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Bottle Rocket

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Bottle Rocket
Bottle Rocket (1996 film poster).png
Theatrical release poster
Directed byWes Anderson
Screenplay byOwen Wilson
Wes Anderson
Based onBottle Rocket
by Owen Wilson
Wes Anderson
Produced byPolly Platt
Cynthia Hargrave
Starring
CinematographyRobert Yeoman
Edited byDavid Moritz
Music byMark Mothersbaugh
Production
companies
Distributed bySony Pictures Releasing
Release date
  • February 21, 1996 (1996-02-21)
Running time
91 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$5 million[2]
Box office$560,069[3]

Bottle Rocket is a 1996 American crime comedy film directed by Wes Anderson in his feature film directorial debut. The film is written by Anderson and Owen Wilson and is based on Anderson's 1994 short film of the same name. Bottle Rocket is also the acting debut for brothers Owen and Luke Wilson, who co-starred with Robert Musgrave, their older brother Andrew Wilson, Lumi Cavazos, and James Caan. Principal photography took place in various locations throughout Texas.

The film had a limited release in theaters on February 21, 1996. Though not a commercial success, the film received acclaim from critics and launched the film careers of Anderson and the Wilson brothers. Director Martin Scorsese later named Bottle Rocket one of his top-ten favorite films of the 1990s.

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Wes Anderson

Wes Anderson

Wesley Wales Anderson is an American filmmaker. His films are known for their eccentricity and unique visual and narrative styles. They often contain themes of grief, loss of innocence, and dysfunctional families. Cited by some critics as a modern-day example of the work of an auteur, three of Anderson's films have appeared in BBC Culture's 2016 poll of the greatest films since 2000.

List of directorial debuts

List of directorial debuts

This is a list of film directorial debuts in chronological order. The films and dates referred to are a director's first commercial cinematic release. Many film makers have directed works which were not commercially released, for example early works by Orson Welles such as his filming of his stage production of Twelfth Night in 1933 or his experimental short film The Hearts of Age in 1934. Often these early works were not intended for commercial release either by intent, such as film school projects or inability to find distribution.

Owen Wilson

Owen Wilson

Owen Cunningham Wilson is an American actor. He has had a long association with filmmaker Wes Anderson with whom he shared writing and acting credits for Bottle Rocket (1996), Rushmore (1998), and The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), the last of which earned him a nomination for the Academy Award and BAFTA Award for Best Screenplay. He has also appeared in Anderson's The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004), The Darjeeling Limited (2007), Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009), The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), and The French Dispatch (2021). Wilson also starred in the Woody Allen romantic comedy Midnight in Paris (2011) as unsatisfied screenwriter Gil Pender, a role which earned him a Golden Globe Award nomination. In 2014 he appeared in Paul Thomas Anderson's Inherent Vice, and Peter Bogdanovich's She's Funny That Way.

Luke Wilson

Luke Wilson

Luke Cunningham Wilson is an American actor known for his roles in films such as Bottle Rocket (1996), Rushmore (1998), My Dog Skip (2000), Legally Blonde (2001), The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), Idiocracy (2006), You Kill Me (2007), The Skeleton Twins (2014), Meadowland (2015) and Brad's Status (2017). On television, he played Casey Kelso on That '70s Show (2002–05), Levi Callow on Enlightened (2011–13) and Pat Dugan / S.T.R.I.P.E. on Stargirl (2020–22). He is the brother of actors Andrew Wilson and Owen Wilson.

Andrew Wilson (actor)

Andrew Wilson (actor)

Andrew Cunningham Wilson is an American film actor and director. He is the older brother of actors Owen Wilson and Luke Wilson.

Lumi Cavazos

Lumi Cavazos

Luz Maria Cavazos is a Mexican actress. She won Best Actress awards at the Tokyo Film Festival, and Brazil's Festival de Gramado for her portrayal of "Tita" in Like Water for Chocolate. The film received the attention of US film critics and moviegoers, and facilitated her entry into the American film industry. She subsequently relocated to Los Angeles.

Martin Scorsese

Martin Scorsese

Martin Charles Scorsese is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of many major accolades, including an Academy Award, four BAFTA Awards, three Emmy Awards, a Grammy Award, three Golden Globe Awards, and two Directors Guild of America Awards. He has been honored with the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1997, the Film Society of Lincoln Center tribute in 1998, the Kennedy Center Honor in 2007, the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2010, and the BAFTA Fellowship in 2012. Five of his films have been inducted into the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant".

Plot

In Arizona, Dignan "rescues" his friend Anthony from a voluntary psychiatric unit, where he has been staying for self-described exhaustion. Dignan has an elaborate escape plan and has developed a 75-year plan that he shows to Anthony. The plan is to pull off several heists, and then meet up with a Mr. Henry, a landscaper and part-time criminal known to Dignan.

As a practice heist, the two friends break into Anthony's family's house, stealing specific items from a previously-agreed list. Afterward, critiquing the heist, Dignan reveals that he took a pair of earrings not specified on the list. This upsets Anthony, as he had purchased the earrings for his mother as a gift and specifically left them off the list. Anthony visits his little sister at her school and asks her to return the earrings.

Dignan recruits Bob Mapplethorpe as a getaway driver because he is the only person they know with a car. The three of them buy a gun and return to Bob's house to plan their next heist, which will be at a local bookstore. The group bickers as Dignan struggles to describe his intricate plan.

The group steals a small sum of money from the bookstore and go "on the lam", stopping to stay at a motel. Anthony meets Inez, one of the motel maids, and the two spark a romance despite their language barrier (Inez speaks little English, and Anthony barely any Spanish).

Bob learns that his marijuana crop back home has been discovered by police, and that his older brother has been arrested. He leaves in his car the following day to help his brother, without telling Dignan. Before leaving the motel themselves, Anthony gives Dignan an envelope to give to Inez. Dignan delivers it to her while she is cleaning a room, not knowing that the envelope has most of his and Anthony's money inside. Inez does not open the envelope and hugs Dignan to say goodbye.

As Dignan is leaving, Inez asks an English-speaking male friend of hers to chase after him and tell him that she loves Anthony. When he delivers the message he says, "Tell Anthony I love him". Dignan fails to realize he is speaking for Inez and does not deliver the message.

Dignan discovers a dilapidated but functional Alfa Romeo Spider, and he and Anthony continue with the 75-year plan. The car breaks down eventually and Anthony reveals that the envelope Dignan gave to Inez contained the rest of their cash. They have a confrontation and go their separate ways.

Narrating a letter to his sister, Anthony says he and Bob have settled into a routine back at home that is keeping him busy. Dignan, who has joined Mr. Henry's gang, tracks Anthony down and they reconcile. Dignan invites him to a heist with Mr. Henry which he accepts on the condition that Bob is allowed in too.

The trio meet the eccentric Mr. Henry and plan to rob a safe at a cold storage facility. He becomes a role model for them, standing up to Bob's abusive brother and tutoring Dignan on success. He invites the trio to a party at his house, and visits the group at the Mapplethorpes', which he compliments. Anthony learns of Inez's love for him and contacts her via phone. Her English has improved and they rekindle their relationship.

The group conducts their heist at the cold storage facility with Applejack and Kumar, accomplices from Mr. Henry's landscaping company. The plan quickly falls apart with Kumar unable to crack the safe, and Bob accidentally firing his gun, which in turn triggers a cardiac event in Applejack.

As the police arrive, Dignan has locked himself out of the escape van and is arrested and brutalized by police. At the same time as the crew are doing their heist, Mr. Henry loads furniture from Bob's into a truck. Later, Anthony and Bob visit Dignan in prison and tell him about Mr. Henry robbing Bob's house.

While Bob and Anthony are saying their goodbyes, Dignan begins rattling off an escape plan and tells his friends to get into position for a get-away. After a tense moment, the two realize Dignan is joking. Dignan says to Anthony, "Isn't it funny that you used to be in the nuthouse and now I'm in jail?" as he walks back into the prison.

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Arizona

Arizona

Arizona is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th-largest and the 14th-most-populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Four Corners region with Utah to the north, Colorado to the northeast, and New Mexico to the east; its other neighboring states are Nevada to the northwest, California to the west and the Mexican states of Sonora and Baja California to the south and southwest.

Landscaping

Landscaping

Landscaping refers to any activity that modifies the visible features of an area of land, including the following:Living elements, such as flora or fauna; or what is commonly called gardening, the art and craft of growing plants with a goal of creating a beauty within the landscape. Natural abiotic elements, such as landforms, terrain shape and elevation, or bodies of water. Abstract elements, such as the weather and lighting conditions.

Crime scene getaway

Crime scene getaway

A crime scene getaway is the act of fleeing the location where one has broken the law. It is an act that the offender(s) may or may not have planned in detail, resulting in a variety of outcomes. A crime scene is the "location of a crime; especially one at which forensic evidence is collected in a controlled manner." The "getaway" is any escape by a perpetrator from that scene, which may have been witnessed by eyewitnesses or law enforcement.

Alfa Romeo Spider

Alfa Romeo Spider

The Alfa Romeo Spider is a two-seater, front-engined, rear-drive roadster manufactured and marketed by Alfa Romeo from 1966 to 1994 in four distinct generations, or "series", each with modifications ranging from modest to extensive.

Psychiatric hospital

Psychiatric hospital

Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental health hospitals, behavioral health hospitals, are hospitals or wards specializing in the treatment of severe mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, dissociative identity disorder, major depressive disorder and many others. Psychiatric hospitals vary widely in their size and grading. Some hospitals may specialize only in short-term or outpatient therapy for low-risk patients. Others may specialize in the temporary or permanent containment of patients who need routine assistance, treatment, or a specialized and controlled environment due to a psychiatric disorder. Patients often choose voluntary commitment, but those whom psychiatrists believe to pose significant danger to themselves or others may be subject to involuntary commitment and involuntary treatment. Psychiatric hospitals may also be called psychiatric wards/units when they are a subunit of a regular hospital.

Cast

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Owen Wilson

Owen Wilson

Owen Cunningham Wilson is an American actor. He has had a long association with filmmaker Wes Anderson with whom he shared writing and acting credits for Bottle Rocket (1996), Rushmore (1998), and The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), the last of which earned him a nomination for the Academy Award and BAFTA Award for Best Screenplay. He has also appeared in Anderson's The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004), The Darjeeling Limited (2007), Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009), The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), and The French Dispatch (2021). Wilson also starred in the Woody Allen romantic comedy Midnight in Paris (2011) as unsatisfied screenwriter Gil Pender, a role which earned him a Golden Globe Award nomination. In 2014 he appeared in Paul Thomas Anderson's Inherent Vice, and Peter Bogdanovich's She's Funny That Way.

Luke Wilson

Luke Wilson

Luke Cunningham Wilson is an American actor known for his roles in films such as Bottle Rocket (1996), Rushmore (1998), My Dog Skip (2000), Legally Blonde (2001), The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), Idiocracy (2006), You Kill Me (2007), The Skeleton Twins (2014), Meadowland (2015) and Brad's Status (2017). On television, he played Casey Kelso on That '70s Show (2002–05), Levi Callow on Enlightened (2011–13) and Pat Dugan / S.T.R.I.P.E. on Stargirl (2020–22). He is the brother of actors Andrew Wilson and Owen Wilson.

James Caan

James Caan

James Edmund Caan was an American actor. He came to prominence playing Sonny Corleone in The Godfather (1972) – a performance which earned him Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for Best Supporting Actor. He reprised his role in The Godfather Part II (1974). He received a motion pictures star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1978.

Lumi Cavazos

Lumi Cavazos

Luz Maria Cavazos is a Mexican actress. She won Best Actress awards at the Tokyo Film Festival, and Brazil's Festival de Gramado for her portrayal of "Tita" in Like Water for Chocolate. The film received the attention of US film critics and moviegoers, and facilitated her entry into the American film industry. She subsequently relocated to Los Angeles.

Ned Dowd

Ned Dowd

Ned Dowd is an American film producer and former actor.

Andrew Wilson (actor)

Andrew Wilson (actor)

Andrew Cunningham Wilson is an American film actor and director. He is the older brother of actors Owen Wilson and Luke Wilson.

Kumar Pallana

Kumar Pallana

Kumar Valavhadas Pallana was an Indian American character actor and vaudevillian. He performed on the Mickey Mouse Club as a plate spinner and juggler.

Production

In 1992, Anderson directed a 13-minute short film, titled Bottle Rocket.[4] The short was filmed in black and white, and also starred Owen and Luke Wilson and Musgrave. The short had a similar plot to the later feature film.[5] The film was screened at the 1994 Sundance Film Festival,[6] where it attracted the attention of filmmaker James L. Brooks who agreed to finance a full-length version of the short.[7]

The feature-length film was shot entirely in Dallas, Fort Worth, and Hillsboro, Texas.[8] The scenes at Bob Mapplethorpe's house were filmed at the John Gillin Residence, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.[9]

After the film failed to achieve commercial success, Owen Wilson considered joining the Marines.[10] Bill Murray was considered for the role of Abe Henry.[11][12]

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Sundance Film Festival

Sundance Film Festival

The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,660 attending in 2016. It takes place each January in Park City, Utah; Salt Lake City, Utah; and at the Sundance Resort, and acts as a showcase for new work from American and international independent filmmakers. The festival consists of competitive sections for American and international dramatic and documentary films, both feature films and short films, and a group of out-of-competition sections, including NEXT, New Frontier, Spotlight, Midnight, Sundance Kids, From the Collection, Premieres, and Documentary Premieres.

James L. Brooks

James L. Brooks

James Lawrence Brooks is an American director, producer, screenwriter and co-founder of Gracie Films. His television and film work includes The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Taxi, The Simpsons, Broadcast News, As Good as It Gets, and Terms of Endearment.

Fort Worth, Texas

Fort Worth, Texas

Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly 350 square miles (910 km2) into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According to a 2022 United States census estimate, Fort Worth's population was 958,692. Fort Worth is the second-largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan area, which is the fourth most populous metropolitan area in the United States.

Hillsboro, Texas

Hillsboro, Texas

Hillsboro is a city in and the county seat of Hill County, Texas, United States. The population was 8,221 at the 2020 census.

John Gillin Residence

John Gillin Residence

The John Gillin Residence is a large single-story Usonian house, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1950 and built in Dallas, Texas, in 1958. The Gillin House is Wright's only residential project in Dallas. Gillin, a successful oilman, geophysicist and electronics "gadgeteer", commissioned Wright to design a work of art that would also be suitable for living and entertaining. A self-made man, Wright respected him and allowed him to design many details including all door hardware, the stainless steel kitchenettes and even the diving board support.

Frank Lloyd Wright

Frank Lloyd Wright

Frank Lloyd Wright was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator.

Owen Wilson

Owen Wilson

Owen Cunningham Wilson is an American actor. He has had a long association with filmmaker Wes Anderson with whom he shared writing and acting credits for Bottle Rocket (1996), Rushmore (1998), and The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), the last of which earned him a nomination for the Academy Award and BAFTA Award for Best Screenplay. He has also appeared in Anderson's The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004), The Darjeeling Limited (2007), Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009), The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), and The French Dispatch (2021). Wilson also starred in the Woody Allen romantic comedy Midnight in Paris (2011) as unsatisfied screenwriter Gil Pender, a role which earned him a Golden Globe Award nomination. In 2014 he appeared in Paul Thomas Anderson's Inherent Vice, and Peter Bogdanovich's She's Funny That Way.

United States Marine Corps

United States Marine Corps

The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combined arms, implementing its own infantry, artillery, aerial, and special operations forces. The U.S. Marine Corps is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States.

Bill Murray

Bill Murray

William James Murray is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and director. Known for his deadpan delivery, Murray rose to fame on The National Lampoon Radio Hour (1973–1974) before becoming a national presence on Saturday Night Live from 1977 to 1980, where he received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series. He starred in comedy films including Meatballs (1979), Caddyshack (1980), Stripes (1981), Ghostbusters (1984), Scrooged (1988), What About Bob? (1991), Groundhog Day (1993), Kingpin (1996), The Man Who Knew Too Little (1997), Osmosis Jones (2001) and Garfield (2004). His only directorial credit is Quick Change (1990), which he co-directed with Howard Franklin.

Reception

Fans watch a showing in Hillsboro, TX at the motel where much of the movie was filmed.
Fans watch a showing in Hillsboro, TX at the motel where much of the movie was filmed.

Bottle Rocket received generally positive reviews from film critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has an 85% "Certified Fresh" rating based on 68 reviews, with an average rating of 6.83/10. The site's consensus describes the film as "Reservoir Dogs meets Breathless with a West Texas sensibility".[13] On Metacritic, it has a 66/100 weighted average score based on 24 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[14]

Martin Scorsese is a fan of the film, calling it one of his favorite movies of the 1990s.[15][16] In a 2000 interview with Esquire, Scorsese praised Wes Anderson for his ability to "convey the simple joys and interactions between people so well and with such richness."[15]

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Home media

In 2008, Bottle Rocket was released on DVD and Blu-ray as part of The Criterion Collection.[17]

Source: "Bottle Rocket", Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, (2023, March 21st), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bottle_Rocket.

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See also
References
  1. ^ a b "Bottle Rocket". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. Retrieved April 10, 2017.
  2. ^ Silverman, Jeff (February 4, 1996). "FILM;Their Feet in Texas, Their Heads in the Clouds". The New York Times. Retrieved September 16, 2018.
  3. ^ "Bottle Rocket". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved August 7, 2007.
  4. ^ Calvario, Liz (June 25, 2016). "Wes Anderson's 'Bottle Rocket' Short Film: Watch the 13 Minute Clip That Launched His Career". IndieWire. Retrieved April 24, 2019.
  5. ^ Taylor, Trey (February 24, 2016). "What you didn't know about Wes Anderson's first film". Dazed. Retrieved April 24, 2019.
  6. ^ "Wes Anderson's first film, the original B&W 'Bottle Rocket' short from 1992". DangerousMinds. June 21, 2013. Retrieved April 24, 2019.
  7. ^ Thomas-Mason, Lee (July 15, 2021). "Wes Anderson's black-and-white short film 'Bottle Rocket'". Far Out. Retrieved October 4, 2022.
  8. ^ Seal, Mark. "Celebrated Weekend: Luke Wilson's Austin". American Way. Archived from the original on August 8, 2007. Retrieved August 8, 2007.
  9. ^ Neilson, Charlotte. "Bottle Rocket 1996 - The Gillin Residence". Casting Architecture. Archived from the original on January 3, 2019. Retrieved July 22, 2014.
  10. ^ "Owen Wilson: From movies to the marines". Leatherneck. June 20, 2006. Retrieved February 3, 2016.
  11. ^ Locke, Greg W. (August 26, 2011). "The Top 25 Roles Bill Murray Didn't Take". Ze Catalist. Archived from the original on November 25, 2011. Retrieved May 25, 2015.
  12. ^ Evans, Bradford (February 17, 2011). "The Lost Roles of Bill Murray". Vulture. Archived from the original on May 20, 2015. Retrieved May 25, 2015.
  13. ^ "Bottle Rocket (1996)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved October 31, 2022.
  14. ^ "Bottle Rocket". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved July 9, 2019.
  15. ^ a b Khatchatourian, Maane (March 6, 2014). "Wes Anderson: 12 Fun Facts About His Movies". Variety. Retrieved September 11, 2017.
  16. ^ Martin Scorsese (guest host), Roger Ebert (host) (February 26, 2000). "Martin Scorsese's Best Films of the '90s". Roger Ebert & the Movies. Season 1. Episode 26.
  17. ^ "Bottle Rocket". The Criterion Collection. Retrieved August 9, 2022.
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