Boogie Nights (1997)

Director:

Paul Thomas Anderson

Writer (WGA):

Paul Thomas Anderson (written by)

Release Date:

10 October 1997 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Everyone has one special thing

Plot:

The story of a young man's adventures in the Californian pornography industry of the 1970s and 1980s.

Plot Keywords:

No Opening Credits | Award | Oral Sex | Drug Overdose | Limousine

Awards:

Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 21 wins & 19 nominations

Cast

Luis Guzmán	...	Maurice TT Rodriguez (as Luis Guzman)
Burt Reynolds	...	Jack Horner
Julianne Moore	...	Amber Waves
Rico Bueno	...	Hot Traxx Waiter
John C. Reilly	...	Reed Rothchild
Nicole Ari Parker	...	Becky Barnett
Don Cheadle	...	Buck Swope
Heather Graham	...	Rollergirl
Mark Wahlberg	...	Eddie Adams - Dirk Diggler
William H. Macy	...	Little Bill
Samson Barkhordarian	...	Hot Traxx Chef
Nina Hartley	...	Little Bill's Wife
Brad Braeden	...	Big Stud
Joanna Gleason	...	Dirk's Mother
Lawrence Hudd	...	Dirk's Father

Also Known As:

Pushing Thirteen (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong sex scenes with explicit dialogue, nudity, drug use, language and violence.

Runtime:

155 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Canada:18A (British Columbia) | USA:TV-MA (TV rating) | Brazil:18 | Japan:R-15 | Australia:MA (TV rating) | Canada:R (Alberta/Manitoba/Ontario) | Italy:VM14 | Argentina:18 | Australia:R | Canada:16+ (Québec) | Canada:18 (Nova Scotia) | Chile:18 | Finland:K-16 | France:-16 | Germany:16 | Hong Kong:III | Ireland:18 | Malaysia:(Banned) | Mexico:C | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:R18 | Norway:15 | Portugal:M/16 | Singapore:R(A) (original rating) (cut) | Singapore:R21 (re-rating) | South Korea:(Banned) (original rating) | South Korea:18 (re-rating) (cut) | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:16 (canton of Vaud) | UK:18 | USA:R (certificate #34763) | Iceland:16

Filming Locations:

Gourmet Video, Van Nuys, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

New Line Cinema

Trivia:

The character "Buck Swope" gets his last name from the Robert Downey Sr. film Putney Swope (1969), a favorite of director Paul Thomas Anderson.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: Dirk Diggler performs a studio recording of Stan Bush's song "The Touch" in March of 1983, but the song was written for The Transformers: The Movie (1986), which was released in 1986.

Quotes:

[in a scene from "Brock Landers: Angels Live In My Town"]
Dirk: [as Brock] You still hungry?
Jessie St. Vincent: Starving.
[unzipping his pants]
Dirk: [as Brock] Then feast on that.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Mystery Science Theater 3000: Academy of Robots' Choice Awards Special (1998) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Fly, Robin, Fly

A very well told story; "Short Cuts" with lots of sex.

This is an excellent movie that is vibrant, colourful and powerful. The performances are all very good, but the big surprise is the return of Burt Reynolds. His performance is the most notable, and he duly rewarded with a Golden Globe and an Academy Award nomination. Boogie Nights is about the pornography industry in the 70's, and how it all fell apart in the 80's. The first half, revolving around the 70's, is plausible and believable; entertaining and informative. Although the film falls apart in the second half, and descends into a lot of unnecessary, graphic violence.

Eddie Adams (Mark Wahlberg) is the protagonist of the movie. He is spotted one night at a club by porn king Jack Warner (Reynolds), and is offered a deal to star in a movie. Warner remarks that, "I just know there's somethin' wonderful under those jeans just waitin' to get out." And that marks the entrance for Eddie into the sleazy, slutty, though human world of porn and sex. Boogie Nights follows his first appearance as a naive young actor to a drug hampered, egomaniacal lunatic who spirals down into the world of crime and Cocaine. Along the way, it deals with sub plots dealing with pornography and the surrogate families that establish themselves amidst the echelons; the prejudice that society carries to porn stars and the dirty, utterly disgraceful life they lead.

Although the film deals with sex and porn, there is not an obscene amount of it, and the director censors these scenes so it is not explicit. The viewers gather that Eddie Adams (or Dirk Diggler, the pseudonym he assumes for acting) has a prodigious member lurking under his jeans. But, until the final scene, all we see to indicate that is the stunned reactions by peers and onlookers.

The script is very good, but the film is overly long. It could be called an epic at a length of 155 minutes, but the time passes quickly. Despite Boogie Nights' flaws and shortfalls, it is a very good movie worthy of the acclaim it received.

Nine out of ten.