Quackser Fortune Has a Cousin in the Bronx

Hollywood’s painful transition into the ‘70s was marked by several recurring themes both onscreen and off. Counterculture politics and the rise of the film school generation resulted in films that rattled some cages and took intentionally obtuse detours into offbeat territory.  Case in point, 1970’s Quackser Fortune Has a Cousin in the Bronx, which champions the underdog with a Cinderella gender reversal set in the working-class streets of Dublin.

 Quackser (Gene Wilder) himself is a self-employed dung collector, sweeping up horse manure left behind by delivery carts and reselling his “merchandise” back to local gardeners.  But with the mechanization of Dublin on the horizon, Quackser’s dreamy disposition might soon put him out of work permanently.  Enter Zazel (Margot Kidder), a bored and wealthy American studying at Trinity College, who finds Quackser’s candid demeanor and lack of ambition charming.  The two strike up a tenuous romantic relationship that culminates in an embarrassing incident at a black-tie affair where their two worlds eventually collide.

A blue-collar fairytale, director Waris Hussein’s film serves as the template for the dozens of cinematic anti-social heroes that followed throughout the decade and beyond. You can even see some DNA in films celebrating misunderstood outsiders like Edward Scissorhands. But being a product of the ‘70s, the film doesn’t make things easy.  It challenges your sympathy for a main character who seems content to allow life to determine his course…without lifting a finger to change its direction.  

But if anyone can pull it off, it’s Gene Wilder.  Radiating that same aura of naïve likability and veiled rage he would pack into Willy Wonka just one year later, the actor is completely unpredictable here, swinging between the innocent appeal of a Disney chimney sweep and the desperate frustration of man whose world is crumbling around him.  And as Zazel, Kidder brings more to her role of seductress than the script suggests, baffling Quackser – and the audience at times – with her wild mood swings and casual view of sex.  Their relationship defies the conventions of class and social constructs.  So, as you might expect, even its happy ending is unconventional.

Likely a first-time view for most of us (I’ve never even seen this one turn up on TCM), VCI Entertainment delivers a really nice-looking Blu-ray transfer just swimming in gorgeous ‘70s cinematography.  Extras include a photo gallery, trailer and commentary track by Robert Kelly who does his best to add some behind-the-scenes backstory.

 

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

All Ladies Do It / Frivolous Lola

Image
Every semi-professional review of erotica probably starts off with the same question:  what’s the difference between porn and art?  The internet age has essentially done away with foreplay; sex is merely the act of completion itself, minus the threat of any malware or suspicious browser activity.  But the work of Italian director Tinto Brass, for all its leering upskirt shots of derrieres and pubic hair, still communicates something that websites like Pornhub never will:  the art of seduction.  All Ladies Do It  (1992), a breezy sexual adventure, follows Diana (Claudia Koll) whose marriage is threatened by her fantasies of dalliances with other men, stories her husband believes are nothing more than exciting role play.  But her loose definition of adultery inspires plenty of promiscuous hook-ups, taking advantage of any (ahem)  loophole  that provides a quick thrill.   Flirting with some hardcore sequences (there...
Read more

Hand of Death

Image
Even hardcore martial arts fans will admit that not  every  film is worth watching.  With the sheer amount of product pushed out from Shaw Brothers and Golden Harvest at the height of the kung-fu craze, quite a few lesser efforts slipped through the cracks, many serving as a training ground for new talent on the way up.  So even if the final product – like 1976’s  Hand of Death  - is aggressively average, there’s bound to be some novelty when it comes to the talent involved.  Names like John Woo, Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung are sure to attract interest.  But put them all in the same film and you’ve got yourself some must-see viewing!   Yet another showcase for the mythical shaolin brotherhood, here a monk, Yun Fei, is sent to exact vengeance on a ruthless warlord, Shih Shao-Feng, who’s made a long list of enemies throughout the province.   Yun Fei assembles a team of talented fighters to defeat Shao-Feng and ...
Read more

Charley Chase at Hal Roach: The Late Silents 1927

Image
As a niche within a niche, silent films are certainly a hard sell for modern audiences.  Even Turner Classic Movies can only spare a couple hours a week in their schedule on late Sunday nights.  Perhaps because silents are positioned as something to be appreciated rather than enjoyed, dry history lessons held back by their crude technical limitations.  But the newly restored  Charley Chase   at Hal Roach: The Late Silents 1927  proves silent  comedy  was anything but.  A “do-it-all” comedian, Chases’ on camera persona relied less on slapstick than farcical domestic situations.  Unlike Chaplin’s  tramp  character, Charley often played a put-upon everyman just trying to catch a break.  The first two shorts in the set are a prime example:  There Ain’t No Santa Claus  follows his character’s attempt to hide the purchase of a Christmas gift for his wife from his rent-hungry landlord…while...
Read more