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Posted: **Fri Nov 30, 2007 10:57 pm**

An interesting article from The Onion AV Club's My Year Of Flops:

A few days ago, I got a mysterious package from cult filmmaker William Richert (Winter Kills). It contained a homemade dub of his director's cut of a film he made with River Phoenix that played in theaters as A Night In The Life Of Jimmy Reardon but that Richert had re-re-titled Aren't You Even Gonna Kiss Me Goodbye? after the semiautobiographical novel he wrote as a 19-year-old....

...Goodbye isn't a lost masterpiece, but it's a nifty little sleeper - funny, sad, heartfelt and true, with an adolescent angst that lingers. Richert plans to show it on his website (williamrichert.com) beginning December 15th and is apparently looking to book it in theaters as well. In his letter, Richert asks that critics review it as a brand new film, so I'm going to admonish everyone to check out this swell new film and keep an eye out for this Phoenix kid.

Posted: **Thu Dec 13, 2007 3:28 pm**

Richert has recut his films after an initial release before. The American Success Company became Success.

He's quite an interesting filmmaker (Winter Kills is some sort of masterpiece) and actor (memorably playing Falstaff to Keanu's Prince Hal in My Own Private Idaho ) But the industry has never liked mavericks in the past -- and less so now.

Posted: **Thu Dec 13, 2007 4:49 pm**

This director's cut also has an orchestral score by the late Elmer Bernstein that the studio tossed out at the time for being "too old fashioned." Gotta love Elmer - I'm sure it's lovely music.

Posted: **Thu Dec 13, 2007 4:50 pm**

Wow, that's big news!

Posted: **Thu Dec 13, 2007 4:56 pm**

Indeed it is; I wonder if Varese Sarabande or Intrada (or one of those great composer labels) is considering a release of the director's cut soundtrack?

From WilliamRichert.com:

featuring a new song by Johnnie Mathis a score by the legendary Elmer Bernstein and the song that River Phoenix wrote just for the movie's end credit sequence.

According to Richert on his site, Elmer's score is romantic and jazzy, performed by the London Philharmonic.

By the way, I remember seeing the released version years and years ago on TV (which, as I look it up now, had a score by Rocky composer Bill Conti). Don't remember too much, but the scene early on with River and the girl in the fields is rather vivid in my mind. Wouldn't mind seeing this film again, especially with a "new" Bernstein score.

Posted: **Sat Dec 15, 2007 9:45 pm**

Oh, Meredith Salenger...

I caught this late one night on television entirely by accident and was hooked. It doesn't veer too far from the footsteps of other coming-of-age women-trouble tales, but it's very nimble and surprisingly delicate.

Posted: **Wed Dec 19, 2007 2:58 pm**

Dylan wrote:According to Richert on his site, Elmer's score is romantic and jazzy, performed by the London Philharmonic.

By the way, I remember seeing the released version years and years ago on TV (which, as I look it up now, had a score by Rocky composer Bill Conti). Don't remember too much, but the scene early on with River and the girl in the fields is rather vivid in my mind. Wouldn't mind seeing this film again, especially with a "new" Bernstein score.

I've seen this new cut and let me tell ya, the inclusion of Mathis' song and Bernstein's score changes the tone of the film COMPLETELY. It really is almost like watching an entirely different film and is a good argument for how music can affect the mood and meaning of a scene/entire film.

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A Night In The Life Of Jimmy Reardon (William Richert, 1988)