Fat City

Fat City(1972) - John Huston

There are a lot of films from the 1970s that perfectly capture a time and place. New York City in Taxi Driver or Los Angeles in Chinatown, but no other film has captured the true hopelessness and depravity of Stockton California. Cinematographer Conrad Hall who shot Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid was the perfect choice to capture California’s central valley. The setting and bleak character study make Fat City feel like it was written by John Steinbeck’s bastard older brother. The characters aren’t stuck in a rut so much as they live in the rut…Hell, they are the rut. It’s a unique and awkward movie that feels almost like a second act, or incomplete in some way. Stacy Keach, who I know mainly from low budget horror films and TV appearances gives a stellar performance as a boxer past his prime. The role was originally meant for Brando, which gives you an idea of the caliber of performer Huston was looking for. Susan Tyrell and a very young Jeff Bridges round out the cast, and they are both fantastic. To be honest, I felt kind of ambivalent immediately after watching Fat City, but it’s not intended to be a film that leaves you feeling satisfied. At any rate, even if this doesn’t work for you, the performances, and cinematography alone make Fat City worth seeing.