FILM & TELEVISION

Going All The Way

"Mark Pellington's adaptation of Dan Wakefield's novel about a young man coming of age during the 1950's is a great example of the aesthetic imagination that independent filmmaking may elicit from innovative artists and storytellers." -- Geoffrey Gilmore, Sundance Film Festival

Mark Pellington, one of the primary architects of the so-called "MTV look," takes a retro-route for his first feature, "Going All The Way," an adaptation of Dan Wakefield's bestseller that Kurt Vonnegut called "the Midwestern 'Catcher In The Rye.'" In 1950s Indiana, two young men return from the Korean War. Jeremy Davies plays Sonny, a geek boy in full bloom. He meets up with Gunner (Ben Affleck), an alpha male with a perpetual hard-on.

Together, they spread their hormones far and wide. Targets include Amy Locane ("Melrose Place," "Carried Away"), Rachel Weisz ("Stealing Beauty") and Rose McGowan ("Scream," "Nowhere"). But underneath all the fun and games lies coming-of-age terror, the film's real subject.

Though Pellington creates authentic local color and detail, the performance of Jeremy Davies as the Salingeresque antihero is so thoroughly modern--not to mention fabulous--it paradoxically derails the possibility for a true period piece. But with a performance this intense, you might not even notice. (1 hour, 50 minutes)
-- By Chris Chang, Cinemania Online

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     DVD

Reviews of Going All the Way:

Houston Sidewalk - Review

Sundance Film Festival Review -- by Geoffrey Gilmore

Intermission - Review

New York in the Fifties

The film "New York in the Fifties" is a 60 minute documentary based on Dan Wakefield's book of the same name. The film was shot on location in Greenwich village in New York City and in Sundance, Utah in 1998.

The film features interviews with Dan Wakefield and his friends and mentors from the 1950's including William F. Buckley, Bruce Jay Friedman, Helen Weaver, Mary Ann McCoy, Gay and Nan Talese, Ted Steeg, Robert Redford, Sam Astrachan, Ivan Gold, Lynn Schwartz, Rev. Norm Eddy, Ed Fancher, Barney Rosset and David Amran.

DVD	VHS

The film is produced by Betsy Blankenbaker and Dorka Keehn. For additional information, you can contact Betsy at bblankenbake@earthlink.net.

Press reaction to the film: