Sprung (TV)

 2022
Created. Written, and Directed by Greg Garcia
Starring Garret Dillahunt, Shakira Barrera, Philip Garcia, Clare Gillies, James Earl, Martha Plimpton, Kate Walsh
IMDB Entry

I've been a fan of Greg Garcia since I first discovered My Name Is Earl. I loved his portrayal of quirky characters (usually lower class) with a heart of gold. When I spotted Sprung on Freevee, I was delighted.

The series begins in April 2020. Jack (Garret Dillahunt) has been in prison for almost 30 years for marijuana possession. Suddenly, he and his cellmate Rooster (Philip Garcia) are released to reduce the prison population due to Covid. Jack has nowhere to go, and Rooster offers to let him stay with his mother Barb (Martha Plimpton). Gloria (Shakira Barrera), who was also released and was the prison girlfriend of Jack,* Rooster wants to get back with his stripper girlfriend Wiggles (Clare Gilles), who has moved on to Marvin (James Earl), who is making his fortune selling a hoard of toilet paper he's collected.

Barb suggests they rob Marvin, Jack refuses, not wanting to go back to jail again. But, since he has nowhere to go, he signs on to the plan. Almost three decades in jail lets you learn a lot of tricks on how to commit crimes and Jack knows most of them. The robbery is a success, and Barb is interested in finding other targets. Jack insists that they only rob people who deserve it, and secretly gives away the money to people who need it. Then they set their sights on a local congresswoman (Kate Walsh) who is as shady as they come.

The cast is great.  Garret Dillahunt shines as Jack, who is caring and clever and still funny. There is a subplot where he tries to reconnect with his parents that is just as good drama as it is comedy.  Philip Garcia plays the fool to perfection. Shakira Barrera** is excellent, and Clare Gilles's Wiggles is the ultimate iteration of the dumb blonde trope.

The real standout is Martha Plimpton. Her Barb is just a wonder to see -- vain, treacherous, lying, bossy, but also vulnerable and deadly funny. She worked with Garcia before (as did Dillahunt) and he clearly had her in mind for the role.

The script is filled with laughs. The first episode had plenty of gags about life in the early days of Covid.*** And since this is on a streaming service, there are several very funny running gags that would never be allowed on broadcast.

The show ran for one season.  No word on if they will be another, but it seems unlikely.

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*They never met each other, conducting their talk through the toilet pipes.

**Who is a computer whiz.

***"What happened to my curtains?" "There's a toilet paper shortage."

The Killing

 (1956)
Directed by Stanley Kubrick
Written by Stanley Kubrick (story), Jim Thompson (dialogue), Lionel White (novel)
Starring Sterling Hayden, Coleen Gray, Vince Edwards, Jay C. Flippen, Ted de Corsia, Marie Windsor, Elisha Cook, Jr., Joe Sawyer, Timothy Carey, Kola Kwariana 
IMDB Entry

It's aways fun to watch a great director's earlier work, to see how they started to develop. Stanley Kubrick -- one of film's truly great directors -- wrote and directed The Killing, a top-notch example of film noir.

Johnny Clay (Sterling Hayden) is a crook working on one last job before marrying Fay (Coleen Grey) that will set them up for good. It's a racetrack robbery that is worth at least $2 million, involving a sharpshooter (Timothy Carey) shooting the favorite in the backstretch. Others in on the plot include a bartender (Jay C. Flippen), a dirty cop (Ted de Corsia), a wrestler who set up a diversion (Kola Kwarani), and George Petey (Elisha Cook, Jr.), a betting window clerk who has access to the nonpublic areas of the track.

Everyone is supposed to keep quiet, except that Petey gives in to his Sherry (Marie Windsor) nagging him about how they don't have any money. He tells her about the plot and she reveals it to her lover Val (Vince Edwards). It turns out to be a fatal error.

The film is noir through-and-through, with a femme fatale and a dark and ironic ending. Kubrick put together the story* and hired Jim Thompson to write the dialog, which crackles. Kubrick also wanted to do the cinematography, but guild rules stopped him. Even so, he kept his cinematographer on a short leash. One innovation in the story is that it's not told chronologically, jumping back to show what each of the plotters is doing to prepare for the heist.

Hayden is best known for his tremendous performance as General Jack D. Ripper in Dr. Strangelove. Elisha Cook was also great in the type of role he was born to play ever since The Maltese Falcon. The entire cast puts on strong performances and much of the cast had strong careers as character actors.

The studio didn't know what to do with the film. It was dumped into neighborhood theaters with very little publicity. It got good critical reviews, but that didn't help.

The next year, Kubrick was tapped to direct Spartacus, and his career took off. But The Killing by rights should have been just as successful.

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*The plan is clever, if perhaps a bit overcomplicated. But the complications don't come up as expected.