User reviews

Rip Torn steals the film and lifts it above its drive-in milieu. It played briefly in NYC and the cast works hard enough to make it a good rental. Many of the actors had only TV credits and this could have been a breakthrough film. It was marketed poorly. It also has a good 'road' feel to it. This road feel could have made it a nifty period piece. Why it never made a punch is hard to tell. However a preview audience in NYC found a lot to like about it, including the Torn character's disregard for the other characters. It's worth a look and should make a good double bill in a rep cinema with Coppola's "You're A Big Boy Now" where Torn and the Lovin' Spoonful soundtrack help to save that film. The film was also released at a time when everybody was trying to "recreate" Easy Rider, et al.

For those of you who are familiar with Rip Torn as irascible and authoritarian yet lovable characters such as Artie in "The Larry Sanders Show" and Zed in "Men in Black" be prepared for a shock. In this film there is nothing likable about Torn's character Maury Dann, a country singer currently on tour through the south. There is no wisdom behind his cynicism - he is all about using people. Specifically he is all about indulging in all the sex and substance abuse he can without regard to what it does to others. His life takes a turn to an even darker place when the boyfriend of one of his one-night stands catches up with him in a restaurant one day. This is one of those character study films that were very popular in the 1970's, and Torn does a great job playing a totally ruthless individual who has a totally different on-stage persona from his actual personality. He even does a fine job singing the country and western songs. Payday was directed by 1974 National Society of Film Critics Award winner Daryl Duke.

It's a hidden gem worth seeking out.

I remember watching this film late night in college on the movie channel Encore some 15 years ago. It is a great flick that captures what life on the road for a country western singer must have been like. As others have noted, it could serve as a biography for Johnny Cash and many others of that era who lived a life of pills, booze, and one-night stands with a little music sprinkled in between. Rip Torn is great in this movie, though it's hard now not to picture him as Arthur from the Larry Sanders Show. The one line from Torn's character that sticks with me even today is: "You only go through this life once. You might as well do it in a Cadillac." I'd love to see this movie again but I imagine it would be a hard find.

This is another one of those brilliant character studies that proliferated film screens in the early 1970's. Rip Torn gives a superb performance as Maury Dann, a mercurial, drunken country/western singer whose life ultimately careens out-of-control during a road tour. Payday is probably the most accurate filmed depiction of a musician's life on the road that you'll ever see: endless drug abuse, random sex, sudden violence. It's all here in one well-written, astutely directed package. Sadly, Payday is seldom seen in revival houses or on television. This is a true gem worth finding.

Rip Torn plays Maury Dann, a country music singer who is traveling about the USA with his band. However, the film is not a traditional narrative. Instead of a typical beginning and ending the story is more like a slice out of his life....showing the man, warts and all. And, frankly, he's mostly warts. In other words, off stage he's a user...a guy more interested in various women, drinking, pills and himself than his music. It's not a pretty picture...and in some ways reminds viewers of Andy Griffith from "A Face in the Crowd"....a guy who seems nice to his public but behind the scenes he's just a creep.

This is probably not a great film to show the kids, your mother or Father Flannigan if he stops by for a visit. This is because there's a fair amount of cussing and boobies during the course of the film...making it seem realistic but also making it anything but family-friendly! Worth seeing but unpleasant viewing.

Rip Torn was originally slated to play the lawyer role that Jack Nicholson played in "Easy Rider". After a last-minute spat with Dennis Hopper, Torn was no longer part of the project. (Nicholson, who had pretty much given up on acting by then and was working in a technical capacity on the film, stepped into the role and the rest is history.) No matter; Torn went on to do this movie a couple years later, and if there were any justice in the movie biz (there isn't) this role would have made Rip Torn a bona fide movie star; (instead he is a respected film/t.v actor and a bona fide star of the American stage; most people in the public simply don't know who he is or they get him confused with Rip Taylor, the comedian/magician). CHECK THIS MOVIE OUT, if you're lucky enough to find it; (don't bother with the big video chain stores--you'll need a hip mom/pop shop to locate this one). It is well worth the search. Torn (as Maury Dann) does his own singing (a precursor to Robert Duvall's work in "Tender Mercies") and does it well; the supporting actors are great, the writing quirky and strong, and the direction bold. The film is also filled with some unforgettable scenes: Maury confronted by a jealous boyfriend in a diner tops the list; also, the strangely funny scene where Maury goes home and visits his barbiturate-addled Mother, and the scene where Chicago, the driver, talks about his love of cooking. Other scenes, such as when Maury goes "bird shooting", are memorable simply because they ring out as authentic and true. Some of the other comments seem disappointed with the ending; it didn't bother me. Though disturbing, I thought it worked. There was a sense of inevitability leading up to it. This is a portrait of a singer living on the edge of country music stardom and riding a "downbound train". The film is powerful and stays with you. And, yes, almost nobody knows about it.

Everybody else is baaaad. Some here have wondered why this movie sank and fell. I don't wonder. All you have to do is observe the cringe-worthy performances and execrable southern accents. Better casti g and this could be been a masterpiece.

I saw this on the big screen at AFI in Washinton D.C. and was blown away. From what I've ready about life on the road in the seventies, this movie recreates the itinerate life of outlaw musicians like Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, etc, perfectly; Rip Torn is a revelation for those who don't know his work from the 70's when he was thin and charismatic.

I can't think of any film that quite captures the feeling of what it must have been like to be running around on amphetamines and barbiturates in the 70's (which had their peak usage then), from show to show, on a medium size tour circuit complete with one night stands, hanger-ons, fistfights, and various charlatans. The drugs are specific to this period as Qualudes, and various uppers and downers, were being produced legally (albeit with a prescription. This makes for a certain kind of life you could never lead now as the drugs just aren't available like they were then. (Johnny Cash gotten busted I believe in the 70's for smuggling a whole bunch of pills from Mexico). Farewell to a bygone era. If you couldn't be there, this may be your best education.

Rip Torn is a country-music singer, fronting his own band, well known on the circuit and just on the point of breaking out into major stardom. He's also an egotistical S. O. B. Here are a few days in his life.

It's a character study, and a rare leading role for Torn, who gets to exhibit considerable self-aware charm in the role, self-indulgently aware of he perks of even minor fame, but without the self-awareness to not take himself seriously. It's a well-written part, and Torn plays it for all it's worth, only gradually letting the audience see what an inherently unlikable character he is.

Shel Silverstein wrote the songs used in this movie.

Daryl Duke's "Payday" is a film that has barely seen the light of day, at least here in the UK. It came out in 1973, at a time when the American cinema was going through something of a renaissance and while it is far from being a classic and very rough around the edges it certainly didn't deserve its fate. Rip Torn is the thoroughly nasty, small-time country and western singer who will do whatever it takes to further his career and step on and over whoever gets in his way in the process. It's easy to see why the film wasn't a success. Apart from Torn, who makes the most of a mediocre script, it's poorly acted and has very much a B-Movie feel to it. However, it has built up something of a cult reputation probably stemming from the fact that it's been very little seen.

I saw this about 3 years ago - I got to admit I was slightly inebriated after a lot of alcohol, but still some of the scenes penetrated my mind clearly, with their pull-no-punches cynicism. Maury Dann (played by Rip Torn) was one of the most memorable crooks I've ever seen in film. This sombre character study from the 70's addresses the themes of power and using people, set in the world of country & western music. As Dann's world slowly but surely crumbles, we see glimpses of the past of this cynical singer star trying to hit it big and the bleak relationships around him.

I agree with the previous writer, that the film is (sadly) largely unknown, despite a great script by the writer Don Carpenter and a staggering performance from Rip Torn.

Slow, dull account of C&W crooner, Maury Dann's (Rip Torn) road trip from Texas to Nashville for a play date. It is a highly episodic stab at the kind of "gritty realism" that the previous year's "Fat City" did so much better. The actors do a fine job, but the script isn't much.

Occasionally, in the Art of Movie Making, all things come Together with a Synchronistic Symmetry and the Result is a Near-Perfect Picture that seems as Well Crafted as it Possibly could be.

This happens, No Matter the Budget, Production Capabilities, or the Artisans Applying Their Craft. This is one of those Movies.

A Gritty, Early Seventies Character Study of a Merle Haggard Style Country Music Singer. A Mid-Level Star that Humps the Highways Playing Honky Tonks and the Sort, and with His Charming Crusty Ways, takes Advantage of Anyone on His Path to one more Payday.

It's that Payday, along with Pills and Alcohol, that Fuels the Folks in the Band and the Entourage that is Small enough to fit into a Cadillac and one more Trailing Vehicle.

Rip Torn Simply Embodies the Type and becomes completely Lost in the Role. He's "In the Skin" of this Self-Centered Warbler as He Encounters Groupies, Payola DJ's, and some Irate and Hostile Folks who Don't Care much for His Lecherous Ways.

The Movie is Mesmerizing with its Neo-Realism and Not One Scene seems Forced or Faked. The Dialog Crackles with Down Home Cynicism and Playful, Uneducated Insight, Fractured by a Hard Reality Colliding with the Hard Living.

A Compelling, Watchable, Car-Wreck of Real People Realizing the World Around Them and What They Want isn't always What They Got Coming. A Must See, Little Known, B-Movie that hasn't lost a bit of its Edge. Primitive Movie Making at its Best.

This is an unvarnished look at the life and lifestyle of a country singer who spends all his time on the road,touring. (His character is likely an amalgamation of several of the rowdy country singers of the time) The cheap hotels,cheap restaurants,the rough honky-tonks and bars that he and his group play in are all on display. Not to mention the bar owners,accountants, groupies,fans,and hangers-on that are all part of the life of a travelling band on the road. It is not all pretty I assure you. The main character is a troubled man,he has been out of touch and estranged from his family for years. (Why? Because he has spent the last 5-10 years on the road !) This man has many people counting on him to keep performing,so they all can continue to get paid. A vicious circle indeed ! The movie can be slow in spots,but when it is you can rest assured that something is about to happen,it does keep moving along. The camera work,the angles,lighting and so forth are all well-done. The characters and acting are all believable for the most part. Is this a fantastic film? Maybe not to some viewers,but I think it is at least very good. It is different, entertaining,and rather believable mostly.

36 hours in the life of a madman! It sure was!!! Great film, even though it is old!

Absolutely electric! He just disobeys the law and does what he wants (not that it is a good thing) - just a reminiscent past from the mafia and organised crime units within America!

Action packed, a great film to be watched, and you can get it on the cheap because it's so old :)

It reminds me of the time Hoxton stole a $5 million diamond from a secured vault and also when Dallas effectively started the zombie pandemic!

Absolutely fantastic! Which reminds me... Payday Wolfpack comes out on 7th August 2012! Should be a steamy occasion!

Let your imagination wander! Again good film! 8/10

Why assign nine out of ten stars to a film that fits the Supreme Court's definition of obscenity, namely a work that appeals to one's prurient interests with no redeeming social value? Because the work in question is an absolutely brilliant character study of a societal deviant and borderline psychotic by scenarist Don Carpenter and director Darryl Duke, with a performance by Rip Torn as said sociopath that is at the peak not only of his distinguished career but of all similar performances and that includes Cagney in "White Heat" and Pacino in "The Godfather". From the moment Maury Dann enters our radar with his detritus eating grin that can turn on a computer chip to rage and abuse we are hooked. Torn, like all great actors, instantly inhabits the body and personality of this abusive, petulant, entitled scumbag and not only can we not look away, we are fascinated. It's like being at a somewhat safe distance at a carnival peep show from The Monster. Ably assisting Torn are a gallery of talented unknown at the time (and to me simply unknown) actors like Ahna Capri as a sassy floozie whom Dann dumps for her sassiness, Elayne Heilveil as a too innocent, submissive floozy who is in way over her head with Dann's cruelty, Cliff Emmich as a mentally challenged bodyguard (and amateur chef), and Michael Gwynne as Dann's slick, amoral manager. I had a couple problems with Carpenter's story if not his dialogue which, like all this fine novelist's work, struck me as true to its locale, in this case redneck Tennessee/Mississippi/Alabama. I felt the scene where the bodyguard, even though portrayed as slow, instantly agrees to be the fall guy to a possible murder charge lacked credibility. And as long as you have a scene where Dann returns to his ex wife's and kids' house at night then why not have a scene with the kids? But these story caveats aside this is a crisply directed, sensitively written and brilliantly acted near masterpiece. So I guess it only meets half the Court's definition of obscenity since no artistic masterpiece, even a near one, can be socially valueless. A minus.

Rip Torn plays Maury Dann a drifting country singer. The film covers only a short period of Dann's life, but during that time we discover that Dann is a conceited, manipulative, abusive man, who manages to put on an amicable face for his fans. Rip Torn is quite excellent in this film, and though Dann is hard to like he commands every scene and we see a man fueled by ego, alcohol, pills and junk food.

We get a sense of the poverty and desperation of Dann's roots when he goes to visit his mother, who relies upon her son for her financial support and her pill addiction. We see the disconnect Dann has with his children, as he visits an ex wife hoping to see his kids, who aren't there, Dann is unable to remember their birthdays or their ages.

Later in the movie Dann is at a restaurant eating with his entourage and is confronted by a man who is unhappy with the singer for a tryst he had with the man's girlfriend. Things spiral badly out of control from there and soon trouble looms over him as he finds it isn't easy getting free of the mess he created.

The film concludes with a memorable scene of chaos as Dann drives wildly through the countryside. There is a brief flash of Dann's crazed, almost psychotic eyes peering in the rear view mirror of the car as he drives. That brief moment gave me chills.

Payday is an obscure film, perhaps cult film, and belongs in the pantheon of effective Southern gothic movies, a genre that is dear and relatable to me. This film is worth your time if you are able to find it.