Thoughts on Mask

via IMDB

"This is a public junior high school, Miss Dennis. There are special schools ... with wonderful facilities that might be more appropriate for his needs."

"Do you teach algebra and biology and English here?"

"(a nervous laugh) Of course."

"Those are his needs."

I could have quoted more from this scene, or when Rusty Dennis (Cher) informs a stuffy doctor that if she had dug the grave for her son Rocky (Eric Stoltz) every time he was expected to die, "I'd be eatin' fucking chop suey in China by now." They're memorable moments, but I don't want to give the wrong impression about Mask. Cher does more than just go around putting men in their place. Although now I want to see that movie ...

Mask works because for the most part, there are no star turns or cheap sentiment. Stoltz, wearing justifiably legendary makeup designed by Michael Westmore and Zoltan Elek, doesn't play Rocky as the bestest little boy in the whole wide world. He plays him as a clever, charming, funny, frustrated, lonely and loving teenager dealing with not only the emotional battlefield of adolescence, but the craniodiaphyseal dysplasia that's reducing his life expectancy and has disfigured his face.

Director Peter Bogdanovich and screenwriter Anna Hamilton Phelan deserve praise for approaching Mask with a blend of realism and heart. Bogdanovich gets wonderful performances across the board. Potentially flat characters like Diana (Laura Dern), the blind girl who becomes Rocky's girlfriend, Dozer (Dennis Burkley), the not-completely gentle giant of Rusty's biker buddies, even Lorrie the hooker (Kelly Jo Minter) ... they all have a life to them that you might not find in movies of this ilk.

"First time I met your mother, she was workin' at a bar. She had to wear this cheesy little two-piece thing. I could tell she hated it. Takin' a lot of shit from a lot of assholes. I asked to take her home. She said she was going get her kid and have his picture taken. At one of those stores. I said I'd ride her and the kid on the bike. She liked that. She came out of your grandma's house with you. You were five, maybe six. Well, shit. You didn't look like your regular kid, right? We get down to the store and she's standing in line with the rest of the mothers and kids. All the mothers and kids are staring at you. When it's your turn, she puts you on this big red block. The guy taking the picture nearly shits. You're sitting there with your nose running and this big damn smile on your face. I looked over at her ... and I never saw a woman more beautiful than the way she was looking at you."

Inspired by the story of the real Roy L. Dennis and his mother, Florence Tullis, Phelan's script is at its best when depicting the unique and strong family Rocky has. Sam Elliott is excellent as Gar, playing him with the right amount of badass integrity. He's also easily near the top of Cher's love scene partners. Again, it's all in the honesty. Gar and Rusty might bait each other ("That jacket's the only thing of yours that's ever gonna be on my bed again."), but it's obvious what they mean to each other.

Since I was little, I knew that Cher went all-in on her acting career from 1982-87. But it isn't until now that I've realized just how brave a choice that was. This is going to sound revisionist, but I don't give a shit: it was the gutsiest move any female entertainer made in the 1980s. She put herself on the line and it ultimately paid off in abundance. And I'd say this even if I was straight.

There are so many terrible ways Rusty could have been played. As a steamroller. As a slut. As a self-conscious saint. I know Bogdanovich and Cher didn't get along, but damn, they hit it out of the park with this one. She has no shortage of great scenes, like at the start and finish of the ill-fated visit by Rusty's parents (Estelle Getty and Richard Dysart), or when Gar comes to help Rusty write a letter to Rocky when he's at camp, or any moment between mother and son. Elliott might be one of Cher's best love scene partners, but Stoltz is one of her best scene partners, period.

Mask moved me. It wasn't so much in a break out the hankies kind of a way, although I did cry. It was in a way one is moved when they consider the beauty of a family, a mother, and a child.

"These things are good: ice cream with cake, a ride on a Harley, seeing monkeys in the trees, the rain on my tongue and the sun shining on my face. These things are a drag: dust in my hair, holes in my shoes, no money in my pocket and the sun shining on my face."

Recommended.

Thoughts:

-- Box Office: Grossing $48.2 million on a $7.5 million budget, this opened wide at No. 3 and came in at No. 15 for 1985.

-- Awards Watch: Cher and Stoltz were Golden Globe nominees, she in the lead category and he in supporting. I wouldn't call Rocky a supporting role, but ... Cher also tied with Norma Aleandro (for The Official Story, a movie we'll be watching in several months) for Best Actress at Cannes. Bogdanovich, meanwhile, was nominated for the Palme d'Or and Hamilton Phelan was nominated for a WGA award. When it came time for the Oscars, though, Cher and Stoltz were both snubbed. The makeup won both an Academy Award and a BAFTA.

-- Critic's Corner, the movie: "Powerful," according to People. "Very brave, candid and touching," David Denby wrote in New York. Roger Ebert and Vincent Canby weighed in on whether or not there was a feature film here. Canby: "... milks the emotions as shamelessly, and as clumsily, as Pollyanna ... it's the kind of story that would work better as a television feature." "Bogdanovich handles Mask a lot differently than a made-for-TV movie would have, with TV's disease of the week approach," Ebert wrote. His review includes some now-dated sentiment: "Hollywood wouldn't have the never to make a fictional tearjerker like this." Denby again: "Call it an unsentimental tearjerker."

-- Critic's Corner, the actors: "Stoltz ... gives a performance miraculously free of self-pity or fake courage," Denby wrote. Ebert: "It is a tribute to Eric Stoltz ... that we accept (Rocky) on his own terms." Ebert also liked Cher, saying she made Rusty "into one of the most interesting movie characters in a long time." I'm not sure who wrote the Washington Post review, but they felt Stoltz gave a winning performance and had an issue with Cher during the drug abuse scenes. "It's her occasion to do her Oscar turn, and her frazzled emotional displays actually seem nasty -- it looks as if she's trying to steal center stage from a deformed kid."

-- Memorable Music: The score's 9-6 in favor of songs not written for movies. I'm counting two selections from Mask, "Little Egypt" (sung during the restored scene of Rusty and Rocky providing campfire entertainment) and "The Promised Land" (played multiple times, including over the end credits). A few anachronisms occur because of the soundtrack, though. For example, "Born in the U.S.A." playing in a scene set in 1980.

-- Hey, It's ...!: Marsha Warfield.

-- "I'm ... real ... proud ... of ... you ... Rocky."

-- Okay, since I made such a big claim higher up, let's talk about other contenders for the "Most Gutsy" crown. There's Streisand filming Yentl and/or recording The Broadway Album. Tina Turner recording Private Dancer. Linda Ronstadt and the albums with Nelson Riddle. Bette Midler and her contract with Touchstone Pictures. Discuss.

-- This Weekend: Lost in America. On deck: The Last Dragon.