Word: mamet
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...might therefore join De Palma and Screenwriter David Mamet in a prayer that their epic work -- a masterpiece of idiomatic American moviemaking as well as a plangent commentary on its traditions -- will be spared from the literalists, complaining both that the gore is too real and that the characters are not real enough. Protect them as well from the wrath of the traditionalists, who resist the intrusion of originality on their passion for the endless restatement of stale generic conventions. Deliver them instead to the audience that will be galvanized, as the filmmakers were, by the chance to reimagine...
Ness is even more radically redefined. Mamet says he sees him as a lone town tamer of Western legend. De Palma has evoked the name of John Ford to suggest the classic qualities he was aiming for. And Costner has something of the grave beauty Gary Cooper used to bring to these roles...
What is true of Connery's work applies to the whole movie. Mamet's elegantly efficient script does not waste a word, and De Palma does not waste a shot. The result is a densely layered work moving with confident, compulsive energy. One sequence is set in Chicago's Union Station, where Ness and Stone must take a key witness from the Mob's protective custody. Into their stakeout blunders a mother maneuvering a baby carriage up a staircase. What delirious conflict between Ness the lawman and Ness the family man, as he tries to protect the infant and simultaneously...
Daniel Zelman '89, who has acted in three Ex shows and directed A Bunch of Little Mamet Things there last semester says, "The Ex is special because you don't have to worry about dealing with house drama societies. And, you don't have to worry about getting an audience. Plus, there's all the Loeb equipment...
...Esterhaus opened each episode with its trademark roll call) to the 1985 departure of Steven Bochco, the show's co- creator, fired after reported disputes over cost overruns. Yet new characters (like Dennis Franz's choleric Lieut. Buntz) and continued good scripts (including one this season by Playwright David Mamet) injected fresh life. "This one never went downhill," says NBC Entertainment President Brandon Tartikoff. "It's like a ballplayer: you want to see someone go out a winner, like Sandy Koufax, instead of dropping fly balls in left field...