15th Hall of Fame

I liked it! I've not seen anything else like this that I recall. So this was definitely a hidden gem. It felt like some of the personal, independent films that were made in the early to mid 1970s. Not surprising then, as it was Dennis Hopper who directed Easy Rider. I thought Out of the Blue came close to being an urban-docudrama underground classic.

There's a lot to like here as the film delves into the psyche of a disturbed teenage girl...and the wreck of a life that she's left with after her boozing, irresponsible father slams into a school bus killing the kids on board. Sure she's a weird kid! Which in itself was fascinating and the actress that plays her, Linda Manz commands attention. Just the look of weathered pain on her face, and her aggressive nature tells us she's the walking wounded. I thought she was excellent in the role. She's also really good in The Wanderers (1979) and in Terrence Malick's Days of Heaven (1978). I could have watched her strange life and the odd places she went for hours, it felt real to me.

Dennis Hooper was well suited to his role as the drunken, lout dad. The troubled floozy of a mom was played to trashy perfection by Sharon Farell. These are some messed up people! but their lives felt real, so real you could almost smell the Jack Daniels and the stale smoke on their clothes.

The sub plot about the angry father wanting to settle the score for the death of his son on the school bus, put an even deeper spin on things. And I wish they would have staid more on that theme. Because even though he was out of jail after serving 5 years, he could never be free of what he did. It would always eat at him... and with the anger the parents would feel towards him, his inability to keep a job and his own grief...that would have tore him apart. So I think it was mistake not letting that grief drive the rest of the film to it's climax.

I do think the director took the film down a notch by including the seedy sex scenes situations (nothing is really shown). They weren't really needed and seemed to be more for titillation. The first one where CeBe goes to a taxi drivers room to smoke a joint and there's a girlfriend? or was it a prostitute? also in the room who's there to make it with Cebe? Ahhh...That was all a bit to unbelievable. It seemed like throwing in the proverbial car chase for good measure. Then in the end when Dad wants mom to have sex with her daughter? Even though nothing happens it felt like a carnival ride or exploitative film, when the rest of the movie was pushing urban art legend.

But still I thought highly of it AND it was a neat nomination as it's not well known.