Bottle Rocket (1996) was Wes Anderson’s first feature film, apparently co-written with Owen Wilson who also acts here, alongside his brother Luke Wilson.
In brief the film plot begins with Anthony (L. Wilson) leaving (but appearing to escape for the sake of his friend) from a mental hospital, joining up with Dignan (O. Wilson), who wants the two to carry out a heist so that they can show up to some guy called Mr. Henry (played by James Caan) and become part of his crew. They proceed to rob Anthony’s mom’s home and a bookstore, and go on the run, as fugitives that is.
Dignan: On the run from Johnny Law… ain’t no trip to Cleveland.
The movie is a dead-pan comedy masquerading as an adventure, with light tragic undertones. The movie largely flips itself between a comedy and crime-adventure – as when Anthony and Dignan wear tape on their nose when robbing the bookstore. “Why?” “Exactly.” Is that Oceans-11 genius or just nuts? The film avoids providing clear context so either or both responses are valid. The light-hearted tone throughout (moments of tension quickly resolve themselves) allow Dignan’s final fall to be seen as a sweet ephemeral moment (“one month down, twenty-three to go”). In many ways this feels like a beat movie, not really stylistically, but for its moods and its characters. Everything’s smooth and rolling and on the move, with plans and destinations; a naïvely candid disregard for consequences (not maliciously of-course) and a love for fellow-men.
External links and reviews:
There’s a nice interview-based article at filmcritic.com that came out around the time the movie was first released, and which discusses a lot of the pre-production stuff that happened, including their 13 min black ‘n white production which led to Anderson/Owen finding themselves in bed with Columbia. A nice read, all the more interesting given that Anderson was yet to see the success of Rushmore.
The best reviews I’ve seen online are at Thoughts on a Film and Sean Murphy’s PopMatters review, and more recently by Scott Tobias at the AV Club.
