Review of Ed Wood (1994) by Russell N — 14 Apr 2010

This is Tim Burton's finest film, and oddly enough is the best movie about the film business since "Sunset Boulevard.".

But consider for a moment the differences. "Sunset Boulevard" is about the industry, a play of metafiction with Gloria Swanson essentially playing herself, and Cecil B. Demille and Erich von Stroheim essentially playing themselves, drawing dark ironies to indict the Hollywood world. Everyone knows it'll go down as one of the greatest films of all time, and the definitive picture about Tinseltown.

But "Ed Wood" is about filmmaking, a passion for the craft, the resilience to chase a vision, and the deep reverence for stars we adored but never really got to know. But we do have the fortune of getting to know renown horror actor Bela Lugosi (Martin Landau, in an unforgettable performance) as a deeply-flawed morphine addict. He's prideful, lonely, and warped by the industry similar to Swanson's Norma Desmond.

Except now we don't have William Holden's Joe Gillis around to exploit the fallen star. In "Ed Wood" we have Johnny Depp, in one of his greatest, most moving performances as the famed bad filmmaker Wood. Unlike the conniving Gillis, Wood is kind and unconditionally loving, but just plain untalented. That doesn't matter, though. We come to love him quickly because of his humility and optimism-- two traits so often overlooked in today's protagonists. (An odd coincidence that Forrest Gump was released the same year!).

The film didn't do so well at the box office for many reasons. Most notably, it is marketed as a comedy. And yes, it is a comedy. But it's funny because it's got heart, not for the screwball sarcasm you'd expect from the director of "Beetlejuice" and "Batman." You can see Burton pouring his heart and his pain into characters, the way he did in his more personal masterwork "Edward Scissorhands." In this film, you laugh at Ed Wood because he's a quirky yet likable guy. But you love him because he's got dreams. He tries really hard and chases down his passions the way Orson Welles did, the way many of us wish we had the guts to.

The film is a triumph on many levels. Stylistically, it's an homage to the great sci-fi chillers and monster movies of the 40s and 50s like "The Day the Earth Stood Still," "Earth vs. The Flying Saucers" "Frankenstein" and (of course) "Dracula." Actors deliver their lines in hammy fashion, with theatrical gestures and overactive enthusiasm. Shot in B&W, the opening with Criswell (Jeffrey Jones) emerging from a coffin to give a prologue is ingenious, as are a montage through a miniature set with gravestones and saucers hung up by fishing wire, and an end credit sequence that concludes with a placard reading "Filmed in Hollywood, CA, U.S.A." This film loves the movies and loves its history.

But it's a winning film mostly because of Depp and Landau. They are friends in the way that so many of us wish relationships could be-- a person who loves us for exactly who we are, no matter how imperfect-- who stands beside us even when everyone in the world says we're no good or we're a has-been. There's a scene at about the 1/2-way point where Wood tells Lugosi, "Sorry about asking you to climb into that ice-cold pond at 3 in the morning. A man as great as you should never have to do something like that." Without skipping a beat, Lugosi smiles and says, "Eddie, there are only a few people in the world I would do it for." That's friendship. It baffles me that in an age of cinema when characters and relationships are so devoid of depth, a film like this hits it right on the head.

The final scene is a stunner in the great tradition of Hollywood endings. Wood has just screened his masterpiece "Plan 9 From Outer Space" which he dedicated to Lugosi. Most people know he was likely booed out of the theater. But Burton wisely skips over that portion and shows Wood scurrying out under the marquee hand in hand with his girlfriend Kathy (Patricia Arquette). It's raining and as he approaches his convertible parked out in front, he says, "Honey, let's get married! Right now, let's go to Vegas!" Kathy says, "But Eddie, it's raining and the car top is stuck." Wood smiles and says "Phooey, it's only a five hour drive and it'll probably stop by the time we get to the desert. Heck it'll probably stop by the time we get around the corner. Let's go...".

This moment defines Ed Wood, perhaps not as he was in real life, but as we've come to know him in the film. He's an optimist. Who cares if he was the worst filmmaker of all time? He's full of hope. And full of love. What more can we ask for from a film, or from a person?