‘Edward Scissorhands’ (1990) — Sensitive and Scarred in California

Wynona Ryder embracing Johnny Depp as ‘Edward Scissorhands’

This is the movie that firmly cemented heartthrob actor Johnny Depp’s teen-idol “creds,” and with good reason. Sensitive and scarred, the impressionable Edward (charmingly played by Mr. Depp) is the scissor-handed Figaro for the laid-back California set — in actuality, the movie was filmed in Central Florida, sort of a return to Johnny and director Tim Burton’s small-town roots. It’s a beautifully crafted, highly sentimental, and mostly enjoyable film, despite brief episodes of crude language and forced humor.

Edward Scissorhands (1990) represents a modern parable of Burton’s pet hang-ups and pent-up feelings of having grown up in middle-class suburbia. It was also his and Depp’s first joint venture, a partnership made in cinematic heaven and one of (at last count) eight feature films they’ve participated in together.

Depp had his best role ever as the misunderstood boy-monster, a walking textbook of physical deformities and psychological debilities, but with a cookie-cutter-shaped heart of gold. In essence, Edward is a Quasimodo for the nineties, an atypical success story driven to fits of anger and violence by the very townspeople he earlier had befriended — fair-weather friends is more like it.

Much like Frankenstein’s monster, his story ends in death and tragedy, but Edward lives on, alone but happy in one of those stereotypical old mansions — blissfully trimming the verge as he goes about his business. Parallels to the legend of King Midas and that monarch’s two-sided gift of turning everything he touched into gold are evident throughout.

Edward (Johnny Depp) gives Avon lady Peg Boggs (Dianne Wiest) a haircut

An allegory of our own equal fascination with and fear of anything different or abnormal, Burton exploits Johnny’s sensitive side to its fullest. Indeed, his angst-derived interpretation of a misfit who just can’t seem to “fit in” was spot on casting. When the perky Avon lady Peg Boggs (played by a clueless Dianne Wiest) comes a-calling, only to discover Edward hiding under the ruins of what appears to be a window — with one of the window panes shaped like a broken cross — you know you’re in for a makeshift ride through pseudo-religious territory. I’ll be damned if that ruined castle where Edward resides in isn’t a stand-in for a makeshift cathedral.

The young Winona Ryder (whom Depp had been dating during the filming) is equally winning as Edwards’s would-be girlfriend, the blonde cheerleader Kim. Wiest is wonderfully ditzy as the perky, never-give-up Avon lady; a laid-back Alan Arkin is equally fine as Bill, the easygoing head of the household, and an all-but grown-up Anthony Michael Hall is cast (against type) as Jim, Ryder’s spoiled brat of a jock boyfriend.

There’s also that supporting cast, a must in any Burton film. Kathy Baker (The Right Stuff) is a howl as Edward’s sex-starved next-door neighbor Joyce, who just adores Tom Jones, a recurring Burton motif (see Mars Attacks!). And horror-movie icon Vincent Price has a field day as Edward’s elderly inventor, who tries to teach him the finer points of table etiquette, while his half-formed hand twitches nervously nearby.

Composer Danny Elfman’s lovely and evocative score, with celesta and women’s choir in the foreground, is beautifully sung and played by a 79-piece orchestra, a major factor in the movie’s long-term popularity and success. It’s worth comparing to Burton’s next opus, the Henry Selick-directed stop-motion feature The Nightmare Before Christmas, of which it shares a similar production design (Bo Welch) and art direction (Tom Duffield). Otherwise, this is early Tim Burton at his emoting best. Just the thing for a romantic Halloween night out for two!

Copyright © 2015 by Josmar F. Lopes

What’s Eating Johnny Depp? The Actor at Age 50: A Mid-Career Retrospective (Part Two) – The Best is Yet to Come!

Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?

Marlon Brando & Johnny Depp in ‘Don Juan DeMarco’ (www.blu-ray.com)

From my previous post, whereby I discussed actor Johnny Depp’s earliest forays into the cinematic realm (see link:https://josmarlopes.wordpress.com/2013/07/14/whats-eating-johnny-depp-the-actor-at-age-50-a-mid-career-retrospective/), one might have gathered from the evidence at hand that the recently turned half-century-old movie star enjoys playing nothing but lunatics, locos, kooks, oddballs, and all-around nut-jobs — and not necessarily in that order.

Far from it! A mere cursory look at his bulging filmography from the 1990s to the 2000s shows that decade to have been a most fertile period for the maturing Mr. Depp, one filled with challenging acting assignments and first-rate opportunities. But more significantly for his many admirers, it featured a welcome diversity and abundance of offbeat characterizations rarely encountered in the portfolio of lesser acting talents.

Take, for example, his pairing with movie veterans Marlon Brando and Faye Dunaway in the quirky romantic comedy Don Juan DeMarco (1995), about a handsome young man who believes he is the reincarnation of the notorious Latin lover, Don Juan. Depp’s traversal of the delusional but amorously-inspired Señor DeMarco caused a virtual stampede at the box office, compared to his previous efforts.

His spot-on Spanish accent (quite charming, one must say), Zorro-like mask, and broad-brimmed hat — not to mention that elegantly placed earring of his — add flavor and spice and everything very, very nice to Johnny’s onscreen performance. No doubt his seductive voice played a huge role in creating a convincing character, one capable of sweeping women viewers off their feet. Depp also got to show off his burgeoning swordsmanship, a skill that would come in handy on the set of Pirates of the Caribbean a few years hence.

Incidentally, the oft-repeated line, “Have you ever really loved a woman,” is echoed in the theme song by the same name, sung by Bryan Adams (and co-written with Michael Kamen and Robert John “Mutt” Lange) over the closing credits and played several times throughout the picture.

On a side note, Depp’s sessions with portly shrink Brando, wherein one of them has Marlon holding a cup of coffee in his hands while simultaneously reciting his lines to a seemingly attentive Don Juan — with the lines deliberately pasted onto the cup — are just one of that film’s highlights. The other is seeing two over-the-hill screen stars, Brando and Dunaway, play off one another so beautifully (and dance so vibrantly, too). They actually seem to be enjoying themselves tremendously, as they waltz in time to the movie’s theme.

What Johnny must have thought of all this remains an unspoken secret between him and the late Mr. Brando. It was another example of Depp’s eschewing of mainstream material for more (how shall we put it?) audacious and unconventional film fare.

Time is Not on His Side

‘Nick of Time’ movie poster

Speaking of the audacious and unconventional … Depp chose as his next project the time-sensitive thriller, Nick of Time. Also from 1995, the film was steered by action-movie director John Badham (Blue Thunder, WarGames, Point of No Return). Here, Johnny gets to play a mild-mannered accountant (we know he’s mild-mannered because of his wire-rimmed glasses — otherwise, how would you know that, right?), recently widowed and toting his young daughter along to a modern-day Amtrak station in modern-day L.A.

Depp meets up with two unsavory plotters, a Mr. “Smith” (vicious and no-nonsense Christopher Walken) and a Ms. “Jones” (humorless cohort Roma Maffia). The duo “enlists” him in an elaborate scheme wherein Depp is forced to comply with their plans to assassinate the state’s Governor (Marsha Mason), or else risk getting his daughter killed in exactly one hour and a half. Why that specific time frame? You’ll have to watch the movie to find out!

Despite the tight deadline (and the preposterous twists and turns of the plot), Johnny manages to convince a reluctant shoeshine guy, played by a crotchety and supposedly deaf Charles S. Dutton, to “aid” him in his quest at thwarting the thugs. This one boasts a reasonably high “incredibility” quotient (or, if you prefer, “What the f—–k was that?”). But with Depp in charge, all turns out well in the end. Would it be otherwise?

As farfetched as these types of convoluted story lines tend to get, Johnny played it straight throughout, sweating profusely as he watches the clock tick down to the appointed hour. So what’s the gimmick? It was all shot in “real time,” which neither audiences nor critics bought. The result: a big-time money-loser for all concerned.

Dead Men Tell No Tales

Depp as ‘Dead Man’ (wallmay.net1)

Johnny’s next challenge (and another bomb at the box-office, we’re sorry to say) was to headline a Western — a revisionist Western of all things, by cult director Jim Jarmusch. The film, Dead Man (1995), was not the type of picture most audience members liked or even cared for, but it did draw some positive reviews from critics, including the suitably impressed A.O. Scott of the New York Times, who insisted on calling it “one of the very best movies of the 1990s.” Uh, okay …

Shot in purposefully artsy-fartsy black and white, and with an earsplitting, wholly improvised electric-guitar score by Canadian-born rocker Neil Young, Johnny at least got to work with the independently financed Mr. Jarmusch, who in addition to his directing credits could add screenwriting, producing, acting, editing, and composing to his many and diverse accomplishments.

The picture featured a flock of celebrity participants, all of whom were working for Actor’s Equity wages it would seem (the budget was a mere $9 million). Among his fellow thespians were the likes of Robert Mitchum, John Hurt, Gabriel Byrne, Crispin Glover (his face blackened by coal), Gary Farmer, Lance Henricksen, Michael Wincott, Billy Bob Thornton, Mili Avital, Alfred Molina, and (yikes!) the ever-scandalous Iggy Pop.

Depp plays another of those passive/aggressive accountant types (with the requisite wire-rimmed glasses, no less) who, thanks to bogus advertising, heeds the ad’s bad advice by going west, young man — all the way from Cleveland, Ohio! Upon his arrival in the dingy western town of Machine, he’s told the accounting job has been filled and to be on his way, or else. Whereupon, Depp immediately gets into trouble by shooting the local gambler (Byrne), who happens to be the son of the owner (Mitchum) of the company that just showed him the door. Talk about bad luck!

As you can tell, complications ensue, one of them being the accountant’s name: William Blake. The other is a tag-along, wiseacre of a Native American named Nobody (a droll Gary Farmer), in an obvious homage to those Italian-made spaghetti Westerns starring Terence Hill. Nobody is enamored with Depp’s moniker (hint: he thinks he’s that William Blake, the poet and painter). You can imagine the put-ons, puns, and wordplay these two “fast-friends” engage in! Farmer gets the biggest laugh of all, when he calls Johnny a “stupid fucking white man!” This is in addition to the frequently uttered “Have you got any tobacco?” line, which is an all-too prevalent query, to the point of annoyance.

Depp & Gary Farmer in ‘Dead Man’ (tvtropes.org)

In mirroring its title, the atmosphere throughout Dead Man is deadpan, while the humor (or what passes for humor) is decidedly dark and low-key. Depp, however, is always worth watching. He has a real connection to this production via his own Native American roots, or so it’s been claimed. There’s a spiritual side to the story, too, as well as a touch of poetry and elegance. But what’s the point? The settings are stark and the skies are gray — for atmosphere, one would guess. However, the ever-present violence and one-too-many stomach-churning episodes (including throat-slashing and a head being crushed underfoot by one of the hired guns) may turn more viewers off than on.

Depp’s passive/aggressive mannerisms, however — that is, of a flailing fish out of water, a character so out of touch with his surroundings yet who somehow manages to extricate himself from his difficulties, while at the same time getting involved in situations he’d be better off not getting involved in — would be repeated innumerable times in his film work to come.

(End of Part Two — To be continued …)

Copyright © 2013 by Josmar F. Lopes

What’s Eating Johnny Depp? The Actor at Age 50: A Mid-Career Retrospective (Part One)

Johnny Depp at 50 (olsen-twins-news.com)

It’s always been my view that birthdays and anniversaries are affairs to be remembered and celebrated. In fact, my own birthday is just around the corner, thank you very much. And with respect to anniversaries, this month marks the one-year anniversary of my blog. Hooray!!!

So let me celebrate both these occasions in grand fashion with a toast (hip, hip, hooray!) to one of my favorite film performers: Mr. John Christopher Depp Jr. or, as he’s known in the trade, Johnny Depp.

Wait! What’s that you say? Bad boy Jacky’s turned 50? Wow! Now that’s a milestone worth talking about! I certainly wish him well and many belated returns of the day. But what gives that his latest film feature — Gore Verbinski’s The Lone Ranger — is such a box-office dud? That’s not exactly what I would call the perfect gift, now, is it?

Well, to be perfectly honest, Depp’s had his share of ups and downs, as well as hits and misses, during his nearly 29+-year movie career. But 50 is such a nice, round number that it would be a shame not to take advantage of this opening gambit for a deeper examination into Johnny Depp’s cinematic output.

With a star of this magnitude, there are usually issues to be addressed and questions to be asked (and answered). For one, what makes Depp so popular with fans? For another, what attributes does he bring to his roles that continue to outshine his rivals? My thought is to provide readers with a fair and balanced glimpse of exactly how far this iconic figure has come — and how far he still has to go in his profession.

Life is What You Make It

Depp in ‘21 Jump Street’ (tumblr.com)

Born in Owensboro, Kentucky on June 9, 1963, and the youngest of four kids, Depp and his family relocated numerous times until finally settling in Florida. But Junior didn’t stay put in the Sunshine State for long. With his parent’s subsequent separation and divorce, little Johnny was basically left to fend for himself. It was here that the kernel of the actor’s later alienation and notoriety was born.

A high school dropout, Depp changed venues to Los Angeles, where, after his initial contribution to a garage band floundered, he decided to take up acting. Landing a job as an extra in Hollywood, Depp’s so-called “big break” (or “crack-up,” depending on one’s point of view) came in 1984 with a minor role in Wes Craven’s A Nightmare on Elm Street. Some labeled his intro to moviedom as “the end of a career before it even began,” but no matter.

A tiny bit part in Oliver Stone’s Vietnam War epic, Platoon (1986), led to an offer to co-star in the fledgling Fox Network’s detective series, 21 Jump Street (1987-89). This was the beginning of Depp’s image as a teen idol, one the young thespian rightly resented.

After a two-year stint, John jumped ship, as it were, to appear in far-out director John Waters’ Cry-Baby (1990). A quirky follow-up to his earlier Hairspray from 1988, the cult favorite Cry-Baby (and the title character’s ability to cry on cue and swing his hips in Elvis Presley-like fashion) served to establish Depp’s reputation as a heartthrob on the big screen, in addition to paying homage to his salad days as a rock-n-roller.

Reuniting Waters with his Hairspray star Ricki Lake, Johnny was surrounded by a bevy of washed-up and/or left-of-leftfield screen aspirants and film veterans. The most egregious among them, if we may be allowed, include the likes of actress Polly Bergen, singer-dancer Joey Heatherton, former porn star Traci Lords, and punk rocker Iggy Pop, who as Cry-Baby’s spaced out but kindly stepdad is introduced on screen via a washtub: naked as a jaybird (yuck, gag-reflex!), Iggy has the time of his life scrubbing his bare backside with a giant laundry brush.

Despite the obvious nods to the King of Rock-n-Roll (in particular, moments that mimic and exaggerate the basic premise of Presley’s Jailhouse Rock), the film also made the young thespian Depp out to be a star on the rise, if not one to be watched.

Sensitive and Scarred

But the movie that firmly cemented those same teen-idol “creds” was Edward Scissorhands (1990). Sensitive and scarred, the impressionable Edward (charmingly played by Depp) is the scissor-handed Figaro for the laid-back California set (actually, Central Florida, a return to Johnny’s small-town roots).

The film is a modern parable of director Tim Burton’s pet hang-ups of having grown up in middle-class suburbia. It was also his and Johnny’s first joint venture, a partnership made in cinematic heaven and one of (at last count) eight movies they’ve participated in.

Depp & Winona Ryder in ‘Edward Scissorhands’

Depp had his best role ever as the misunderstood boy-monster, a walking textbook of physical deformities and psychological debilities, but with a cookie-cutter-shaped heart of gold. In essence, Edward is a Quasimodo for the nineties, an atypical success story driven to fits of anger and violence by the very townspeople he earlier had befriended. His story ends in death and tragedy, but Edward lives on, alone but happy in one of those stereotypical old mansions — blissfully trimming the verge as he goes about his business.

An allegory of our own equal fascination with and fear of anything different or abnormal, Burton exploits Johnny’s sensitive side to the fullest. Indeed, his angst-derived interpretation of a misfit who just can’t fit in was spot on. When the perky Avon lady Dianne Wiest comes a-calling, only to discover Depp hiding under the ruins of what appears to be a window — with one of the window panes shaped like a broken cross — you know you’re in for a makeshift ride through pseudo-religious territory.

The Strange and the Idiosyncratic

Depp’s love and appreciation for silent cinema manifested themselves in Benny & Joon (1993), a wonderfully low-key feature. Billed as a romantic comedy, the film turned out to be director Jeremiah Chechik’s ode to silent-movie greats Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, among others. As Joon, Mary Stuart Masterson was a last-minute replacement for Winona Ryder, after Ryder and Depp had broken up their ill-fated romance (which began on the Edward Scissorhands set). Joon is a mentally challenged young woman cared for by her overly protective older brother, Benny (sympathetically played by Aidan Quinn, another last-minute substitute).

Depp as Benny (fanpop.com)

As the porkpie hat-wearing video employee Sam, Depp is relegated to supporting status, although he winds up becoming Joon’s love interest during the course of the film. With his eccentric persona and idiosyncratic behavior (i.e., making grilled-cheese sandwiches with a flat-iron), Johnny grabs the acting honors and wins moviegoers’ hearts — especially when he channels Chaplin’s fork-and-roll dance routine from The Gold Rush and Keaton’s hat-on-the-ground shtick. We come to the obvious conclusion that Sam and Joon were meant for each other (no kidding), despite Benny’s concern for his sister’s well-being.

It’s a patently sentimental tale that could have grown mawkish and trite, but with the aid of Quinn, Masterson, and the always dependable Julianne Moore, however, Benny & Joon can be seen as another feather in the developing Depp’s acting cap. Add to this an unusually catchy end song by the Scottish pop-rock band The Proclaimers (“I’m Gonna Be 500 Miles”) and you have a surefire hit, what today is politely referred to as a “date flick.” And who wouldn’t want a date with Johnny?

Only the Lonely

Speaking of date flicks, here’s one that’s strictly off the beaten path (if not totally off the wall): 1993’s What’s Eating Gilbert Grape? A character driven story that’s three-parts-drama to one-part-comedy, this film’s loaded with “the bizarre and the unusual,” to say the least. Depp plays the title role, the sanest member (tongue planted firmly in cheek) of the Grape family, a supposedly dysfunctional bunch that’s moored to a small mid-western town called Endora.

Depp as Gilbert Grape

Gilbert’s mentally challenged younger brother Arnie, amazingly played by a young Leonardo DiCaprio, is constantly getting himself into hot water. DiCaprio has the showier role (and how similar to Benny & Joon is the plot of this tale, with Depp taking over as the caring older brother). He’s followed by the engaging Juliette Lewis as Becky, Mary Steenburgen as the love-smitten older woman Betty, and the truly remarkable 500-pound Darlene Cates, in her film debut, as Gilbert’s morbidly obese mother Bonnie, who hasn’t left the house since her husband’s suicide seven years earlier (!). Cates’ presence in the movie came about through her own sad and lonely past.

The highpoint of the story is when Arnie finds himself atop a water tower and is thrown into the hoosegow for his disruptive actions. This drives Bonnie to venture forth from the safety of her home, and confront her disapproving neighbors, in order to spring Arnie from jail, in what is a most bittersweet moment (that shot of Bonnie in the backseat of Gilbert’s van is priceless).

Though Depp’s easy affability and unsentimental take on the lead won critics over, it was DiCaprio who received the lion’s share of notices, along with an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. The ending stretches credibility to the breaking point, but overall this film makes a nice companion piece to Depp’s supporting turn in Benny & Joon.

Freak Show

If you thought What’s Eating Gilbert Grape? was odd, wait till you get a load of this one! We come to quirkiness personified: Ed Wood from 1994, one of Johnny’s finest screen creations. Right from the opening scene, a fidgety, never-say-die enthusiasm surrounds the person of Edward D. Wood Jr. As the no-talent outsider looking in, Wood is another of Depp’s classic portrayals of oddballs who either don’t belong in polite society or haven’t a clue as to why they can’t be like other folks.

Billed as the “worst director of all time,” Wood became famous, if that’s the right term, for his poorly acted, poorly scripted, ludicrously directed and abysmally edited low-budget fare. Despite the title character’s faults as a filmmaker, Depp uses his onscreen charm to make the most of Wood’s efforts and absurdities, and in the process makes him reasonably appealing to fans.

Johnny as Ed Wood (cineplex.com)

A disappointment at the box office, the movie wisely concentrates on Ed’s spur-of-the-moment friendship with the down-and-out Bela Lugosi, the centerpiece of the action.

Another Tim Burton collaboration, the story line incorporates several of Wood’s notorious clunkers, among them Glen or Glenda, Plan 9 from Outer Space, and Bride of the Monster. Burton’s reenactments of these flicks are fairly close to the originals (but not too close, thank goodness), with some leeway here and there for individual interpretation.

Surrounding Depp is a veritable who’s who of supporting actors playing a laundry list of fellow losers, including the remarkable Martin Landau (an Academy Award winner for Best Supporting Actor) as a track-marked Bela Lugosi; Sarah Jessica Parker as Wood’s girlfriend, the talentless Dolores Fuller (the one with the angora sweater); Patricia Arquette as Wood’s other girlfriend, Kathy O’Hara (who doesn’t mind that Eddie has a sweater fetish); the buxom Lisa Marie (va-va-va-voom!) as horror host Vampira; Jeffrey Jones as bogus psychic Criswell; Bill Murray as the fey Bunny Breckinridge; pro wrestler George “The Animal” Steele as man-mountain Tor Johnson; and Max Casella and Brent Hinckley as production assistants Paul Marco and Conrad Brooks, respectively.

Vincent D’Onofrio of Law & Order fame has a brief bit as Orson Welles (he’s voiced by Maurice LaMarche, the actor who did Pinky and the Brain). Otherwise, Depp (with or without his front teeth) is the cinematic glue that holds this disparate group together. Howard Shore wrote the clever theramin-based score and Stefan Czapsky provided the black-and-white photography. Incredible production designs (Tom Duffield again) perfectly capture the look and spirit of low-budget fifties movies at their (choke, gasp) “finest.” And remember, dear friends: it’s all based on sworn testimony!

(To be continued…)

Copyright © 2013 by Josmar F. Lopes