Michael Schlesinger on TOUGH GUYS DON'T DANCE

In some respects a twisted remake of his own An American Dream, Tough Guys Don’t Dance proves that as a movie director, Norman Mailer was a great writer. Mailer’s unwieldy attitude behind the camera doesn’t stop this 1987 noir from being entertaining and it’s helped by John Bailey’s beautiful cinematography and Angelo Badalamenti’s dreamy score. Ryan O’Neal takes one for the team and he’s joined by Isabella Rossellini who gives her Blue Velvet-best. Robert Towne did some rewrites to no avail.
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[@Davesky19]

O’Neal hated the infamous “Oh God...” line, but Mailer insisted he do the reading like he did, even though he knew it wouldn’t sound natural. So you can’t blame O’Neal for the bad acting, it was Mailer’s choice.

[@spurv]

Wasn’t bad acting. The scene is great. Adds an almost psychedellic quality to the movie, that I just love.

[@TimChuma]

"The annual Norman Mailer cocktail party and fist fight!"

[@gonzostick]

Brilliant, and very funny! Must see this film!

[@BardoJoe]

"get your ass off my pillow!"

[@marcofreitas3844]

Batshit Crazy is a good definition, alright. Saw it twice (the whole movie, that is)

[@bigneon_glitter]

"Oh God..oh man..oh God..oh man!"

[@civilizedsatyr]

Reportedly O'Neal begged Mailer to cut that scene. Not only did Mailer not cut it, he put it in the trailer.

[@sdovas]

Mailer's best performance, on the other hand, is as a wheezing, struggling old man trying desperately to work a weight machine in the exercise room at the St. George hotel in Brooklyn Heights, in his last years. He was playing himself, of course.

[@Tassie85]

How did this one even get made? Mailer, Tierney, O'Neal and Hauser are all confirmed pains in the ass and very difficult to work with. It's a so-bad-it's-good movie and worth the watch but just think about the insanity that had to be going on behind the scenes.

[@matthayward7889]

I know it’s kind of the point, but every TFH makes me want to go out and watch the movie.

[@JohnInTheShelter]

When I saw this the "Oh God, oh man!" scene left me stunned as no other movie ever has. I tried to figure out how everyone involved allowed that scene to exist.

[@TimChuma]

Wings Hauser actually got Norman Mailer to apologise to the cast and crew according to the Cannon Films 1000 page+ double volume anthology book. He went upstairs with him and it was not recorded what was said but Norman Mailer was humbled by the experience.

[@nooneinparticular1491]

"...with not one, but THREE Femme Fatales..." I can honestly say that this is the highest [(Femme Fatale) / (Film Noir Sap)] * (Wings Houser) factor that I've ever heard of in a movie.

[@randyacuna5643]

Lawrence goes all the way back to the Ghost Ship,1943, he has a memorial death scene and became a top movie tough guy after staring in 1945s Dillinger which became the surprise money maker that year and received an Academy Award nomination for the screenplay.

[@jerkchickenblog]

A film with a fantastic script, but Mailer wasn't a director so some line deliveries are ham-handed... but the film is intended to feel disjointed and the characters strange, this isn't 'by accident' or because he was a bad writer - they are all following their own internal logic and none of their motives are spoonfed to the audience. This is a complex script that actors and other directors have said they've loved and tried to emulate, but because some millennials have seen "family guy" they think it's a so-bad-it's-good movie like 'the room'. So they never get this far with the script because they go into it looking for jokes that aren't there - then think they should laugh at anything that strikes them as strange, as if it's all on accident. It's a complex character driven plot with many moving parts. if you don't pay attention and think about it you will walk away just as these people have, confused and thinking the film doesn't work. There are some odd deliveries, yes, Mailer wasn't a director. Look past it and follow the plot. It's far more complex than many 'thrillers' that came out decades after. Frankly shocked that people today are so proud of what they don't get, then laugh instead of trying to understand the text. No wonder no one reads anymore, they don't get literature at all. Watch for yourself when you're in the mood to *think. It's here on youtube for free...

[@firechiefrisley]

MIDNIGHT MOVIE MAILER! ... Criminally undervalued, mostly unknown, yet minor masterpiece of pervasive, foreboding evil in a seemingly tidy, postcard-perfect coastal burg. Brilliant 'n brazen scenery chewing histrionics right across the board from a game and knowing cast; in a campily irresistible mystery melodrama, chock full of wonderfully ridiculous set-pieces and searingly resonate outrageousness. Mucho' milquetoast O'Neal is absolutely ideal as the soft-boiled patsy schmo ex-con who becomes deliciously embroiled in the lustful, nose-candy-riddled frenzy of small town greed. This heavy s##t requires oft-repeated, obsessively discerning flushes to fully appreciate it's scatological charms...

[@ZeroESG.goopootoob]

This guy's Lawrence Tierney impression is atrocious.

[@markbaars]

Very peculiar indeed! ;)

[@yilaugh5234]

O'Neal walks through this move in a cocaine-haze.

[@burningexeter4365]

Schlesinger always has the most fun openings.

[@squeezedlemons1246]

which ones do you like more: the racist ones or the ones where he makes "jokes" about statutory rape?

[@tekdev]

One potato a man eats...

[@TheArtOfB]

I feel like if this came out after twin peaks people would have appreciated it more.

[@jimcypher]

Joe Cabot!

[@maxthepupp]

Oh, damn! I've never seen this!....how did I miss this? I was there in 86 ( and stone in love with Isabella) And I always liked Ryan O'Neal. I mean I hate his guts for being good looking and successful but he always seemed like a good hang. Ill go find it Michael!😁

[@danielkellyuk]

Weird - I saw this trailer for the first time two days ago and now here it is on one of my favourite KZbin channels. I think they call that the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon.

[@thenneedd]

I would not like to be on the wrong side of this film's troupe in a bar. brawlers all.

[@mikesilva3868]

😎

[@tectorgorch8698]

Ummmm... I got nothing.