Movie trivia fanatics will remember the play Dustin Hoffman's character wanted to stage in "Tootsie." Written by his roommate (played by Bill Murray), it was called "Return to Love Canal," about the (apparently) true story of a couple who returned to live near the toxic waste site, knowing what was there. "It really happened," Hoffman's character says earnestly to anyone who will listen.
"Grand Theft Parsons" is also based on a true story, one equally bizarre and yet compelling -- after country-rock pioneer Gram Parsons died in 1973, his road manager and buddy Phil Kaufman stole the corpse to cremate it in the desert, as part of a pact the two made in life. But just like "Return To Love Canal," "Grand Theft Parsons" does not have a leg up on being great drama simply because it is based in fact.
The film works hard at building momentum and dramatic tension by bringing in former girlfriends, Parsons' father and the inevitable cop or two, but none of these elements really have much to do with the heart of the story. In the end, "Grand Theft Parsons" succeeds modestly in making us feel the emotions that accompany friendship between men who have been on a long, strange trip together. And actually, we get two versions of that kind of friendship: the bond between Parsons and Kaufman, and the Butch-and-Sundance partnership that emerges between Kaufman and the drug-addled hippie who supplies the hearse used in the body heist.
There's a sweetness to "Grand Theft Parsons," but it's not as satisfying as it might have been if more of the back-story had been told.
