Inserts

I am please others have found this little unknown film, to be the treasure it is....I thought I was the only one who likes this film.

True story I hear. So there I am at the salad bar at the Hollywood Sizzler, and who is next to me, but Richard Dreyfuss, hiding under a baseball cap.

I had to write him a note, before this rare opportunity slipped away. "Dear Mr. Dreyfuss, your performance in "Inserts" was worth an Oscar. You were brilliant. The whole cast was perfect. I loved the "Cuban Gothic" house. Thank you for taking such a professional risk. Bravo." Signed: An Admirer Paid a waitress $5 to take it over to him. He was with his wife and kids, with his back to the room. I then slipped out after he opened the folded note and read my words. Read what others who love film have written about this underground classic yet to be discovered? The whole cast went on to become big movie stars after making this little masterpiece. Bravo to the writer, cast and crew.

I first saw this film alone. The following night I took my friends, and that weekend I named my band after it. In Cambridge in 1977, this film became a small cult. The allusions to silent days were intriguing to a burgeoning film buff, with Clark Gable, that kid from Pathe, forever trying to get through the door, junkie reminiscences of Wally Reid, and many more nods and in-jokes that I would undoubtedly smile at now from knowledge, not ignorance.

The performances were, as I recall, uniformly good, with Dreyfus - whom I had only seen previously in American Graffiti - a revelation. This was also the first big screen role I can remember from Bob Hoskins, and after her small but memorable role in Love and Death, Jessica Harper brought just the right degree of irritating sexiness to Cathy Cake.

Annoyingly, despite the limitations of scale, and the occasional staginess, I don't think John Byrum has ever made a better film!

Released after American Graffitti and before Jaws, a chance to catch Richard Dreyfuss in something that can be considered a legitimate art film, albeit with a bit of a bigger budget. Also amusing is Bob Hoskins in his role as Big Mac, making the same references to the upcoming onslaught of LA Freeways that served as a major plot device in his more well-known Eddie Valient role in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit".

Rather graphic for its time in the portrayal of full frontal female nudity, with a glimpse of full frontal male nudity (although we are spared the sight of Richard Dreyfuss and/or Bob Hoskins in the buff), the entire film takes place in one setting, with plenty of camera tracking movements instead of rapid cutting.

Jessica Harper as Cathy Cake is a wonderful character, and I am a bit surprised that her career was not more extensive. I wonder if this role hurt her marketability at all. Both Harper and Veronica Cartwright have plenty of scenes with casual nudity, and Dreyfuss is rarely seen without a whiskey bottle in hand.

Its now available on DVD. Check it out if you can.

As unique a "movie within a movie" film as you will ever see.

The same year that he starred in "Jaws", Richard Dreyfuss played a very different role in John Byrum's "Inserts". This focus on a director whose trouble adjusting to the arrival of talkies has resulted in him directing porno flicks is quite shocking. I guess that the point is that the dreams that people had of going to Hollywood and becoming stars - whether in front of or behind the camera - were in vain.

Jessica Harper's role as the moll interested in porno reminded me a bit of her aspiring singer in Brian DePalma's "Phantom of the Paradise". Bob Hoskins as the producer reminded me very much of his detective in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" (incidentally, both movies focus on old Hollywood and mention the construction of freeways). As for Veronica Cartwright, this movie combined with "The Birds" and "Alien" makes her one versatile actress.

All in all, this movie won't be for everyone, but I liked it.

This films plot centers around the making of, probably one of the first, porn movies, Sadly when it was released it was pre-arthouse cinemas and pre-video, so it was lumped in with second rate soft porn flic houses around soho London. Consequently it died a lonely death. Around this time Art house cinemas were starting to emerge in University towns which is how I caught it late night in Edinburgh. I was just knocked out by it's sharp drama wrapped in a comedy that launched incredibly incisive comment. Bob Hoskins character as the wannabee hood getting irate when he discovers that Richard Dreyfuss's character, the has-been director, has removed the camera from the tripod, in shear enthusiasm, as he filmed the sexual act. 'How is that going to look!' 'It's not going to look, it's going to be looked at!' retorts Richard Dreyfuss character. The economy of the lines are brilliant! Yes this is a one room drama, which is a tall order for cinema and few have conquered it but this film does brilliantly.