Inserts (1976)

I love this movie so much

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

INSERTS is one of those movies that while watching you find yourself thinking you'll need a shower after watching it. No, it's not that the images are the most pornographic ever filmed but the story, the situations and the entire feeling of the film evokes that feeling from scene to scene. That it features name actors, was released by a major studio and was even made is mind boggling.The story of INSERTS revolves around Boy Wonder (Richard Dreyfuss), a once hotshot director during the silent era who has fallen on hard times due to both his difficulty in transitioning from silent to sound films as well as his rampant alcoholism. He now spends his days reclusively living in his once glorious home and shooting silent porno shorts. In walks Harlene (Veronica Cartwright), a flapper with a squeaky voice ala Betty Boop and a positive attitude. Having been in movies she still longs to be the star and dreams of getting there. Aside from her voice her love of heroin also makes this less than realistic.The conversation between these two characters revolves around what they once were, what she dreams of being, using drugs and her willingness to do whatever it takes to be on film. They also bring up the topic of Boy Wonder's erectile dysfunction issue which becomes recurring one throughout the film. When Rex the Wonder Dog (Stephen Davies) shows, and no he isn't really a dog, the filming begins. This is not porn as many know it. This is rough and violent action taking place between these two, egged on by Dreyfuss which only increases what he is filming.The movie alters a bit here with the arrival of Big Mac (Bob Hoskins), the financier of these films being made and a mobster if ever there was one. On his arm is Cathy Cake (Jessica Harper), a lovely young thing Mac has his eye on with the intent of marrying. But Cathy is as much a user as every character in this film, hoping that her ties with Mac will lead to a part in a feature film. Mac is also the source of heroin used by Harlene and he gives her what she needs, sending her off to take her dose. What happens then leads the film down a dark path. I would describe it but it would become a major spoiler that I would rather not reveal for the less timid who choose to watch this one.Yes, the acting is good, yes the dialogue between characters rings true and yes it is shot well. And yet the movie draws you in by discussing the fallen dreams of people. It is a hopeless world where the worst you can expect of anyone is always the first thing they deliver. There are no characters here to root for, no one you can relate to (I hope!) and the situations they are involved in rank among the most despicable you can imagine.When released the movie was given an NC-17 rating and it is well deserved, not so much because of the full frontal nudity (which is here) but because of the thematic elements here. It's a movie that some will want to watch to say they have done so, some will want to watch because of its notoriety and others will watch because they want to see everything done by a particular actor/actress. My guess is that for most one viewing will be more than enough. Twilight Time has done their usual spectacular job in the presentation of the movie with as clean a print as you can have on blu-ray. In the end it is up to the viewer to determine if this is their sort of movie or not.

John Byrum's 1975 film "Inserts" owes a lot to Hitchcock's 1948 classic "Rope". Although it does not feature Hitchcock's experimental feature length continuous shot, it is nonetheless told in real time. The 115 minute running length is the time needed to tell the story as it is the entire duration of the action on the screen, nicely book-ended by shots of the main character alone in his Hollywood home playing the piano. There are no flashbacks or progression of time sequences, and the camera frame never leaves the immediate area of the great room of the house. Technically two cameras as this is one of those "film within a film" things; one on and one off screen. The main character (played by Richard Dreyfuss) is a gone-to-seed once famous movie director nicknamed "The Boy Wonder". It's never made entirely clear whether his is a self-imposed exile; only that he has great disdain for talking pictures. In the midst of the Great Depression he earns money cranking out smut films shot inside his doomed home; a house standing in the path of the so-to-be Hollywood freeway.Inside his Moorish style bungalow, all the Boy Wonder needs is a girl, a boy, a camera, and a bottle. This is a casual set with the director prowling around in his bathrobe and the swimming pool serving as his septic tank. And not unexpectedly there are a fair amount of self-reflexive movie references in the script; such as those about the "new Gable kid at Pathe" who wants The Boy Wonder to direct his next film. "Inserts" is odd and ambitious, more a play than a film; with dialog and intensity level worthy of "Dinner Rush" (2002). Watch how all scene transitions are signaled by the entrance or exit of a character speaking dramatic entrance and exit lines. The Boy Wonder's leading lady (played by Veronica Cartwright) is the first character to make an appearance. She's an airhead flapper with a heroin habit and a heart of gold. Cartwright is wonderful in this role, with a voice just slightly less irritating than the one Jean Hagen brought to her character in "Singin in the Raid". Voices that for obvious reasons were a better fit in the silent film days. Next to appear is the leading man, Rex the Wonder Dog (Stephen Davies), a gravedigger who will do anything to break into the movie business. Bob Hoskins plays Big Mac, a gangster with a plan to open up a chain of hamburger stands. He is financing The Boy Wonder's films and pays a visit to the set along with his new girl Cathy Cake (Jessica Harper). Cathy has come from Chicago to break into the talkies and is playing Big Mac to get a jump-start on her acting career. "Inserts" shares its main theme with "The Stunt Man", the blurring of a participants's ability to distinguish between the reality of life and the fiction being acted for the camera. Watch for the occasions where the actors get into a scene too far; even the "barely with a pulse" Boy Wonder gets too involved. A liquor bottle broken over their head quickly brings these characters back to earth, insert heavy symbolism here. Bynum also allegorically explores the dynamic of an artist who must create for an audience for whom he has total contempt. The Boy Wonder is equally contemptuous of smut viewers and mainstream commercial movie goers. Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

Every one in a while you find a film of an actor that was made when they were starting out and wondered why it didn't get the attention it deserves. This is one. With a cast that includes almost newcomers Richard Drefus, Jessica Harper, Bob Hoskins and a grown up Veronica Cartwright, this film should have made more of a splash than it did. One of the first jobs outside school was as usher in a local multiplex back in the '70's and I remember this film because when it came out it went right to one of the smaller theatres that films were sent to after they had played the bigger theatres in the complex. No fanfare it just opened. I seem to recall it did OK business there but was gone in a couple of weeks. I think I saw it most nights I was there, or I would wander in on a break to catch a glimpse of a scene or two. When videos came out I got one and over the course of the years loaned and lost it. Then I searched EBay for one and finally got another copy. Within a couple of months I find a used DVD! It brings back a lot of memories of that theatre and working there. Seeing it now I realize again what I liked about it. It boarders on the fine line between comedy and drama and does it so delicately. After seeing it again, I also think it would make a great stage play. Now that it is out there in a more popular form, lets hope that more people see it.

"A degenerate film with dignity" is the tag line for this comedy...and it is...a comedy. One thing many people might miss from this movie is the humor. At times it is bitter sweet and at times it is caustic. With characters like the mogul named "Big Mac", who wants to conquer the hamburger stand market, to the the porn actor called "Rex the Wonder Horse", who moonlights as an undertaker; what can you do but laugh.It is very much a filmed stage play taking place in one large room with only a handful of actors. Yet you will hardly notice it. True to it's time frame (Hollywood at the dawn of sound), it's stands up to it's own time (1970's) and today's (2000's). Currently the porn industry does almost as much business as main stream films ("What Price Hollywood?"). In fact, Porn generates more money than Country Music. How many country music channels are there? How many porn?You may never listen to the tune "Moonglow" in the same way again.Watching it as a bitter sweet comedy, you cannot but enjoy this film. I have only seen the 117 min. version and not the shortened one. Be warned if only the 99 min. version is available. It's difficult to find this movie. But if you get the chance, see it.