Short Eyes

Short Eyes is yet another 70's flick lost until recently in the world of obscure VHS,various licensing and grey market bootlegs. However, it is one of the best dramas of the decade and deserved the DVD re-release.

The story centers about the denizens of "The Tombs", the Men's House of Detention in Manhattan, where it was filmed. Like many other prison-centered scripts, it fleshes out the microcosmic aspect of a isolated society and provides the alternate racial existence on "the inside" (where white is the minority). The story establishes the environment inside, outlining the groups and nearly making the life seem manageable. Then a white middle-class inmate arrives and is quickly exposed by a guard as a accused child molester, or short eyes. The group at large quickly responds as we see what this society really deems offensive.

Along the way we experience religious presence, soulful expression, prison hierarchy, sexual intimidation, mental coercion, utter rage, blinding fear, confiding, alienation and displacement. In other words, the range of emotions from several characters displays to the viewer the depth and severity of how living in a world where entropy is the only constant. There is a passage in the movie where the complete ambivalence of every person becomes evident; there are no longer any allies or any semblance of trust when it is exposed that everyone will take what they want when possible. The guards are an important part of the population but there is no real opposition there- no protagonists to speak of, only a film of corruption over the cruel survivalist scene. Stirring, impassioned material.

While there are no big stars in this, an independent adaptation of Miguel Pinero's early 70's play, it still has some amazing performances. Jose Perez does a stellar job as the one prisoner who can tolerate speaking with the 'short eyes'. Prolific character actor Bruce Davison is outstanding as the conflicted and confused molester, who cannot weather this change of environment. Nathan George, a great character actor who remained busy in the 70's, is in fine form here. Joseph Carberry is the central white inmate and wears his hate and mistrust as a badge of identity. And of course, there is no forgetting the cameos by the late Curtis Mayfield and Freddy Fender. In one group scene, Fender engages in a song ("Break The Dawn") captivating the entire population, an amazing slow soulful track that is matched by the following Mayfield song, "Do Do Wap is Strong In Here". Two smoky, slow-burn tracks sung by two legends that literally soothes the savagery here. A rewindable, unforgettable classic scene.

In an extra note, superb modern Latino actor Luis Guzman appears as an extra here in his first film appearance. Look for him in the above Mayfield/Fender song sequence and in a few other scenes, sporting a blowout afro.

There is ample reason why this is often referred to as a 'prison/horror film' but its really a stark, tense drama. Coupled with the Benjamin Bratt-lead Pinero, this is one of the best ways to get a taste of the lost genius of Miguel Pinero. The DVD issue of Short Eyes features a commentary track by the director along with Leon Ichaso, director of Pinero. Although there is much left open about this masterpiece, the commentary truly adds a lot of miscellaneous info that fans like myself would appreciate. Not to be missed.

The performances in film version of Short Eyes are perhaps some of the best I've seen. Short Eyes, in prison slang, means child molester. The whole play revolves on a white pedophile Clark Davis interacting in a prison whose majority are Puerto Ricans and Blacks, and Davis' interaction with Juan who attempts to come to terms with Davis' need for sex with children.

There are several memorable characters such as the very young and tender Julio, known as Cupcakes by the prisoners, who is the target of unwanted homosexual attention by several, if not all, prisoners. El Raheem is a strong black man, perhaps a Black Panther, who studies the Koran all day long and acts on his feelings of anger towards white people. Longshoe Murphy is a tough young Irish. And of course Clark Davis and Juan, who are the main characters of the play.

Pinero, who plays GoGo in his the film version of his play, wrote this play while in Sing Sing prison at around 1974 for armed robbery, and first was performed by a cast of prisoners. Short Eyes had a very short success on Broadway.

The only problem of the movie is the cinematography-it is rather boring, especially in this time where special FX of Lord of the Rings is rather common. But there are two or three rather beautiful scenes, one with a prisoner posing in front of a poster. Despite the very dated lackluster cinematography, I wouldn't hesitate to buy this film.

"Short Eyes" is an interesting film, it has many good points but at the end of the day it suffers from being viewed with the experience of 23 years of other films between the viewer and the production.

Even looking at it based on dramas of the time , it would have been dated then and a moral hodge podge of "hippy" sentiment without the real "streetwise" attitude that it needs and wanted to so much. It even has a dreadful prison "sing-a-long" (only included because Curtis Mayfield leads the scene (otherwise it would not have been shot !) , the song itself is so well produced , and without having a wild track added makes you laugh at the pretentiousness of the scene rather than take it seriously.

Having said that thou , it still has one or two scenes that shock , and I did not expect the ending that we got , and I did like it and would recommend it to everyone , but as long as they understand the time it was from , its a good film but time is not being kind to it.

When something feels so real, true to its life in all respects, you get let in and buried beneath its weight. "Short Eyes" is a film that takes straight reality, fills it with characters and words of full realization, and takes you down the corridor of a 1 hour, 39 minute hell. Miguel Pinero wrote a script from a world he knew well, words and people from the dark side of America. No one but a former prisoner could have reflected things so pure and so ugly. Robert M. Young as director sets the scene and understands what the story needs. He lets it happen with the freedom begged for.

I could say a lot more, I suppose, but every event hinges on those surrounding it, so to say much is perhaps having to say all. It's a flat painful experience, leaving you with the title character, played by Bruce Davison. Regardless of who you are or what your sin may be, this character is meant to be you. Watch him, feel his hurt, live his guilt, and he might just reflect a little bit of you back. This is not an easy thing.

A movie about prison life. It deals with the inmates--their lives, hates, sexual feelings and the rituals that happen in prison. Clark Davis (Bruce Davison) is thrown in with them--he's suspected of being a child molester ("short eyes" in prison slang). The other prisoners want to kill him...but Davis has talked to one prisoner Juan (Jose Perez) who has serious doubts about his guilt. But can he convince the others?

This was a pretty big art house hit (here in Boston at least) back in 1977. It dealt with (for the time) a taboo subject matter. Then it completely disappeared. That's too bad--it deserves a wider audience.

It was shot in an actual closed-down prison (the Tombs) in NYC. That really helps the mood and feeling of the film. The acting is very good by all--especially Davison, Perez and Joseph Carberry (as Longshoe). But this is a very hard movie to sit through. Davison's confession to Juan is VERY explicit, a sequence where a prisoner is beaten up and tortured by the others is unpleasant and the ending is very disturbing.

It's not a perfect film. It was a stage play first--and it shows. The action never moves away from two areas and occasionally the inmates speak WAY too intelligentally for the characters they're playing. (I seriously doubt that the character Longshoe would ever know the word "quadroon"--or what it meant). Still a very powerful, disturbing drama. Well worth seeking out.

Accomplished character actor Luis Guzman plays one of the inmates (good luck finding him).