The Whole Shootin’ Match (USA, 1978)

The Whole Shootin’ Match (USA, 1978). Director: Eagle Pennell. Stars: Lou Perryman, Sonny Carl Davis, Doris Hargrave.

I was unaware of this film and director until I followed a trail from his fellow Austin, Texas based filmmaker Richard Linklater, who has said that this film was the one that made him believe it was possible to make films. Robert Redford has said that after seeing this film, he was inspired to start the Sundance Institute.

It’s a low-budget independent production shot in black & white on 16mm. There’s some pretty nice music by Pennell’s brother.  The story follows two buddies who can’t seem to hold down jobs, and try to come up with ideas to get rich quick. They drink a lot, flirt with women, and of them is a tinkerer, trying to come up with a money-making gadget.

In a scene in a bar restroom, two women get into a fight over one of the guys (the one who’s married!). The fight moves out into the bar, knocking over a pile of boxes next to a Spirit of 76 (Gottlieb, 1975) machine...

It’s Impossible to Learn to Plow by Reading Books (USA, 1988)

It’s Impossible to Learn to Plow by Reading Books (USA, 1988). Director, producer, writer, cinematographer, editor, actor, etc. : Richard Linklater.

His first feature, filmed on Super 8, an experimental road movie of sorts, but on busses and trains. Starting in his home base of Austin, Texas, Linklater travels to visit a friend in another state, and takes a roundabout route home. One could almost consider it a documentary, as there’s no real plot. It’s frankly not very interesting, but it can be seen as an experiment in filming the mundane, which is the opposite of what most movies want to show.

At least there’s a pinballspotting... in a stop in Missoula, Montana, he plays a FirePower (Williams, 1980)  [Pretty sure... the cabinet artwork is definitely that, but the backbox seems to jut out strangely. Anyway, good enough...]

Game over.