worth a look if you think you might be interested in it...

Published in Singapore, it's a revealing and amusing story of how Peter Bogdanovich pulled the wool over the eyes of the Nanny State back in the late 1970s and created an unauthorized film set in Singapore. The movie, "Saint Jack," is far, far better than the Paul Theroux novel it's based on; this book about the making of the movie is well-written and engaging.

It is a delicious thrill to find an artistic masterwork that does not enjoy mass public acclaim-- you own the experience privately even as you champion the discovery to anyone who will listen. Such is my claim on Saint Jack, Peter Bogdanovich's 1979 cinematic gem drawn from Paul Theroux's novel of the same name. This is a film with such a real and profound sense of time and place I can only think of a few others that rival it --Mean Streets and Blow-Up come to mind-- and such a singular lead performance (Ben Gazzara) that it is flat-out unbelievable it does not have a larger audience and reputation.

Ben Slater pursued the story of the making of this unusual film with energy and resourcefulness. We learn the complex genesis of the production and hear from all the major figures, and most of the minor ones too, in a flowing and addictive narrative that reads like a thriller. Bogdanovich leads an international crew of irregulars and fired-up Singaporean locals through a massively improvised and necessarily secretive three-month shoot that yields such an authentic portrait of the island that it ends up banned by the Singapore authorities. We feel real connection to the largely amateur local cast and crew, and it is a treat to view the film again after you know their personal stories.

To the small but growing list of fans of Saint Jack: get this book! It will elevate your enjoyment of the film. Slater gives us something really valuable-- a look into a lost world, of Singapore, of maverick cinema, of outsiders and irregulars, of local colour and culture, of transgressive and subversive actions in pursuit of art. He does not skimp on detail, and leaves us enriched with understanding about where we came from, and perhaps where we are going.

It was the first (and last?) Hollywood production happening entirely in Asia: In 1978, director Peter Bogdanovich, main actor Ben Gazzara and a large US-European-Asian team filmed Paul Theroux's novel Saint Jack (1973) completely on location in Singapore. Even all the interiors were done in the Asian city state, not in a Hollywood studio. In 2006, Ben Slater tells the story of this shoot in book's length - and he tells it colourfully, lively, and, yes, kinda hot. I often laughed out loud about all the anecdotes, the chaos and the challenge to do a rather liberal Hollywood movie in a restrictive Asian community.

Bogdanovich appears pompous, complete with cigars and Bentley; his underlings had to watch him enjoy breakfast. The script was written a-new every day. Local bar ladies, taxi drivers, transvestites, waiters and English teachers were all hired for smaller roles - and if there was no role for an interesting character they met, they'd write a new role for him or her into the script. Partly they had to work under pretexts or secretely, because they believed that Pau Theroux's original Saint Jack novel was banned in Singapore.

Slater writes a few pages about Singapore's specific history with special regard to its movie business. He describes the movie's lengthy development in California including Orson Welle's role. We also learn about Bogdanovich's changing relationships around the Saint Jack time. After all these details, you might find that the post production phase was covered rather short. The movie is regarded as a monument to "Old Singapore" and so, Slater reports what happened to all the sites that appear in the movie - most aren't recognizable at all today.

Bogdanovich, Gazarra and most other major figures contributed their tales to this book, so you get a very lively picture. Theroux buffs will also happily soak up a few side aspects of how the original novel was conceived and written; but Theroux didn't play a big part in this movie production (even though he wrote an early draft of the script) and he doesn't appear often in Kinda Hot.

The preparations and the shoot seem very disorganized and that might be the reason why the movie seems to drag and to crumble, despite many individually nice scenes. But the book about the shoot is much better. Slater delivers delightful hot-country multi-cultural reading - I like his book much better than the movie (I'd give the movie 2,6 stars, the original novel 4,4 stars and maybe 4,6 for Slater).

I liked Slaters book even though I find his language rather ambitionless and too colloquial, with a string of typos. He uses past tense and avoids any journalistic tricks and styles. But the events are most interesting and seem to be thoroughly researched, not only through many interviews, but also by checking through production archives. I was well entertained.

The book is even more interesting given the fact that the DVD has no regular making-of report. It has a Bogdanovich interview (around 20 minutes) and then Bogdanovich's comment along the whole movie. But he keeps repeating a few things over and over: this was done in one long shot; this actor never acted before in his life, but was wonderful; this street or building doesn't exist any more.

Better grab the book. It also sports two dozen black-and-white images covering half a page each; most are casual snapshots or set photos, almost no PR stills. So you get to know the producers and camera men and see the main stars in off-screen moments. Slater's Kinda Hot blog has more interesting pictures, details and updates - it is very well worth a visit.

The book's title Kinda Hot stems from a sentence repeated often in the original novel, but less often in the movie. You don't have to buy Kinda Hot through Amazon; I e-mailed Slater for a book, sent him a reasonable amount by Paypal and received a brand new copy soon after - all very smooth. You'll find his e-mail address on his Kinda Hot blog and elsewhere.

By now, Slater even conducted bus tours to Saint Jack's shooting locations in Singapore, there are illustrated reports online. The movie itself is no longer prohibited in the Lion City, instead the National Museum proudly screens it. The novel, the movie, the book about the movie and Slater's Kinda Hot blog form a great package of hot-country multi-cultural entertainment that I thoroughly enjoyed.