From the Monkees
to 'Black Widow'...
An Offbeat Director's Unpredictable Career
Six years have elapsed between Bob Rafel-
son's two most recent films: The PosfuianAlways
Rings Twice (1981) and Black Widow (1987).
Sightings have placed the director/producer/gad-
fly in a bush plane along the Amazon River; in
Aspen, Colorado and Paris, where he has homes;
in Seattle, Hawaii and Africa, making movies; and
in Borneo, working on nothing at all.
His identity has changed as much as his where-
abouts. Is he the godfather of rock video for
co-creating the Monkees? Is
he Jack Nicholson's favorite
filmmaker for directing the
great actor in three movies and
overseeing Nicholson's direc-
torial debut? Is he a millionaire
youth-culture visionary for fi-
nancing the risky, extraordi-
narily profitable Easl R'/der?
Or is he a has-been autocrat
whose vision has made himper-
sona non grata al many studi-
os? Rafelson, 53, can't quite
understand all the sudden at-
tention but figures he deserves
it.
"My films &rlyappeal to a
few, " he half-smiles, seeming-
ly pleased by the fact. "They
Amold Schwanenegger
ar e not widely accepted. " True
and Sally Field in
enough, despite Rafelson's 'Stay Hungry' (1976).
continuing influence. The Os-
B Y R A N K
car-nominated hit Fiue Eaq Pieces (1920) was
only his second movie, yet Rafelson by choice azd
circumstance has directed only four more in 17
years: cult classics The King of Maruin Gardens
(1972) and Stay Hungry G976), a mixed-reaction
remake of The P osfunan Always Rings Twice, and
Black Widow. They've all been hits in Europe.
They have, in fact, the flavor of European movies
made in English. They brood and breathe-
quirky, idiosyncratic and ironic, just like Rafelson.
"Let me tell you something
funny, " he stage-whispers.
"The average young, success-
ful filmmaker with eight movies
under his belt by the time he's
30 gets paid three times as
much as I
do. I don't get the
bucks. Nobody is anxious to
make my movies and people
aren't that arxious to see them.
I don't care, quite frankly-but
it's curious. I'm not resent-
ful-I'm not in movies to crank
them out. Yet because I take
my time between movies
shouldn't mean I make half
[what] the guy who cranked out
Porky's 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 does."
What a combination: an ego-
tist who's hard on himself! Like
Nicholson's Bobby Dupea in
Fiue Easy Pleces, Rafelson is
0 v
Augu3t 1987 Vids 59
Rofelson
torn between being a regular guy and an artist. "Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, Charlie Chaplin.
And like Dupea, it's hard discerning Rafelson's I'd say the biggest influence was the Marx Broth-
real background behind his made-up one. ers. They weren't silent, of course (except for
A studio biography and books say he wrangled Harpo), but it was group comedy-absurd group
in Arizona rodeos at 15, worked his way to Eu- comedy."
rope on an ocean liner at 17 and played in an Long traded around the music-video under-
Acapulco jazzband, at 18. But ground, the Monkees'TV se-
they also say he dropped out of
Dartmouth to join the army.
" My films ries and rambunctiously surreal
1968 film Head (directed by
Rafelson at first claims he grad- Rafelson and co-written by him
uated and then insists on only appeal andJack Nicholson) have lately
changing the subject. It's easy become generally-and
to see why this man loves mak-
ing movies.
to a .few. legitimately-available on
RCA/Columbia. "l feel very
Rafelson got into the busi-
ness as a $65-a-week story ed-
They are strange, very ambivalent about
"
it, says Rafelson. "On one
itor on David Susskind's syndi-
cated TV series, ?fte Plal of
not widely hand, I'm pleased because of
how rare it is for any television
the Week (1959-61). When show done 20 years ago to be
television production shifted to
accepted." resuscitated. On the other
Los Angeles from New York, hand, I'm terrified and embar-
Rafelson went along, taking a job at Screen rassed 'cause this is like seeing pictures of your- Mike Nesmilh
Gems, Columbia Pictures'TV subsidiary. With self when you had zits. We didn't have any idea and Davy
frre crassic
partner Bert Schneider, he co-created NBC's what we were doing-just sort of vamping our Jones ol the
hippie biket two-season senes, The Monkees (1966-68). way along. " Monkees
llick,'Easy "Somebody started calling me the godfather of Head was a commercial disaster. It did, none- in'Head'
Ridel (1969). rock video for The Monkees," he says proudly. theless, get Rafelson into the movies, where his (1e68).
(Director Richard next venture, 1969's E as1 R id-
Lester, whose Be- e/, was an instant classic.
atles movies FIzlP/ The quintessential '60s hip-
and A Hard Day's pie movie and winner of the
Nzgftl inspired the Cannes Film Festival's Best
show, might quib- New Director award, Easy
ble with that desig- Rider almost never got made. {,'
nation.) There's no It began life at Sam Arkoffs I
question, however, American International Pic- t
that both The tures, home of the infamous
Monkees and the beach-blanket movies. Follow-
Monkees were vid- continucd on Pqe 107
eo originals. The
blend of illusion and
actuality was deft
and surreal: characters would leave the set as the
cameras rolled, confer with the director and
re-enter the story. And then there were the vid-
Jack
eos.
llicholson
and Jessica
They weren't called videos at the time, of
Lange in'The course; the very concept of promotional clips was
Postman still pretty new. Nevertheless, every week,
Alweys Rings twice per show, The Monkees served up complete
Twice' (1981). pop songs in vignettes that ranged from slapstick
to stylized performances to
wicked satire. The contribu-
tions of music producer Don
Kirshner and series producer
Paul Mazursky can't be slight-
ed, but anyone who's savored
the skewed absurdist vision of
Rafelson's movies can tell who
gaye The Monkees its flavor. -
"We were, in essence,
shooting two videos a week
Thercsa
back then," says Rafelson, "on flussel/
top of the rest of the show! The stars ,r,
videos don't hold up too well, " flalelson's
he says at first, then whirls latesl liln,
around and defends the work. '8lack
"Hey, two a week-they weren't bad for how we Widow,'
were cranking 'em out!" The segments took their iust rcleased
on video.
form, he says, from silent movie comedies.
60 Video Augu.t 1987'