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Bright Lights, Big City

I'm a pretty big fan of the novel, but I had NO idea there had been a film produced. Any good?

I like the inclusion of a McInerney commentary.

I'd never heard of it before I saw it on DVDActive this morning, but looks like a good one to watch in prep for the '80s list.

Probably one of Michael J Fox' better outings, I remember it well.

I saw this in the theaters with a friend of mine who blew off his 19th Century Philosophy final to drink several pints of cheap port. It's hard to forget a detail like that. He was a big K. Sutherland fan. I also remember that in the afternoon screening we attended, an elderly couple walked out during one of the snorting coke in the bathroom stall scenes; they really looked pissed. As they passed by our row, one of them declared that they would never watch Family Ties again. Again, you just don't forget moments like that.

They should have kept the great poster art. That image must be pretty indelible as it's stayed with me for years.

I assume a re-release of James Ivory's horrifyingly bad version of Slaves of New York must also be immanent (Bernadette, I love you baby but you just couldn't save this one).

And, hey, as long as we're trawling the 80's why not a special edition of Wisdom?

HerrSchreck wrote:Probably one of Michael J Fox' better outings, I remember it well.

Yeah, that and his performance in Casualties of War hinted that he could do more than sitcoms and silly comedies Secret of My Success.

I haven't watched Bright Lights in years but I would imagine that it would make a good double bill with Less Than Zero.

I'm really surprised that James Spader's isn't in this one as he seemed to have cornered the market in the '80s for playing yuppie scumbags.

Rather poignant (or instructive, depending on your level of empathy/forgiving-nature) also owing to the present state of Fox, owing to all that Bright-Lights-style partying that went on back then, and forward.

But yeah, it pretty much was/is considered one of Fox' better/best moments.

HerrSchreck wrote:Rather poignant (or instructive, depending on your level of empathy/forgiving-nature) also owing to the present state of Fox, owing to all that Bright-Lights-style partying that went on back then, and forward.

Huh? Michael J. Fox has Parkinson's disease.

I never saw it even though I had a roommate at the time who got the lasedisc on initial release. I just remember being enthused at the time that they got a new song out of Donald Fagen ("Century's End") for the soundtrack. I was in a big Steely Dan phase in the late 80s so that was a big deal to me. I recall scanning through roomie's laser just to find the song in the movie to see how they treated it. Pretty sure I still have the single, either cassette single or 45, somewhere around the house. Yes, I was too cheap to buy the entire soundtrack in 89 or 90 or whenever it was, even though it was a decent 80's grab bag of songs.

StevenJ0001 wrote:

HerrSchreck wrote:Rather poignant (or instructive, depending on your level of empathy/forgiving-nature) also owing to the present state of Fox, owing to all that Bright-Lights-style partying that went on back then, and forward.

Huh? Michael J. Fox has Parkinson's disease.

Huge apologies I'm mistaken, but the story was going around when he first announced that he had Parkinson's, that it was the result of doing Ecstasy.

Not all X is pure mdma, of course... a lot of the shit floating around clubs is a mixture of coke, barbiturates, heroin/synthetic opiates, and other psychoactive drugs krunked together into a solid pill, to simulate the general effect.

i.e.... Black market labs when unable to get their hands on mdma would apparently lean heavily on the opiate aspect of the above-type cocktail, as the euphoria in a non-dependent individual is profound. And these underground chemists would simply (this is known fact) use total synthetics rather than go out and risk importing H to supplement a temporary mdma dry spell. So they would usually shoot for demerol/fentanyl, etc-- in other words 100% synthetic opiates.

Problem is if you fuck up very slightly on the chemistry of demorol (I believe in one of the aromatic rings) you produce a compound capable of producing instant and permanent Parkinsons disease in the unfortunate drug-taker. There are others--sloppy demerol/ morphine-analogues-- which over time work the same effect on the system.

The story going around (when he revealed he had Parkinsons) was that this was the cause of his affliction... though if it's been established otherwise I stand corrected. I can't claim to be knowledgeable about the guy.. the last I even read anything about him was when jerkoff Limbaugh (drug douchebag hypocrite #1) was mocking Fox and imitating his body movements when fighting for stem cell availability.

I've never heard that story, so I was surprised at your post. Maybe there's truth in it; I couldn't say one way or the other.

On Limbaugh, however, we can agree with no ambiguity.

I wonder if any of these new featurettes/commentaries will address the film's many production problems. Yikes.

If it's any better than The Boost, I'll give it a chance. That film is just awful, like old-school Tarantino directing an after-school special.

starmanof51 wrote:I never saw it even though I had a roommate at the time who got the lasedisc on initial release. I just remember being enthused at the time that they got a new song out of Donald Fagen ("Century's End") for the soundtrack. I was in a big Steely Dan phase in the late 80s so that was a big deal to me. I recall scanning through roomie's laser just to find the song in the movie to see how they treated it. Pretty sure I still have the single, either cassette single or 45, somewhere around the house. Yes, I was too cheap to buy the entire soundtrack in 89 or 90 or whenever it was, even though it was a decent 80's grab bag of songs.

Also notable for its inclusion of an outtake from "Sign O the Times", back when Prince didn't do much contribution to third-party releases. I remember it being a surprisingly decent film, but like you my main point of reference is the soundtrack album that's been lurking on my shelves for 20 years.

I watched the original DVD release when it first came out (2003 if memory serves, and a pan and scan job, to boot). If you happened to be in your late teens to mid-twenties when the film was released - I graduated high school in '88 and attended NYU shortly thereafter - it's difficult not to see the film as a fairly accurate and somewhat disconcerting time capsule. The overall strength of the performances also elevates it from purely anthropological status. As to the James Spader role, this one is inhabited by Kiefer Sutherland.

I also went through a major Steely Dan phase (please don't behead me with an Al Jarreau record) and I have the soundtrack as well.

Incidentally, I think Fagen's Century's End actually does a more effective, insightful job than either McInerney or the film in a scant few minutes.

In short, it's certainly worth revisiting if you've already seen it and worth a look if you haven't.

TomReagan wrote:I also went through a major Steely Dan phase (please don't behead me with an Al Jarreau record) and I have the soundtrack as well.

Incidentally, I think Fagen's Century's End actually does a more effective, insightful job than either McInerney or the film in a scant few minutes.

I'm in the midst of mine right now, and the SD connection was the first thing I thought of when I saw this thread. Seeing them live tomorrow night to boot!

The McInerney commentary is intriguing.

Oedipax wrote:The McInerney commentary is intriguing.

I'll probably end up getting this, and am looking forward to hearing the commentary. I wish more authors would get asked to do/actually do commentaries on films made from their work. (Ellis on American Psycho would be really interesting).

kaujot wrote:I'll probably end up getting this, and am looking forward to hearing the commentary. I wish more authors would get asked to do/actually do commentaries on films made from their work. (Ellis on American Psycho would be really interesting).

Yeah, I enjoyed Chuck Palahniuk's comments on his Fight Club commentary track. I am curious to hear McInerney's comments as back in the day, he reportedly gave the film his seal of approval and did work on the script pretty extensively.

DVD Verdict review. Sounds like both audio commentaries are worth checking out and the transfer is quite good as well. I think I'll be picking this up soon.

Washington Post reviews the DVD.