The Projector #58: The Incredible Disappearing Movies (Patreon)

by Keith Phipps

Shortly before writing this newsletter I talked to John Dahl, director of The Last Seduction and Rounders, among others. I was speaking to him about Red Rock West, a film that officially debuted in Europe in 1993 but didn’t make it to American theaters until spring of 1994 — and then only after playing on HBO a few times. Bill Banning, owner of San Francisco’s Roxie Theater, saved it from skipping theaters entirely and enjoyed a successful arthouse run with the film. The reason it initially had trouble securing distribution: It was dubbed not mainstream enough for the multiplex and too mainstream for arthouses. It seemed an odd case at the time, but some movies can’t seem to find a spot in which to thrive without a little help.

Now Red Rock West serves as an example of another way films can fall through the cracks. Until recently, it wasn’t available to stream anywhere. (Now it’s available on the relatively new Peacock, which has an impressively deep film catalog, even if it’s mostly touted as the place where you can watch Friends and The Office.) I saw it with a rapt crowd when I was in college, but to track it down, I had to order an Australian DVD via eBay. Despite its arthouse success in the ’90s it’s been a hard film to find for years. Dahl talked to me about attending a screening in Portland shortly before the pandemic shutdown to an appreciative crowd of twenty-something Nicolas Cage fans who’d never seen it before. Not because it’s not a great film. It’s a clever twist on noir that features great supporting performances from Dennis Hopper and J.T. Walsh. They just never had a chance.

And that’s the moment we’re in: thanks to streaming, everything’s available at all times — except what’s not. So let me throw this out to newsletter readers (and maybe to my co-hosts for next week’s newsletter): What’s your favorite through-the-cracks film, the movie that should be out there for everyone to watch but just isn’t? (This is also apropos of an upcoming bonus episode we have coming up, but I’ll hold off naming the film it covers.)

While you’re thinking, please enjoy our current episode on F For Fake in preparation for next week’s Dick Johnson is Dead installment. (The latter is now on Netflix. It’s great, so check it out before our discussion.)

• As for stuff to read, start with our own Scott Tobias’ profile of Dick Johnson director Kirsten Johnson over at The Ringer.) And, if that’s not enough, here’s a Helen Shaw profile at Vulture.

• At the New York Times, Carlos Aguilar lists 20 essential films about the American Latino experience.

• Speaking of Carlos Aguilar, here’s a Polygon piece in which he talks to Marcell Jankovics, director of the Hungarian animated classic, So of the White Mare.

• Do the biggest stars have the least sex on screen? Carrie Wittmer investigated for The Ringer.

• At The Cut, Lindsay Zoladz pens an ode to the pre-pandemic experience of seeing movies alone in New York, by way of reviewing past experiences in solo moviegoing. 

• In the New York Times, Gia Kourlas considers the dance sequences of Claire Denis’ Beau Travail.