MoMA’s Bulle Ogier retrospective was occasion upon occasion for discovery, and even then it was great fortune to encounter Candy Mountain, a 1987 road picture directed by legendary photographer Robert Frank and screenwriter Rudy Wurlitzer (Two-Lane Blacktop, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid) starring Kevin J. O’Connor, Tom Waits, Joe Strummer, and Dr. John, with the legendary French actress in a small, pivotal supporting role. Replete with cold, pale colors and a thoroughly comfortable vibe, it’s also, from the 2024’s vantage, more than a little melancholy for introducing sequestered communities that very likely don’t exist today.
But all’s been preserved in a 2K restoration which Film Movement’s releasing on October 25 in celebration of Frank’s centenary, and we’re pleased to debut the trailer. Here’s the synopsis: “New York City, 1980s. A struggling, deadbeat musician named Julius has fallen on hard times. With no guitar, band or paying gigs, he cooks up a get-rich-quick scheme – to find the legendary, yet elusive guitar-maker Elmore Silk. Considered one of the greatest luthiers in the business, Silk’s disappearance from the scene has only made his work more coveted by musicians and executives looking to make a buck off his name. Julius agrees to track the man down and sets out on the road. Meant to be a simple journey upstate, Julius stumbles down a long, winding road full of dead-ends and wrong turns towards an eventual revelatory conclusion in the Canadian wilderness. One of the great cult classics of the 1980s and starring character actors Kevin J O’Conner and Harris Yulin, the supporting cast features real-life music legends Tom Waits, Leon Redbone, Joe Strummer, Dr. John, David Johansen and more. ‘A wry, laid-back Heart of Darkness‘ (Chicago Reader), Candy Mountain combines the keen eye of legendary photographer Robert Frank with novelist/screenwriter Rudy Wurlitzer’s mythic American prose to produce the quintessential road movie.”
Watch the preview below:
The post Exclusive Trailer for Candy Mountain Resurrects Robert Frank and Rudy Wurlitzer’s Musical Road Trip first appeared on The Film Stage.
