As we mentioned yesterday, this past weekend we went on a bit of a Francis Ford Coppola bender now that “Hearts Of Darkness” has finally been released on DVD.
So we watched Coppola’s pioneering, but critically (and commercially) roasted 1982 Vegas musical, “One From The Heart.”
After the comeback success of “Apocalypse Now,” you’d think Coppola would aim for the pie in the sky – and he eventually did – but ‘Heart’ was meant to be a small picture.
Famous last words; the film ran colossally over budget (from an original $2 million to over $25) , would ruin his American Zoetrope studios and lead Coppola to declare bankruptcy (the film put him so deep in hock, he basically spent the rest of his career, even up until “The Rainmaker,” taking work for hire films to pay off his debts, though one can easily argue that pictures like the arty “Rumble Fish” were much more than just commercial endeavors. Basically: if you hate Coppola’s ’80s films and beyond, blame this film).
“One From The Heart” is the film where Coppola’s wild ambition – the one that critics assumed would destroy ‘Apocalypse’ due to its long-winded shooting schedule and mammoth on-set problems – finally got the best of him.
This neon, highly stylized break-up film might be a failed experiment, but man, is it one of the most pretty failures to look at ever. Shot by Coppola’s right-hand man, legendary cinematographer Vittorio Storaro (one of the greatest ever; see the amazing “Writing With Light” documentary about his stunning visual work) the film is a dazzling and vibrant explosion of color, contour, and eye-popping, expressive photography (Warren Beatty would later ape many of these vibrant color techniques when he hired Storaro to shoot “Dick Tracy”).
Failure and technicolor photography aside, ‘Heart’ is also notable for its ambitious moving sets, its pioneering use of video assist (de rigeur now) and its TV-like lightning console expertly choreographed to fade in and out while the camera was rolling adding to the dreamy, impressionistic quality of the film.
For the score Coppola turned to Bourbon-soaked songwriter Tom Waits to compose the songs for the film before it was shot. While it isn’t a “musical” per se – no one’s really singing onscreen – the songs tenor and mood would eventually dictate the film’s day-glo atmosphere and choreography. “What I really want you guys to do is make an album called One From The Heart and then I’ll make a movie that goes with it,” Coppola recalled telling Waits in the Cd’s liner notes. He was introduced to Waits’ music through his late son Gian-Carlo Coppola (the elder brother to Sofia and Roman) who died from a boating accident in 1986 at the age of 22, who gave his father Foreign Affairs as a gift (which might explain his ever-loving affection for Waits).
The gravelly singer would become friends with Coppola and make appearances in “The Cotton Club,” “The Outsiders,” “Rumble Fish,” and “Bram Stokers Dracula.”
For the dueling love story conversation, Waits and Coppola enlisted American country and pop singer, Crystal Gayle to duet with him on the call and response songs (Bette Midler was their original girl, but scheduling conflicts put the kibosh on the idea; her Affairs duet with Waits “I Never Talk To Strangers” was the original impetus for “One From The Heart” ). The score ranged from characteristically boozy, late-night piano bar-room Waits music – when the bar is closed, it’s 4 am and it’s no one’s on the streets cause it’s pouring out – to blues numbers, downbeat jazzy moods, big band, rumba and more orchestrated soaring movie numbers. Waits was nominated for an Academy Award for Original Music Score that year.
Download: Tom Waits – “Broken Bicycles”
Download: Tom Waits – “Candy Apple Red”
Download: Tom Waits & Crystal Gayle – “Picking Up After You”
Short documentary on the making of the “One From The Heart” score (from the DVD extras):
Scene from the film, featuring the titular track, “One From The Heart”
