Bottle Rocket

As a major fan of Wes Anderson, I don't know what took me so long to see his first feature, Bottle Rocket, released in 1996, but so it goes. I saw it last night, and pretty much smiled through the whole thing, though it was one of those films that relied on the stupidity of its main characters.

Written by Anderson and Owen Wilson, the latter stars as Dignan, a few cards short of a full deck, who is obsessed with planning. He plans to break his friend, Anthony (Luke Wilson) out of a psychiatric hospital, even though Anthony's stay is voluntary. He has a 75-year-plan for Anthony, most of which involves crimes.

They are joined by the humorously-named Bob Mapplethorpe (Robert Musgrave), who gets the job of getaway driver because he's the only one with a car. They knock off a bookstore, and take the loot and hide out in a motel. Mapplethorpe, who was growing weed in his backyard, leaves because his brother, nicknamed Future Man, has been arrested for it. Anthony has fallen in love with a chambermaid Lumi Cavazos, which screws up Dignan's plans.

Some of the signs of Anderson's themes are evident. Mainly it's a kind of cluelessness of its characters. Dignan is distantly related to Max Fischer and Royal Tenenbaum and even a bit to Gustave H., Anderson characters who march to a significantly different drummer. Dignan is not bright, but determined, and loyal. Anthony is also loyal, smarter than Dignan but with his own problems. When he explains to his younger sister that the checked into the hospital because of "exhaustion," she replies, "You've never worked a day in your life. How could you be exhausted?"

There's also the kind of odd approach to the world, with seemingly random shots and activities. Dignan is worshipful of Mr. Henry, played by James Caan, who runs a landscaping company as a front for his criminal activities. He invites them into his lair, where he plays ping-pong. Later he will be seen in a kimono, white socks with sandals, and a ponytail in thinning hair. Weird, man.

The climax of the film is an attempted robbery of a cold storage building. Dignan has everyone using code names and elaborate communication devices. One of the bandits is Kumar, played by Anderson regular Kumar Pallana, who is a safecracker. He fails to open the safe, and says "I lost my touch," Dignan, outraged, says, "Did you ever have a touch to lose?"

This is a motley crew, but by the end we kind of love them, even though Dignan is such an idiot. Just the site of him at the end in a yellow jumpsuit makes the heart break. Although Anderson's subsequent films were are a lot more polished (Rushmore, one of my favorites, came next), Bottle Rocket has an endearing quality that prefigured his later work.