“Crazy Heart:” Bridges At His Best and One of the Year’s Best Movies

OSCAR ODDS?

“Crazy Heart” is the film that should win Jeff Bridges his long-overdue Oscar. The veteran Hollywood star has turned in 4 Oscar-nominated performances, stretching back 38 years to his first nomination for 1972’s “The Last Picture Show.” (Others were: 1975: “Thunderbolt and Lightfoot”; 1985: “Starman”; 2001: “The Contender”).

Bridges is 60 years old, now and he’s never won that Oscar. This just might be his year. (Especially given his reception at the Golden Globe awards on January 17, 2010).

BAD BLAKE

In “Crazy Heart” Bridges doesn’t so much “play” the alcoholic, broken-down country-and-western singer Bad Blake as he inhabits that character, which is what he has done so well for so many years in so many films. Bad Blake is 57 and he’s broke. He’s reduced to playing bowling alleys like the Spare Room, where the owner refuses to run a bar tab for the hard-drinking singer (who is partial to McClure’s), but tells him, “Mr. Blake, let me personally offer you all the free bowling you want.”

Bad Blake is the kind of musician with true talent that carried him far, but talent he abused and wasted by drinking too much, smoking too much, and screwing too much. Now, says Bad, “I’m 57 years old and I’m broke…My career’s goin’ nowhere.” Some have remarked on parallels to Mickey Rourke’s character in “The Wrestler.” That’s understandable, but the films take very different plot paths. “The Wrestler” may be a more dramatic examination of an old dog who’s having trouble learning new tricks, but there are echoes of the theme of the family that has been sacrificed at the altar of career.

A doctor tells Bad (after a minor car accident in his ’78 Suburban van) that Bad has a broken ankle, a concussion, emphysema, and is a good candidate for heart problems and a stroke. He cautions Bad that he must stop smoking and drinking and lose 25 pounds. He adds, ”You’re an alcoholic.” Bad doesn’t say this line to the doctor, but to the woman he is wooing (Maggie Gylenhaal) when she cautions him about his drinking and smoking. It sums up his self-destructive behavior through the first two-thirds of the film: “I don’t want to hear it, darlin.’”

Bad writes songs with lyrics like, “I used to be somebody, now I am somebody else. Who walks in tomorrow is anybody’s guess.” He’s also the kind of troubadour of the road who says of his nomadic lifestyle, “I’ve played sick, broke, divorced and on the run. Bad Blake hasn’t missed a show in his entire life, even if it’s in a bowling alley backed by a bunch of hippies.”

STEPHEN BRUTON

The bunch of hippies referenced above is Bad’s on-the-road pick-up band, “Tony and the Renegades”. Playing the character Tony is Ryan Bingham, one-half of the team that composed the Golden Globe-winning song “Weary Heart,” the theme song from the movie. The wonderful songs (especially good lyrically) were written by T Bone Burnett, who paired with Bingham and the man to whom the movie is dedicated, Stephen Bruton (also credited on guitar and mandolin). Bruton died on May 9, 2009, of throat cancer at age sixty.

When your eye looks over the song credits at the end, notice how many of them Stephen Bruton is responsible for. He wrote most of the good ones. When he died, T Bone Burnett—who was instrumental in getting Jeff Bridges to play the lead character—said, “Stephen Bruton was the soul of Texas music.” Bruton had written music for Kris Kristofferson as far back as 1972; for Carly Simon in 1976; and for Bonnie Raitt’s best-selling “Luck of the Draw;” Willie Nelson; Jimmy Buffett; Johnny Cash; Waylon Jennings; and Patty Loveless. Bruton had also released five solo albums of his own, including 2005’s “From the Five” and was working as music producer and composer for “Crazy Heart” and on Kris Kristofferson’s “Starlight and the Stone” album when he died of throat cancer in Los Angeles. (Wikipedia).

THE REAL C&W ROAD

The musical knowledge of the road and how it really works shows through in this carefully crafted film. For example, there’s a scene where Bad and his current back-up group (“The Bum Steers”) are practicing. They are to open for the young man (nicely underplayed by Colin Farrell), Tommy Sweet, whom Bad Blake launched and taught everything he knows.

While practicing for a gig in Phoenix where Bad will open for Tommy (Bad is billed as “guest artist” in very small letters on the marquee) Bad tells the sound man to stop amplifying the instruments so that they drown out his voice. He is insistent and explains to the pick-up band, “It’s the sound man’s job to make the opening act look worse than the main act by amplifying the instruments over the singer’s voice.”

At another point, Bad is asked about his back-up band. When he says it’s a band he is assigned at each gig, the seasoned musician he is conversing with says, “Pick up band? That’s a ballbuster.” This is the kind of attention to the true realities of the road that the movie gets right. Jeff Bridges’ singing is a revelation. I knew he was a skillful photographer, but he is a very good singer as well (as was Colin Farrell). Their credited vocal coach is Roger Love. (*I’m so glad that Kevin Costner—a would-be country singer— isn’t the one playing the part; I heard Costner sing to a mule in “The Postman” and once was enough!)

Maggie Gyllenhaal as Jean asks Bad, during an interview, “Who is real country in today’s world of artificial country.” The question seems to be a comment on the state of today’s C&W chart-toppers. Bad’s musical influences were authentic C&W stars like Hank Williams, Gene Autry, Lulu belle and Scotty, the Georgia Wildcats.

The script tells us the story of Bad Blake’s downward spiral into near-oblivion, some of it a hymn to self-destructive behavior. Maybe he can pull out of his death spiral and find another chance because, as supporting actor Robert Duvall tells him, “It’s never too late.”
TOMMY SWEET/COLIN FARRELL

Tommy Sweet (Colin Farrell) is the new C&W star, the flavor of the month, while the authentic good ol’ boy who made him what he is, Bad Blake, goes unrecognized by fans. Tommy will eventually ask Bad to write him some songs, and Bad will have to make a decision as to whether playing second fiddle to his former protégé is something he is willing to do.
THE LYRICS

When the newspaper interviewer that Maggie Gyllenhaal plays (Jean Craddock) asks Bad, “Where’d all those songs come from?” he answers, “Life, unfortunately.” He says, “I feel like I should be apologizing for being less than you probably imagined me to be.” Bad’s been on a real run of hell raising. As one song’s lyrics put it, “I been who I shouldn’t be. If there’s such a thing as too much fun, this must be the price you pay. It all happens for a reason, even if it’s wrong. Especially if it’s wrong.’

Continuing that theme are these lyrics, “Doin’ what I shouldn’t do. Lately I just lost the fight. Funny how fallin’ feels like flyin’ for a little while.”

The music, well sung and played by all, helps advance the plot in this Scott Cooper-directed and written movie (based on a novel by Thomas Cobb). Here are more lyrics that should give you an idea (from a variety of songs sung in the film):

• “I been blessed and cursed, All my lies have been unrehearsed.”
• “This ain’t no place for the weary kind. This ain’t no place to lose your mind.  This ain’t no place to fall behind. Pick up your crazy heart, give it one more try.”
• “Your heart’s on the loose. This ain’t no place for the weary kind.”
• “I should have known that this would never last.  I should have seen it through the whiskey in my glass.
• “If I needed you, would you come to me and ease my pain?”

GREAT SCRIPT LINES

Quite apart from the song’s lyrics, which are wonderful, there are some great lines in the script (Cooper’s first)  like Bad’s (Bridges’) comment to Tommy Sweet on the ugliness of his boots. “What happened? Did the salesman threaten to shoot your dog?”) When the romance with Maggie Gyllenhaal’s character (Jean or Jeannie) heats up, Bad says, “If I can walk, I’ll come to you. I’m not gonna’ forget about you. I’m not gonna’ forget about this day.” (Of course, Bad (real name Otis) has been married 4 or 5 times, so Jeannie is right to be skeptical.) Speaking to Gyllenhaal about his failings as a parent to his only child, a son, Bad says, “I wasn’t there, even when I was.”

C&W MUSIC and ME

Those who know my musical preferences will nod their heads in agreement when I tell you, honestly, that I’ve never been a big fan of Country & Western music. In fact, when Freddy Fender (“the Mexican Elvis”) was scheduled to play a C&W street fair in downtown Silvis, Illinois (where I taught for 17 and ½ years) one of my 7^th grade students eagerly rushed to my desk to ask me if I was going to that night’s show. My response: “Not in this lifetime.” I lost some girlfriends over C&W music. I lost out on some invitations (most notably to Summerfest in Wisconsin) because I didn’t get onboard with Reba and line dancing and all the rest of the enthusiasm for country-and-western music (although I do like the blues).  The Summerfest flap that followed, when I inadvertently learned of a fun “road trip” by my  friends to which I had not been invited (one to celebrate the retirement of 2 women I thought were my very good friends…one my closest)  permanently deep-sixed a 35-year friendship—[a friendship that apparently wasn’t as close as I had thought].  Best description: it was  more my extending true-blue loyal friendship that was not reciprocated unless my husband were involved, apparently. So, I’ve had a country-and-western song lesson in friendship, you might say. Therefore, my inclination to be recommending C&W music to anyone are nil. I have personally hurtful and painful memories of Country and Western music, just like in most of the radio songs in the genre.  I feel I was “wronged.” To borrow from a country song about a failed marriage (“She got the gold mine; I got the shaft”): “They got the tickets; I got the stubs.” (Or is that “snubs”?)

Ironically, my daughter now lives in Nashville, Tennessee, so I’ve mellowed slightly on country-and-western music. But C&W is still not my All-Time Favorite Music, (although I like the blues and rock-and-roll.) If I tell you the music is good, it has to have been very good to have won me over; you can take that to the bank. Of course, with T Bone Burnett helming, that should have been predictable.

T BONE BURNETT

T Bone Burnett’s involvement in the film was why A-lister Jeff Bridges finally agreed to take the role. Bridges said, at the Golden Globes, “It was just a dream come true. We all met thirty years ago on ‘Heaven’s Gate.’ To be able to do this movie thirty year later was really special.  When you have something that you love so much, it’s kind of challenging to pull it off.” Bridges also reminisced that, when he was first nominated for an Oscar way back when, he was “living at the beach with Candy Clark.” T Bone Burnett was born in 1948; Bridges in 1949.

T Bone had been in self-imposed musical exile for the past 14 years. Prior to that, he had won 10 Grammies and given us such movie soundtracks as “The Big Lebowski” for the Coen Brothers (a classic Jeff Bridges role as “the Dude”); B. B. King’s “One Kind Favor”; “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” (also the Coen brothers); “Walk the Line”; Tony Bennett/K.D. Lang’s duets album “A Wonderful World” and an Oscar-nominated song for “Cold Mountain” in 2004. (All data from http://www.tboneburnett.com.bio.html).  T Bone has worked with the Counting Crows, The Wallflowers, the Coen Brothers (see above), Elvis Costello, John Mellencamp, Willie Nelson, Roy Orbison, Gregg Allman, Jakob Dylan and Elton John and Leon Russell. He began his musical career in 1965 and was a member of Bob Dylan’s “Rolling Thunder Review” band, playing guitar.  He has been working on both a TV series (“Tough Trade”) and a play, a collaborative effort with Stephen King and John Mellencamp, entitled “Ghost Brothers of Darkland County.” He is also known for collaborating with actor/playwright Sam Shepard. Meryl Streep announced, at the Golden Globe awards this year, that perhaps she should change her name to “T. Bone Streep.” (Burnett’s real first name is Joseph Henry)

ROBERT DUVALL

Veteran character actor Robert Duvall plays a small role as Wayne, a bar owner/bartender. Duvall also sings a song a cappella over the closing credits and in a fishing sequence with Bridges. After many years of great work (his career began in 1956, according to the IMDB website) and six Oscar nominations, the now 79-year-old actor finally won on his fourth try, for “Tender Mercies” in 1984, which is the film that “Crazy Heart” immediately reminds you of. [Duvall was previously nominated for “The Godfather” (1973); “Apocalypse Now” (1980); “The Great Santini” (1981); “The Apostle,” 1998, which he also directed; “A Civil Action,” 1999].

Perhaps “Crazy Heart” will be Jeff Bridges’ “Tender Mercies” and this often under-appreciated actor, a consummate professional, will finally win gold. This was definitely one of the year’s Best Films for me. (Too bad I had to drive 3 and 1/2 hours to Chicago to finally see it.)

SCOTT COOPER

The director of “Crazy Heart” is first-time director Scott Cooper, who has a background as an actor and had acted with Robert Duvall four times (he describes him as a big influence.) In an interview posted on www.Movieretriever.com, the Video Hound Blog, by Turk182 on January 21, Cooper explained, “I set out to tell the life story of Merle Haggard, but I couldn’t obtain the rights, so I turned to this novel instead.” He also confirmed that the film was originally scheduled to open the Sundance Film Festival, but Fox Searchlight bought the film for distribution before that occurred, which was serendipity.

Said Cooper in the Movieretriever.com interview, “Because I knew what I had, I never felt like it wouldn’t find the right home…The quality was something that people would see.  People like modest well-told stories.  It would have been a shame.  Look at ‘Slumdog Millionaire.’ That was headed to DVD and then Fox picked it up.” He added, “I think I’m able to tell a story that’s very human and that highlights the human condition and focuses on character and behavior..Telling a story simply and telling one about loss, hope, regret, and redemption—those are things that, as an actor, I have played.  I feel like I could tell that story.”

Jeff Bridges has described his performance as the best of his career. Cooper said, in the interview, that he felt he had the two best actors in America in Bridges and Duvall. (He had originally suggested that Duvall play the role, but then wrote the script with Bridges in mind.)

Scott Cooper’s advice to other would-be directors is succinct:  “Take risks, persevere, and don’t take no for an answer.” (Sounds like good advice for a lot of us.)