Simple Men **** (1992, Robert John Burke, William Sage, Karen Sillas, Elina Löwensohn, Martin Donovan) – Classic Movie Review 7101

Writer-director Hal Hartley’s striking third feature Simple Men (1992) reaches the parts other movies do not, as a pair of brothers, Bill and Dennis McCabe (Robert John Burke, William Sage) – good boys with bad attitudes – set off in search of their long-lost anarchist father, in hiding for 20 years. A vengeful Bill plans to seduce the next woman he sees and cast her aside.

Along the way from New York to Long Island, they find truth, love and responsibility, as well as trouble and desire, in this endearingly oddball romantic adventure movie.

It perhaps does not have a lot of dynamism and drive, but, to compensate, there are charisma and truth aplenty. Simple Men is an oddball mix of road movie, comedy and crime drama thriller, but it is entirely its own thing, and a commendable one.

Also in the cast are Karen Sillas, Elina Löwensohn, Martin Donovan, Mark Chandler Bailey, Chris Cooke, Jeffrey Howard, Holly Marie Combs, Joe Stevens, Damian Young, Marietta Marich, John MacKay, Bethany Wright, Richard Reyes, James Hansen Prince and Matt Malloy.

Simple Men is directed by Hal Hartley, runs 106 minutes, is made by American Playhouse, Channel Four Films, Fine Line Features, True Fiction Pictures and Zenith Entertainment, released by Fine Line Features (US) and Metro (UK), written by Hal Hartley, shot in Technicolor by Michael Spiller, produced by Ted Hope, Hal Hartley, Bruce Weiss and Jerome Brownstein, scored by Ned Rifle, sand designed by Daniel Oulette.

It follows The Unbelievable Truth (1989) and Trust (1990).

The script quotes Fritz Lang’s Dr Mabuse: The Gambler (1922): ‘There’s no such thing as adventure. There’s no such thing as romance. There’s only trouble and desire.’

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7101

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