One From the Heart

This unusual musical drama was directed and co-written by Francis Ford Coppola.  The lore is this initially low-budget film ended up costing FFC $25 million, and many of his films in the next decade or two were used to pay off debts incurred in the making of this film.

Frederic Forrest and Teri Garr are an unmarried couple who are feeling the dullness of their relationship creeping up on them. The setting is Las Vegas, where Frannie works at a travel office. We see she fantasizes about the tropical locales she advertises, wanting a romantic holiday and a man to match. Although Hank works as a mechanic, he too has a dreamy side as he collects discarded casino decorations, his latest acquisition is a big ruby ring.

On the July 4th weekend, Frannie wants something romantic, but Hank can’t offer her much. They argue, and she goes off in a huff to commiserate with her friend (Lanie Kazan). Hank’s coworker (Harry Dean Stanton) also commiserates with him and they visit a casino where Hank sees a beautiful circus performer, Leila (Nastassja Kinski) who wants to escape the drudgery of her job. Frannie is swept up by an attractive man, Ray, whom she finds out later is a waiter with dreams of being a lounge singer (Raul Julia). Both Frannie and Hank have found an exotic and temporary lover, who might run away with them.

The film is interspersed with soundtrack songs written by Tom Waits, and sung by him and Crystal Gayle. Everything is on soundstages and very stylized, almost like a stage play, often using lighting to highlight and lowlight a scene, movement or conversation. Sometimes Hank is in his friend’s house in the foreground while Frannie is at her friend’s apartment in the background. Most of the action takes place at nighttime, so the lighting is heavily used (neon and red lights mostly) to denote their fantasy desires or harsh reality. While the story is interesting, this odd mix of actors don’t seem suited to this type of experiment. And although it is billed as a musical and there are one or two true musical numbers, most of the music is from the songs by Tom Waits which punctuate the emotion of the scenes. With a different set of artists more used to working in romance or with fantasy elements, this might have worked better.

Teri Garr, while she is attractive, does not play sexy convincingly and often has a smirky look on her face as if she is a bit embarrassed by doing a love scene. As expected Raul and Nastassja play good exotic personas for Hank and Frannie to desire, but the main couples’ emotions as expected draw them both back to each other, where the story finishes in the light of day. Although this is a “happy” ending, I can’t help but get the feeling it is temporary and the couple will break up like this again. Forrest and Garr have good chemistry but I never would have thought of casting them together. I didn't love or hate this film but appreciated the experiment; it is just a bit off for mainstream tastes.