Play It As It Lays

The movie Play It as It Lays is, admittedly, not everyone's cup of tea. Even the book--as much as I liked it--was a hard sell to friends and family; most, especially those living outside the Southern California forcefield, simply could not grasp the essential Los Angeles flavor of Didion's dry economical language. The language of the Industry is spot-on (for a change) as are the depictions of the unusual alliances and estrangements of the characters in the film. One person I know who hated the film complained that it was too "faggy" and not like the real Hollywood at all (this person lives in Tucson); the B.Z. and Maria relationship at the heart of this movie may seem bizarre and pointless to auslanders, but it certainly reminded me of real life in LA circa 1972. Also of note is Tammy Grimes' performance as B.Z.'s wife--she got so many of the good lines ("Oh God my face--I can really see a difference"; "in what?"; "skipping my Lazslo for one day.") This movie should be available in VHS/DVD; does anyone know why it's been ignored? I'd love to know.

I watched this movie a lot during the first decade+ after it was released. It would show up occasionally at rep houses in NYC or SF, and I always tried to see it. The last few viewings were at the Roxie in SF, and the boom was always visible in that print; I hated that, b/c people laughed at the movie. i'm a huge didion fan (love the book), an equally huge tuesday fan. this movie captures a moment in my life, a naive moment when I tho't these chars. represented glamour and sophistication; now, having lived, I see how depressed they were. Still, it's full of great lines & has an odd nostalgic pull for me. TV versions were always tragically aborted (so to speak), and it's never been avail. to possess in any format. i shudder to think that there's no extant print, what w/studio not having one & perry gone. i've hoped to own it for so long. i was sick to hear it's on Sundance this wkend (which I don't get). why are so few people interested in seeing this movie become available? it's one of the few left on my wish-list never to be released. should any reader ever hear news of its release, please please let me know! thanks.

Life in Hollwood in the early 1970s--an actress, any actress, rich and famous or not, is exemplified in existential angst in 'play it as it lays.' A compelling character study, Tuesday Weld plays Maria (pronounced Mar EYE'a) Wyeth, an actress much like herself. It is difficult to see where the actress and character begin and end, she is that good in this film. Maria drives her yellow Stingray from one Los Angeles freeway into another only to kill time because she can't kill herself.

Her film industry friends are LA's idle rich who have little else but money. Only a gay friend, played by Tony Perkins, truly cares about her. Maria searches relentlessly for meaning in a place that has none, although it resembles a utopia. The sun is always shining, everyone drives a German car and sips cocktails at their pool or Malibu beach home.

If Albert Camus, the French existentialist of the absurd, had lived in Hollywood, he would have written her story.

I was 18 when I saw Frank Perry's Play It As It Lays during its brief opening run. It affected me powerfully. Blew me out like very few films ever have, actually. Completely intoxicating. I stumbled out into the afternoon sunlight afterwards rapt and bewildered, stunned and delighted, thoroughly alive. But in the years since I've never once met a single person who's even seen it, and the whole experience has become dreamlike and lost, a memory I'm no longer sure of.

However I did pounce on Joan Didion's blistering short novel when I found it. What a fine book! No wonder the effect of the film was so profound, telling that cruel, utterly remorseless story. (And of course I fell in love, fanboy-style, with Tuesday Weld, or perhaps more truly with Maria Wyeth, the doomed and heart-breakingly aware character she inhabited.)

But rather than attempt to analyse a film that plunged me in way out of my depth when I saw it 34 years ago, I simply want to add my voice to those of earlier and more capable reviewers calling for its release on DVD. It's exactly the sort of madly brilliant one-off that cries out for Criterion treatment. Well, mutters grumpily for it anyway.

And I'd most certainly like to recommend that if you ever do get the chance to see it, make sure you do. It might have vanished, but it always was an exceptionally interesting film, one of the very great "small" ones. Perhaps the best film Robert Altman never made.

For a short while, in the days when it was still possible; director Frank Perry valiantly attempted the making of an American art film depicting existential despair in the European tradition of Bergman and Antonioni. "The Swimmer" and "Play It As It Lays" remain fine examples of his work but both found little support within the industry and unsurprisingly failed to reach audiences. While "The Swimmer" is available on video and DVD owing to the clout of Burt Lancaster, the superior "Play It As It Lays" has vanished without a trace. Occasionally copies do surface but always of poor quality.

In "Pretty Poison" the curious but clearly evident chemistry between Tuesday Weld and Anthony Perkins did not go unnoticed. In "Play It As It Lays" this odd affinity is elevated to the level where by merely looking at each other, the total understanding and empathy these characters possess is revealed. The relationship is extremely tender, while asexual. These are soul mates sharing a common despair, which each will deal with in different ways.

One can only surmise as to the source of this truly rare chemistry. Tuesday Weld and Anthony Perkins had both been attractive young performers who were being groomed for a Hollywood stardom that had little, if not nothing, to do with the interesting, somewhat different personalities behind the image. Weld was put through such vehicles as "Rock Rock Rock" and "Sex Kittens Go to College" while an uncomfortable looking Perkins did "Green Mansions" and "Tall Story". The astute Hitchcock, a master at utilizing actor's personalities would stamp Perkins career until the end by casting him in "Pyscho". Weld and Perkins would always be outsiders in a system which largely misunderstood them.

"Play It As It Lays" is one of the few films in which both Weld and Perkins seem totally comfortable in their roles. They play their parts with great ease and utter conviction. It's as if they are not acting at all; they simply are Maria Wyeth and B.Z.. Surely there's no higher praise for actors. Their final scene together is unparalleled.

Adam Roarke too, reveals a power and intelligence missing in his previous films amongst which had been biker movies much like "Angel Beach" which his character directs. It's as if director Frank Perry is consciously affording the actors a chance to do something they really want to do, in contrast to many of their previous roles. They respond with performances containing a core of truth making "Play It As It Lays" a fascinating film.

Joan Didion's novel has been faithfully adapted. The emptiness of affluent America, or more precisely California, finds expression in the jarringly edited, puzzle like assembled work. By setting this piece in the world of filmmaking Didion not only sheds light on the void in the individual's life, but on the barrenness of the American film making process itself; something that all connected with "Play It As It Lays" would have close knowledge of, and clearly suffered from.

If ever a movie needed to be resurrected and reappraised it's this genuine rarity.