I was wondering if there was any love for Toback on this site. You’re correct, he does create outrageous situations. They’re funky, soulful, comic, sexy and dangerous. “When Will I Be Loved?” is terrific. It’s his sly critique of Capitalism as exploitation. I love Toback himself playing the Jewish professor of Afro-American history, and how he mistakes a street thug for Mike Tyson, who actually is Mike Tyson, while interviewing Neve Campbell’s character for a job while trying to seduce her. And the motor-mouth bullshit-artist of a boyfriend! It’s one huge riff on the parts we play, the roles we assign ourselves in order to deceive, get over and manipulate others. This theme plays itself out splendidly over the course of the film.
Toback is making films for which there’s barely a market, in this country anyway. Artists like Toback and Abel Ferrara, we’ve got to support them. They’re putting it all on the line- the personal cost to them, operating as they do, is enormous- and that deserves the highest respect.
KJ, I am with you man!
James Toback is one of my favorite directors. In fact hes one of my most beloved directors because nobody really knows about his films. Finger is one of my favorite films. I love when Harvey Kietal gets arrested and the little girl is doing cartwheels and the whole verbal exchange between Kietal and the officer and the whole pre-arrest convo he has with the mafioso. I love that scene where he goes to collect his fathers money from Luca Brasi..and Luca says" Take it on arches" “Double Suck” all of that is great and all of that is toback! He gives his actors the freedom to go beyond his written words..I love the the scene where Harvey is tailing Tony Sirico and he lays eyes on the sexy brunette with the red bathing suit and then they fuck in the bathroom..that scene is so great. I can on and on about my love for Fingers..Black and White is one of the best movies of the 90s in my opinion. Robert Downey Jr.‘s scene with Mike Tyson is priceless..Bijiou Philips captures that character to well…I love Method Man’s rant when the gang heads to Staten Island…Jared Leto is really funny as the gay English Teacher…its just great. When Will I Be Loved is also great too. I haven’t seen Exposed which is REALLY hard to find.. I havent see Love and Money but I want too. I really wanna recommend the documentary “The Outsider” which follows Toback around while he films “When Will I Be Loved” also the film does a carrer perspective on Toback up untill that point. I havent seen the Gambler but I plan on too. Also the hardest movie of his to find that I REALLY REALLY want to see his documentary “The Big Bang”
where he interviews various people and asks questions ranging from love,sex, the cosmos, and life.
I cant wait for Tyson!!!!
I purchased a copy of Toback’s Bugsy script for a 1.00 and reading it was so much fun. However the movie doesnt look good at all…Toback should of directed it…
Also I really enjoyed Harvard Man. It is one of my favroite movies to watch
One day I’d like to see Leonardo Dicaprio work with Toback
Abel Ferrara is one of my favorites as well. The Funeral is my favorite gangster movie. I LOVE KING OF NEW YORK, I LOVE BAD LIEUATANT. I LOVE MS.45. R XMAS was good, very realestic. I have not seen Body Snatchers nor I have seen The Addiction nor have I seen Mary, Go Go Tales or the 9 lives of wet pussy.. Abel Ferrara is another one of my beloved directors
Rudy V, I guess I was lucky that I saw Exposed. It was part of said retrospective, and the man himself was there to talk about his films (something he apparantly very much enjoyed). I can also recommend the documentary about Toback that you mention, it draws a lively picture. About Tyson I was a bit unsure. It is an interesting interview with him, made stylish by using some sort of splitscreen stuff. Toback used a digicam here so he could film tons of footage, which resulted in some really good moments. But all in all it is just an interview.
I would guess that people who like Toback like Ferrara as well.
Fingers and Exposed are both very interesting films altho the I prefer the French remake of Fingers-The Beat That Skipped My Heart(see-Americans are not the only ones who remake films). Never cared much for Black & White or The pickup Artist. Harvard Man is not very good and Love and Money is terrible. Love his script for Bugsy.
I just saw Two Girls and A Guy and that movie is a must for any Toback fan. I fucking loved every moment of it. The writing is sharp and clever and the acting is just on another level. I have never seen Robert Downey Jr. in a role like this, it could very well be his best movie.
Toback makes for good sex scenes. Black & White, the analingus in Two Girls and a Guy, Neve Campbell in that boring movie… Good on you, James Toback.
Tyson is definitely his directing work, Bugsy his best writing.
I hope Toback writes and directs another movie. I am dying to see the big bang theory his doucmentary on sex, life, death, and the cosmos.
A number of years back Toback invited me to his place in Malibu for dinner and we talked and talked and talked. He’s very charming and erudite. And of course “controversial.” I put quotes around it because much of what he does is obviously “rpovocative.” he loves to play that game. But there’s a level at which he’s seriously interested in dark and complex places, as is evident from “Tyson” — which is the climactic example of his fascination with dangerous black men. (Jim Brown was his object of interest before.)
His career is up and down and all over the place. “Fingers” is interesting, though not as great in my view as many believe. I love “Exposed” — which is just nuts. And “Black and White” is great fun. His screenplay for “Bugsy” is first-rate.
Clearly there’s much much more to him, and I hope he gets a chance to show it.
Yeah, as an auteur, David, I think Toback is completely unruly. Sure his themes are easily identifiable and clearly apparent from film to film, but as far as quality, tone or approach goes, he is as you say- all over the place. I believe, for him, this is the gambit: each film is an existential gamble. Will he be able to get the thing off the ground? Will he make it to the end? Will it ever be seen? Is he actually getting away with it? Not that he wants to fail, but that the presence of failure makes the enterprise that much more alluring. I’ve only met him once and very briefly. He is extremely charming, approachable and immediately engaged. But there is something of the pugilist or con-man in him: bobbing and weaving, looking for openings and advantages. His give-and-take with his actors on-set must be something to see. He is Norman Mailer’s white negro in the flesh.
An interview at Huffington Post. Dostoevsky, Tyson, sex, madness, race, all that good shit: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kim-morgan/hungry-heart-toback-on-ty_b_193808.html
That’s definitely who he wants to be.
I haven’t seen Exposed. I like Fingers , Two Girls and a Guy, and When Will I Be Loved best of his films. It seems, though that he spends as much time and energy crafting a persona for himself as his does making films.
I wanna read the Idiot and the Gambler. I wonder why else Toback likes to read
Does anyone have any news on James Toback and any new projects in development? I would think after his Tyson documentary he would find it easier to get financing. I hope one day someone releases his first documentary The Big Bang on DVD
So Love and Money was released on DVD through Warner Achieves! Now all that is left is his documentary The Big Bang!
Here is the only thing I am able to find on The Big Bang. When I get some dough I am going to buy it of ebay on VHS! Here is a clip of Siskel and Ebert reviewing the movie it provides you with the only glimpse of the film itself and look whose the most interesting subject..former gangster turned actor now known as Paulie Walnuts.
I wish this would be released on DVD.
Toback’s documentaries are so damn good
Thorsten
Recently I ran into a retrospective of Tobacks work during a german festival. I had heard of “Fingers” but was quite unaware of his other work. While he surely has a rather unorthodox style without being the best director alive I still liked what i saw. Especially his lacking interest in plot, but rather going for situation (I remeber a dancing Nastassja Kinski in Exposed and a maybe 5 minute long wordfight on Times Square at the beginning of When will I be loved. Very few films of Toback are shown or available in Germany. I wonder if he has a strong following in the US. Any Toback fans here?