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BOTTLE ROCKET
Directed by Wes Anderson; with Luke Wilson, Owen C. Wilson, Ned Dowd,
Shea Fowler, Haley Miller, Robert Musgrave, Andrew Wilson, and James Caan.
1996
ort
of a family project of the Wilson brothers, Bottle Rocket is
a quirky little comedy about a group of disaffected twenty-something
pals -- Dignan, Anthony, and Bob -- who at Dignan's urging embark on
an ill-orchestrated and ill-fated life of crime. But the plot isn't
what makes this film so attractive; it's the characters and their conversation,
a sort of everyday loquaciousness that captures the heart well. Perhaps
the brotherly ties are responsible for the natural performances; glimpses
of unconditional love show through the ever-present rivalry between
the two head-butting principals, who after a run-in with a serious criminal
(Caan) discover they really just need each other. Especially nice slices
of Texas present themselves when our heroes, on the lam, wind up at
a hotel near the Mexico border where Anthony falls in love with an Hispanic
chamber maid. And Bottle Rocket makes for a good local story,
too: Filmed in and around Austin, director Anderson met the writer and
co-star, Owen Wilson, at UT. Texas screenwriter L.M. (Kit) Carson helped
them take their original short to Sundance, where the group found backing
for this feature project.
ort
of a family project of the Wilson brothers, Bottle Rocket is
a quirky little comedy about a group of disaffected twenty-something
pals -- Dignan, Anthony, and Bob -- who at Dignan's urging embark on
an ill-orchestrated and ill-fated life of crime. But the plot isn't
what makes this film so attractive; it's the characters and their conversation,
a sort of everyday loquaciousness that captures the heart well. Perhaps
the brotherly ties are responsible for the natural performances; glimpses
of unconditional love show through the ever-present rivalry between
the two head-butting principals, who after a run-in with a serious criminal
(Caan) discover they really just need each other. Especially nice slices
of Texas present themselves when our heroes, on the lam, wind up at
a hotel near the Mexico border where Anthony falls in love with an Hispanic
chamber maid. And Bottle Rocket makes for a good local story,
too: Filmed in and around Austin, director Anderson met the writer and
co-star, Owen Wilson, at UT. Texas screenwriter L.M. (Kit) Carson helped
them take their original short to Sundance, where the group found backing
for this feature project.
