Possible "White Trash" predecessor?
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I was tooling around the net, reading some discussion about the proposed Dreamworks Pictures big-screen adaptation of [i]Hawaii Five-O[/i], and someone was recounting an episode that sounds vaguely similar to “White Trash.”
Episode 124, “One Big Happy Family,” is about a family of…well, white trash that has been on a cross-country killing spree, serially murdering people they meet along the way and robbing them for petty amounts. They take up in Hawaii, and start up shop again. Their paternal figure is played by Slim Pickens (which makes some sense out of Maury Chaykin’s over-the-top performance), who has a fairly disgusting habit of coming on to (and feeling up) his daughter-in-law (I guess actual incestuous depictions were not to be touched in ’73). Their rationalization for why it was perfectly fine to kill these folks is that “they wasn’t kin…they was all strangers…it don’t count with strangers.”
While there’s a lot of “White Trash” that doesn’t clearly resemble this episode, I think the parallels are kind of interesting. White trash family of criminals, incestuous and disgusting (and wildly overacting) Pa-figure, viewing all “outsiders” as not worthy of living…it may not be as direct an homage as, say, “Woz,” but it makes at least for an interesting precedent.
–Aleck
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Originally posted by Aleck:
…and disgusting (and wildly overacting) Pa-figure…
It’s worth mentioning that he did not over-act very much. There really are redneck, white-trash, raving dumbasses in the south. You have to look for them, but they exist.
[img]images/smiles/icon_rolleyes.gif[/img]Look for them? Head north from Orlando without taking I-4 and you reach the Mullet Miles…endless tropics filled with mullet bearing men, women, and childern. It’s like they grow on trees. They’ve even started to spread to the cities! Why, just last week I saw a real long mullet in Tampa! I walked up to the guy thinking he was an eastern european hockey player, but boy was I mistaken!
Personally, if your gonna be a redneck, you might as well go all out and become a hillbilly. Grow a big beard, let your hair grow out in tangles, throw on dirty jeans and a flannel shirt, and buy yourself a pickup truck that skips at least one cylinder! Become one with the land, brother. I’m talking grizzled, people! Grizzled!
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve met some intelligent people with mullets, but they usually come from Canada.
Anyone for a canoe trip?
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Originally posted by Flamegrape:
It’s worth mentioning that he did not over-act very much. There really are redneck, white-trash, raving dumbasses in the south. You have to look for them, but they exist.
[img]images/smiles/icon_rolleyes.gif[/img]
Oh, god, I know. I spent 24 years in Alabama once. Most miserable period of my life.
What I meant was overacting *for Maury Chaykin.* He’s really veering into the buffoonish, and if you look at Slim Pickens (who, by all accounts, never really overacted — he was just that way naturally), it’s easy to see that it’s possible that he modeled his characterization on Slim.
–Aleck
Aleck, is it me, or does the world need more Slim Pickens? Such character actors are a rarity these days. TV dramas have diluted the acting supply. What ever happened to Micheal Moriarty? Huh? I say more character actors! And add some Rip Torn while you’re at it.
quote:
Originally posted by Holt Worth:
Aleck, is it me, or does the world need more Slim Pickens? Such character actors are a rarity these days. TV dramas have diluted the acting supply. What ever happened to Micheal Moriarty? Huh? I say more character actors! And add some Rip Torn while you’re at it.
Michael Moriarty expatriated himself to Canada after a meeting with former (then present) Attorney General Janet Reno in 1994. He, along with others from the TV series [i]Law & Order[/i], including the show’s produces, met with her, and she was arguing for the reduction of depictions of violence in films and TV programs. Shocked by the producer’s seeming acquiescence to what he saw as government interference to limit freedom of expression, Moriarty left the show and moved to Canada. His work in Larry Cohen’s [i]Q[/i] and [i]The Stuff[/i] are among my favorite roles of his.
Funny you should mention Rip Torn. I saw a commercial for an episode of [i]Grounded For Life[/i] and could’ve sworn that he was in it, but when I watched it, it turned out to be Stephen Root with a goatee. Rip needs work. He’s great. Last thing I saw him in was [i]The Larry Sanders Show[/i], and he was perfect.
There are *some* decent character actors out there now. Maury Chaykin seems relegated to character work, but does an always-impressive job. Ron Perlman, Steve Buscemi (he’s the Elisha Cook, Jr. of this generation!), John Turturro, Peter Stormare (this generation’s Timothy Carey), they’re all good. I’d add Benecio Del Toro, but he’s trying to do the leading-man thing, when I think he’s definitely more of a distinctive character type.
–Aleck
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