I’m a unabashed fan of the Cameron Crowe film Almost Famous. This often results in some people giving me a hard time, but whatever. (I like what I like.)
One of the reasons that I like the movie so much is because of few scenes where Philip Seymour Hoffman plays the late rock critic Lester Bangs. Besides the fact that Bangs is a hero of mine, Hoffman’s portrayal of him is beyond wonderful. I don’t know if it’s because of Hoffman’s acting, or Crowe’s directing, or a combination of the both of those things, but Hoffman seems to really become Bangs, and his scenes have such a feel of real intimacy.
Here is an example: Below I’ve posted a video and a transcript of a scene where the William Miller (the “hero” and protagonist of the film, who is based on Crowe) has called Lester Bangs for in the wee hours of the morning. William has placed this call for two main reasons.
First - William has become friends with the rock stars he is writing about, and because of this friendship William is having trouble being honest in his writing… he does not want to hurt his friends, and so he has turned to Bangs for some guidance.
Second- William has fallen hopelessly head over heels in love with Penny Lane, a girl (Groupie / “Band-Aid”) who follows the band he is writing about. The problem here is that Penny Lane does not love William, she loves the lead lead guitarist of the band that William is writing about.
Lester Bangs: Aw, man. You made friends with them. See, friendship is the booze they feed you. They want you to get drunk on feeling like you belong.
William Miller: Well, it was fun.
Lester Bangs: They make you feel cool. And hey. I met you. You are not cool.
William Miller: I know. Even when I thought I was, I knew I wasn’t.
Lester Bangs: That’s because we’re uncool. And while women will always be a problem for us, most of the great art in the world is about that very same problem. Good-looking people don’t have any spine. Their art never lasts. They get the girls, but we’re smarter.
William Miller: I can really see that now.
Lester Bangs: Yeah, great art is about conflict and pain and guilt and longing and love disguised as sex, and sex disguised as love… and let’s face it, you got a big head start.
William Miller: I’m glad you were home.
Lester Bangs: I’m always home. I’m uncool.
William Miller: Me too!
Lester Bangs: The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what we share with someone else when we’re uncool.
William Miller: I feel better.
Lester Bangs: My advice to you. I know you think those guys are your friends. You wanna be a true friend to them? Be honest, and unmerciful.
Tags: Almost Famous, Cameron Crowe, film, Lester Bangs, movies, Penny Lane
Hoffman was easily the best part of this movie. (He’s usually the best part of any movie, the notable exception being The Big Lebowski.)
Other than that, you know my position on Crowe. I don’t love him, and I don’t hate him. His movies are a mixture of schmaltz and decent writing, and aside from Vanilla Sky, I don’t have strong opinions on most of them. In the case of VS, though, I vacillate between intense love and intense hatred of the film. Depends on the day.
I am the enemy, Neil. I am the enemy.
You Judas Iscariot!
I’m bringing my iocane powder the next time we have lunch.
Having said that… When do you want to record this weeks episode of the podcast?
Saturday or Sunday should be fine.