Word: diner
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Levinson is best known for hissemi-autobiographical comedy-dramas "Diner" and"Tin Men," and "The Natural. The screenplay for"Good Morning, Vietnam" was written by formerM*A*S*H screenwriter Mitch Markowitz...
Bunthorne makes a big point of ignoring his bevy of beat beauties. But when his eternal love appears, air-headed, pink-clad diner waitress Patience (Valerie Bryce), he practically swoons. Though he refuses to read to the slavering masses, he promises her, "I'll read it if you bid me, baby!", launching into an orgy of hilariously over-done verse. Needless to say, Patience understands none of it, and on top of that, she doth not dig the poet...
...roommate was still up writing a paper. She took one look at me, saved the text, grabbed my hand, and marched me down to the Tasty--the only all-night diner in the Square...
WILSON aims for verisimilitude in his diner's atmosphere, which means that all 22 characters are often talking at once. It takes some time for the audience to learn which conversations to listen to at any moment, or even which character is which. Still, most of the characters, like musicians, have in their dialogue recognizable themes and rhythms. Director Paul Dervis deserves praise for his orchestration of this symphony of fear and loathing, keeping it somewhere between the rigidity of a baroque set of variations and the looseness of a free-form jazz improvisation...
Individual soloists do emerge for the occasional aria. Notable among these is Dopey (David Frisch), a heroin addict who steps out of the diner and into the audience to explain the psychological motivations of other characters. There is also a chorus of drunks and junkies who offer a street rap about their lives, which consist mainly of waiting for the next drink or the next nickel...