Blue in the Face Information

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1383769

Blue in the Face

Welcome to planet Brooklyn.

Features: DVD

Quite possible the only "instant" movie ever made, Blue In The Face was developed during the filming of Wayne Wang and Paul Auster's Smoke and shot in six days. Improvised by the actors, from situations created by Wang and Auster, the film is a series of comic vignettes revolving around the denizens of a Brooklyn cigar store.

"A slaphappy romp!" Chicago Tribune
"Freewheeling fun!" Los Angeles Daily News

Editor's Note

Toward the end of shooting SMOKE, director Wayne Wang, screenwriter Paul Auster, and, seemingly, the entire crew were having such a good time that they approached producers Harvey and Bob Weinstein for more money to continue shooting the mostly improvised BLUE IN THE FACE. Not all the actors could return to Auggie Wren's cigar shop, but they were replaced by some well-known stars making cameo appearances. Lily Tomlin plays a strange man in search of Belgian waffles, Michael J. Fox appears as an equally odd man conducting a bizarre survey, Madonna delivers a singing telegram, and Roseanne does a dramatic scene as the wife of the shop's owner. What plot there is concerns the owner's desire to close the cigar store and rent the space to a vegetarian restaurant. In a documentary style, there are interviews with Brooklyn residents, archival footage of the demolition of Ebbets Field, and other attempts to show the look and feel of life in Brooklyn. In spite of the star appearances, it's the nonactors who provide much of the genuine warmth and easy improvisation as thinly veiled characters. A man with unusual glasses (musician Lou Reed), looking right into the camera, explains why he loves Brooklyn and feels nervous in Stockholm. Bob (filmmaker Jim Jarmusch) comes in to smoke his last cigarette with Auggie; he then demonstrates how one can always tell who the bad guys are in the movies because they invariably hold their cigarettes in a strange manner. As in SMOKE, Harvey Keitel holds the whole ensemble together with his touching portrayal of Auggie, a kind of Brooklyn everyman.

Plot Summary

BLUE IN THE FACE is an improvised film that picks up where the movie SMOKE trailed off, with various neighborhood characters, played by well-known actors and musicians, wafting in and out of Auggie Wren's Brooklyn cigar shop.|

Features

	Interactive Menus
	Scene Selection
	Audio: English Dolby Digital Surround, French
	A Conversation With Lou Reed
	OTB Boys Outtakes
	Feature Commentary With Director Wayne Wang, Screenwriter Paul Auster, Producers Peter Newman And Greg Johnson, And Actor Harvey Keitel

Technical Info

Release Information
	Studio: Buena Vista
	Release Date: 4/4/2006
	Running Time: 83 minutes
	Original Release Date: 1995
	Catalog ID: 2863903
	UPC: 00786936204025
	Number of Discs: 1
Audio & Video
	Original Language: English
	Available Audio Tracks: English
	Video: Color

Cast & Crew

	Harvey Keitel
	Lily Tomlin
	Michael J. Fox
	Roseanne
	Wayne Wang - Director
	Paul Auster - Director
	Adam Holender - Director of Photography
	John Lurie, et al. - Musical Score
	Francey Grace - Producer
	Wayne Wang - Writer
	Paul Auster - Writer

Memorable Quotes

"I think one of the reasons I live in New York is because...I know my way around New York. I don't know my way around Paris. I don't know my way around Denver. I don't know my way around Maui....I've been thinking of leaving for...35 years now. I'm almost ready."----Man with unusual glasses (Lou Reed)

"I'm scared in my own apartment. I'm scared 24 hours a day. But not necessarily in New York. I actually feel pretty comfortable in New York. I get scared...in like Sweden. You know, it's kind of empty. They're all drunk. Everything works....These things scare me. New York? No."----Man with unusual glasses

"A pack of Luckies?"----Auggie Wren (Harvey Keitel) to Bob (Jim Jarmusch) |"You know what? No. I tell you what...I've got one cigarette left...and I've decided, you know, I was going to come here, I'm going to quit. But I wanted to smoke this with you. So I thought, 'last cigarette,' smoke it with Auggie..."----Bob|"You're kidding. I'm touched."----Auggie

"Why is it in every movie there's a shootout, and when they run out of bullets----click, click----they fling the gun away? Like it's a disposable cigarette lighter or something. What's up with that? Guns cost a lot of money. Can't you reload it? You know what I'm saying? They always----click----throw the gun out."----Bob|"That's a good point."----Auggie|"And another thing in movies I think is real weird...like war movies...Nazis in movies....Why do they always smoke like in some weird way...like this? [Imitates a German villain] Yah, vee haf vays of making you talk, Auggie."----Bob