Big Al's Place: Now More Than Ever

In A Nutshell

Years after his release from Alcatraz, bedeviled by hallucinations fueled by untreated, late-stage syphilis, Al Capone wanders the overgrown grounds of his Miami Beach estate, ruminating with ghosts. Tomorrow will bring his forty-eighth birthday and one week later he will be dead. Between then and now sprawls an epic life, from the wild streets of turn-of-the-century Brooklyn, to a bloody Saint Valentine’s Day that shocked the world; here is the glamorous ascent and shocking decline of America's true king of crime.

Some History

Jim VanBebber's 2004 feature, The Manson Family, was hailed as, "Crucial," by Peter Travers in Rolling Stone's four-star review. It inspired Roger Ebert to proclaim, "...it has an undeniable power and effect...it exists in a category of one film - this film." The film's successful theatrical release brought further critical acclaim and Manson then went on to thrive on home video, including as the centerpiece of Visions of Hell: The Films of Jim VanBebber, a mid-career retrospective DVD box set released in 2008.

Capone first met VanBebber at Wright State University when both men were enrolled in the Motion Pictures Production program headed up by Academy Award nominated documentary filmmakers Jim Klein and Julia Reichert. When, in junior year, the class was divided into small groups with the purpose of producing a short film, VanBebber, with partners Marcello Games and cinematographer Mike King, decided to shoot a full length feature. That film, 1988's Deadbeat at Dawn went on to earn true cult status, playing to crowds on 42nd Street and on many waning drive-in screens before landing on cable's The Movie Channel where it debuted on Joe Bob's Drive-In Theater, hosted by Joe Bob Briggs, who had singled out Deadbeat in his nationally syndicated four-star review.

With funds derived from the sale of Deadbeat, King, Games and VanBebber began their follow up production, The Manson Family, which brings us full circle

6/28/10

Now More Than Ever

We have always been confident in the ability of smaller, independant films to make mincemeat out of the bigger (bloated) studio fare, which more often than not alienates most by trying to appeal to all, so it's damn gratifying to see that validated by cold hard facts. Case in point? This excerpt from today's Variety:

Indie pics rebound may be at hand
By PAMELA MCCLINTOCK

Indie film biz watchers have been holding their breath waiting for a winning streak to signal a much-desired resurgence in the sector. Well, they can breathe again, but slowly.

In the last three months, a number of solid base hits have fired up the indie realm after a long downturn that threw the specialty biz into a serious identity crisis. These pics may not be generating the sorts of grosses that make for blaring headlines, but they are good enough where it counts: The pocketbook.
With a glut of product a thing of the past and more shelf space, a handful of films have found a following and harnessed that old-fashioned marketing tool -- word of mouth -- to stay in theaters and build their audience.
Fox Searchlight's dramedy "Cyrus" raised hopes when it opened June 18 with the second-highest per-screen average of the year -- $45,429. Directed by Mark and Jay Duplass, the comedy grossed $181,714 from four theaters before scoring strong weekday biz last week.
"There is still life in the market, even as audiences are being more selective," says Fox Searchlight president Steve Gilula, who runs the division with Nancy Utley.
Successes have included "City Island," quietly holding and banking money since March; "Babies" and "Exit Through the Gift Shop," showing that there could still be life in the theatrical documentary market.
The past few months' films are a diverse crop, ranging from obvious crowd-pleasers to more challenging sells of documentaries and foreign-language films. And success stories for "City Island" and "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" are all the more impressive considering they were released by tiny Anchor Bay and Music Box Films. "These are big successes for these companies," a studio specialty exec says.
Even the tough-to-sell arthouse drama "Winter's Bone," from director Debra Granik and distributed by Roadside Attractions, has gotten off to a promising start, with just over $500,000 in since its June 11 opening.

- Get the whole story here.