The Frederick Collection - Vol 1: Out Of Sight (1998)

Ever hear of the Criterion Collection?  It's a super high-end, uber-pretentious series of laserdiscs, DVD's, and Blu Rays for hard-core film snobs.  Naturally, I love it, and by extension want to appropriate it.  No, I don't have the bread to buy the rights to films, digitally remaster them, and sell them online for $40 a pop.  But I can make a list.

I present The Frederick Collection. An ongoing series of articles about classic, negligible, and moderately entertaining films that have one thing in common;  I consider them all to be essential viewing.

THE FREDERICK COLLECTION (1)

OUT OF SIGHT (1998)

THE BACKSTORY

In the late nineties, Steven Soderbergh needed a hit.  A decade prior, he had become the face of the Indie Film Movement with his debut feature, "Sex, Lies, and Videotape".  His follow-ups, such as Kafka and Schizopolis, were even more intriguing and experimental.  Unlike the directors of today, he was not using his indie success simply as a springboard to mainstream entertainment.  But he was a man who wanted to expand his scope, and not work solely in the world of arthouse.

In the late nineties, George Clooney needed a hit.  Following his breakout success on ER, his Hollywood career was a bunch of middling tripe; One Fine Day, The Peacemaker, Batman & Robin.  Nothing memorable or noteworthy.  And, having seen the fall of David Caruso before him, he knew there was a time limit on jump-starting his film career. . .

In the late nineties, Elmore Leonard was a hit.  His crime novels were a primary inspiration for writer/director Quentin Tarantino, who used that inspiration to craft one of the most influential films of all time - Pulp Fiction.  Appropriately enough, after the success of Pulp Fiction, Elmore Leonard's books became highly sought after material for adaptation, with Tarantino himself turning Leonard's book Rum Punch into his follow-up film, Jackie Brown.

So, after some initial hesitation, Soderbergh jumped at the chance to direct an adaptation of Leonard's 1996 crime romance novel Out Of Sight, which was being produced by the sure hand of Danny DeVito (Pulp Fiction, Get Shorty, LA Confidential).  It turned out to be the right choice for everyone involved:  While not being a big hit, it was critically acclaimed, and it proved that not only could Soderbergh make a solid piece of mainstream entertainment, but that Clooney had the chops to be this generation's Cary Grant.

THE SYNOPSIS

Jack Foley (George Clooney) is a professional bank robber on the lam.  Karen Sisco (Jennifer Lopez) is a tough-as-nails US Marshal.  It's an unlikely romance, and one that could end up getting the both of them killed.

WHY IT'S ESSENTIAL

People, when describing Elmore Leonard's work, often use the term "cool".  This is completely accurate, but "cool" can be interpreted several different ways.  The film version of Get Shorty had a "hyper-stylized, super slick" kind of coolness.  Tarantino's Jackie Brown was a "hanging with record store hipsters, listening to obscure Motown" kind of cool.  And Out Of Sight?  It's a "having a beer with your best friend in the world" kind of cool;  a truly chilled, laid back vibe.  Never has gunplay and criminal behavior felt so relaxing - and never has the tone of a Leonard book felt so accurately represented.

Not to say that it's a straight lift from the novel:  The book is told in a fairly straightforward, chronological fashion; whereas screenwriter Scott Frank begins the film with a contextless scene of Clooney exiting a building, ripping off his tie, and proceeding to rob the nearest bank.  While constant time-shifts in films can be extremely gimmicky (see 21 Grams), here it's used in a dramatically effective manner.  Even scenes within scenes are chronologically shaky, as evidenced by Soderbergh's cross-cutting between Clooney's tryst with Lopez, and their eventual sexual liason.  That sex scene, in which hardly anything is shown, is quite possibly one of the most erotic moments in cinema history.

Leonard specializes in "tough guy" banter, in the tradition of Hammett and Chandler, and the actors chosen for this - Clooney, Rhames, Cheadle - are some of the few in Hollywood who could actually pull it off.  In lesser hands, a character like Maurice Miller would be cartoonish (Imagine him as played by Zeus "Tiny" Lister), but as portrayed by Don Cheadle, he's believable, funny. . .  and sometimes really scary.

Veteran editor, and multiple Academy Award nominee (winner, in fact, for Lawrence Of Arabia) Anne V. Coates does an effective job of jumping smoothly between multiple characters in multiple time periods.  David Holmes, best known at the time for his album "This Film's Crap, Let's Slash The Seats", drives the score with propulsive, jazzy/hip-hop beats and quiet, sensuous sonaral immersions.  Cinematographer Elliot Davis, who had previously worked with Soderbergh on a couple of films, helped to redefine and solidify Soderbergh's style with this one (Grainy photography; hand-held, documentary style camerawork), before, ironically, never working with him again.

IN CONCLUSION

There's a huge difference between "trying to be cool" and "being cool", and this movie just IS fucking cool.  Whether it's effortless or not, it certainly feels that way.  And while it often feels like Soderbergh's more financially successful latter career has been in an attempt to chase this particular dragon again (This is nothing if not a model for the Ocean's 11 series), he's never quite been able to match its "off the cuff" feeling.

So sit back, pop this baby into the machine, and give it a watch.  Forget Jennifer Lopez's horrible pop music.  Forget George Clooney's continued reuse of this archtype.  Forget how Steve Zahn's career completely went to shit.  Watch a cinematic jazz song, in which every note is exactly where it should be.