Bottle Rocket

I begin my look at Wes Anderson's body of work with his debut feature, "Bottle Rocket". In 1992, four years before its evolution into a full length film, Anderson shot "Bottle Rocket" as a 12 minute short that basically covered the first quarter of the movie. Same characters and actors and similar bits of dialogue. The movie version of "Bottle Rocket" redoes those scenes a little sharper, and it's evident from this early piece of work that Anderson was able to handle all aspects of a shoot. As his first film, there are many differences from the rest of output. The overall quirkiness is down a whole ton and the color palette that is strewn among his movies from "Rushmore" on is missing here. Same with the Futura font that labels scene breaks in his later films.

As a product of its time, the mid 90's, "Bottle Rocket" holds up exceedingly well. Shot at a time where every college graduate with a greater than average interest in film and a movie camera was trying to make his or her own picture and sending it to Sundance, "Bottle Rocket" isn't dated and is shockingly good for a debut. It's the least "Wes Andersony" of Andersons films which leads me to believe that it would be the best film for the average moviegoer to relate to.

Owen Wilson and Luke Wilson are the two main leads, both in their acting debuts. The short has their actual film debut, so if you want to see those two actors at their youngest, check it out. To me, their is no perceivable difference in their performances from the short to the film. That said, both are amazing in this and have arguably never been better, Owen especially. Owen is Dignan, a wannabe thief who tries to drag his friend Anthony (Luke) along with him. The criminal element of this film for the most part is treated harmlessly. They pull off a bookstore robbery and then go "on the lam" for a few days to a motel with their other friend Bob (Robert Musgrave), their getaway driver. There, Anthony falls in love with their room's housekeeper. Eventually they all end up back in their small Texas town to start over again. James Caan appears as Dignan's idol, a local businessman who's an actual successful criminal. Caan enlists the three men to pull of a heist for him which ends up being the climax of the movie. The plot, like all Anderson movies is less important than the character development.

Owen Wilson has made a career playing cocky know-it-all control freaks, but none have had any close to the depth Dignan has here. Owen plays against his real life brother in many scenes that have the feeling of being improvised, they're so natural. He doesn't feel forced, and his charisma shows even here at his most inexperienced. With his short, army haircut he doesn't look like a movie star and it's easier to take him seriously. He's funny, but the more scenes he has, the more you're able to understand what drives him, what motivates him and although he has flaws, the character is fully realized by the end. A character like Dignan is a major factor in lifting this above the features Hollywood was producing in 1996. At no point does anything he or Anthony does feel cliche or done just to move the plot along. We follow the characters and if the movie drags, Anderson assures us that eventually things will pick up again. Nothing is force fed. Also, Owen co-wrote the movie with Anderson which is almost definitely the reason for Wes Anderson movies being the showcase for his best acting work.

The presence of the Wilson brothers is the main way to tell this is a Wes Anderson movie. Other than the two of them, it just seems like a hidden treasure, a movie that didn't get enough press despite it's awesomness and was left to rot on blockbuster shelves. Luckily, Anderson followed this up with Rushmore and other directors and actors took notice of Owen and Luke and proceeded to cast them in numerous projects following the release of this movie. Martin Scorsese named "Bottle Rocket" as one of his favorite movies of the 1990's and proclaimed Wes Anderson as the "next Scorsese."

Next up; Rushmore