A handsome drifter finds his life changed when he takes a job as a hotel handyman in 1969's The Big Bounce. Ryan O'Neal and Leigh Taylor-Young star in this clever crime film based on an Elmore Leonard novel.
O'Neal plays Jack, the drifter who's fired from his day labour job in cucumber fields after hitting a co-worker in the face with a baseball bat. The local justice of the peace, played by Van Heflin in the best performance in the film (by a long shot), takes a liking to Jack and gives him the job at the hotel.
It's implied that Heflin's character likes Jack at least partly because he doesn't like Mexicans and seemed to enjoy watching footage of Jack hitting the man. Jack seems wary of Heflin but is too down on his luck to pass up on the gig.
Then he meets Nancy, the adolescent secretary of his former boss. She's supposed to be no older than 18 though actress Leigh Taylor-Young looks older than the 24 years old she was in reality (too much 1960s foundation on her face, I think). But it would've been hard to find many actresses willing to do all the nudity required by the role. Nancy seems to want to be naked at any and all opportunities.
Everyone warns Jack she's trouble. Jack knows she's trouble. But he plays ball anyway with her harebrained and increasingly psychotic hijinks.
O'Neal is bland as usual but the film is a nice blend of '60s madcap comedy and a grim drama of human compulsion.
No comments:
Post a Comment