Clay Pigeons (1998) Western Neo Noir

Directed by David Dobkin, so far his only Noir of note (in my opinion).

Dobkin is noted for directing (The Judge (2014), Wedding Crashers (2005), Shanghai Knights (2003), that I've seen, and now seems to be, besides still directing, doing more producing, making music videos, and working TV projects. 

Written by Matt Healy (his only screenplay a one shot wonder?) The excellent Cinematography was by Eric Alan Edwards the Music was by John Lurie with a great selection of soundtracks. 

Clay Pigeons came out during the years when I was transitioning from a move from Montana back to New York. Back then I was still more into writing about Westerns and Fly Fishing and hadn't yet reignited my love for hardboiled detectives, femme fatales and life's unlucky losers. 

The film also was released at the end of the 1990-1998 stretch which was second wave high point for Neo Noir, the first great wave of Neos was roughly between 1975-1987. It obviously got lost in the glut of excellent Neo Noir. There are very probably more like it out there ready to be rediscovered. Just like with every film that hits, you are going to find other productions that are going to try and piggyback off a similar formula. 

Now that we seem to be in a great slump for American Neo Noir films, oh, don't get me wrong there a few sprinkled throughout the high tide of superhero / action blockbusters, but they are far and few between.  The reason for that just may be that the Visual Style has migrated to Cable TV (just like the Crime Genre migrated to TV in the 1960s ) and there it is very alive and kicking, on excellent mini series the likes of Breaking Bad, True Detective, Fargo, The New Perry Mason, and Better Call Saul.

Clay Pigeons also has a cast of actors that aside from In Cold Blood's Scott Wilson are not really names that would draw me personally to the theater. I never got excited enough by Joaquin Phoenix, Vince Vaughn, or Janeane Garofalo to plunk money down at a box office on the strength of their names alone in a film. Though admittedly Phoenix in this, is excellent. 

It's a very good time during this drought of Noir to go back and dig out these off the radar films and reassess them.

The film stars Joaquin Phoenix as Clay Bidwell, Vince Vaughn as Lester Long, Janeane Garofalo as Dale Shelby, Georgina Cates as Amanda, Gregory Sporleder as Earl, Phil Morris as Agent Reynard, Scott Wilson as Sheriff Dan Mooney, Vince Vieluf as Deputy Barney, Nikki Arlyn as Gloria Collins, and Joseph D. Reitman as Glen. 

Joaquin Phoenix as Clay Bidwell

Georgina Cates as Amanda

Vince Vaughn as Lester Long

Scott Wilson as Sheriff Dan Mooney

Janeane Garofalo as FBI Agent Dale Shelby

The Story

If you ever lived in a rural state you will know that one of the ways to unwind after work or on the weekend is to grab a six pack and go either fishing, hunting, or (if between those seasons go out and target practice or occasionally (if they are around) shoot gofers. It's rural flyspeck Montana, you are not going to go out and find enough guys for a basketball game or even a court with a hoop, for that matter, get my drift?

Now, back when I first moved to Montana in 1972, there was no daytime speed limit on the Interstates (and some of them weren't even finished yet) or highways, the signs read Speed Limit - Reasonable and Prudent for conditions. The other big revelation was that there were no open container laws. You could go to a bar order a drink and if you wanted to head down to the next watering hole just ask the barkeep for a to-go-cup, or if you had a long neck bottle or can just take it and split. The film is supposed to take place in the mid eighties, Montana didn't pass an open container law in 2005. 

Ok so back to the story. Clay and his best friend Earl are drinking long necks and shootin' at the empties. It's one of their favorite end of day pastimes. 

This shot looks like a typical South slope in Montana

target practice

Clay about to set up another bottle

 

Their two ford pickups backed up side by side, with their tailgates down, for setting on. In the boxes are coolers. They shoot. They down a couple of suds. They then go and hang the bottles from sash cords tied to a tree limb. The cords have loops in their ends so they can just slip the empties neck through the loop. Everything is Jake until it isn't.

When Clay goes to hang the latest round of empties, he hears Earl pulling the slide back on his automatic and released. He turns and finds Earl pointing his gun it at him. 

Gregory Sporleder as Earl

Clay of course asks what the fuck are you doing? Earl tells him that he knows he's fucking Amanda (his wife), and he's going to kill him. Of course Clay thinks he's bluffing. 

Clay tells him he can hardly shoot a deer, much less his best friend. Earl then changes tack, he wants Clay now to kill him, to put him out of his misery. Earl tells him he wont be able to live with the humiliation of everybody in town pointing at him and  talking behind his back. 

Clay tells him forget it. So Earl blows a hole in his own leg. Earl now tells Clay that he's not going to get away with claiming it was suicide. Earl tells Clay that he planed it this way.  He tells Clay basically that I may be dead but you are going to prison for shooting me and that Amanda won't be getting fucked by you for a long time. Then Earl shoots himself. 

It starts going Noirsville when Clay drives to Earl and Amanda's house and tells Amanda what happened, she does not show any remorse what so ever but wants him to fuck her as usual, lol. 

When he tells her fuck no, and that he's got to go to the police. Amanda tells him if he does she'll collaborate Earls "fake story" that he killed Earl to get him out of the way of their relationship.

Of course like in many a Noir before, Clay makes the "bonehead" move, instead of still going to the police and tell everything that happened (which forensics would prove out) he decides to go back to their shooting spot and cover things up. 

Dumping Earl in his own truck

tow rope attached

Pushed over the edge

He puts Earl in his pickup, throws in his gun, ties a rope to the front bumper and tows it over to a flat at the top of a nearby gravel pit.  Clay unties the rope drives his pickup out of the way then comes back and pushes Earls truck so that it rolls down the slope and into the pit exploding into a ball of flame. Clay then goes to report what he "found."

Looks good enough

Looks like he went off the edge there Clay.....

When Clay gets all done with answering questions at the scene and filling out the police reports, he drives to his house and finds Amanda in his bed demanding sex. Well, shit oh dear, that ain't gonna look good honey and tongues are going to wag in their small town. Clay tells her to get the fuck out. They fight and he hits her. She gets pissed off and leaves.

Surprise surprise surprise

Mourning period over....

rejected

Smacked!

Amanda getting dressed and leaving

After the funeral, a few days later, Clay is winding down at a local watering hole called Doc Holiday's Tavern, He's contemplating life. He puts some quarters in the pool table and starts knocking balls around. 

Amanda shows up in her "widows weeds," not. She's wearing a slinky red dress and starts flirting brazenly with Clay. 

Clay trying to ignore Amanda

While Clay is reaching bent over the pool table to make a shot, Amanda puts her hand on his waist and then reaches around to tweak his crotch. Clay spins around and slaps her in public. 

It's a little hard to ignore Amanda's hand in your crotch

Another slap across her chops

Seeing all this go down is Lester Long (in his cowboy drag outfit) who comes up to Clay after witnessing what went down and tells him that he did the right thing. They strike up a conversation, and a friendship.

Lester Long in cowboy drag outfit

Clay tries to put everything behind him, and forget Amanda. He starts to date Gloria a waitress. They go to a movie they go to Clays to hang out. 

Nikki Arlyn as Gloria Collins

One things leads to another and they are screwing away on Clays water bed when Amanda show up in the bedroom and shoots Gloria dead. 

Clay doing the tube steak boogie with Gloria

Amanda watching 

What the fuck is that matter with you...

Clay pissed is going to call the police but when Amanda reminds him about him faking Earls suicide, he decides not to. Again in another Noir bonehead move he agrees to dispose of the body for Amanda. He takes Gloria out to the local nearby fishing lake weighs her down and dumps her out of his row boat.

A little while later Lester comes back through town. He meets up again with Clay at Doc Holliday's and they decide to go fishing. Here again you'd think that Clay would stay as far away as possible from the lake. But no. So their they are fishing at the same lake where Clay dumped Gloria. It must be the only place to fish around. So while they are casting (here I'm expecting that somebody's going to hook Gloria's corpse) there is suddenly a bad smell in the air. This of course makes Clay and Lester make "who cut the cheese" jokes. Each thinks the other farted until they spot floating nearby behind the boat 

the nude decomposed body of a woman floating in the water. 

Only it's not Gloria but another victim of a Montana serial killer. This brings in Dale Shelby of the FBI and her partner Agent Reynard. 

The Feds and locals decide to drag the lake. They come up with two more badly decomposed bodies of women and also Gloria. The three older bodies were all stabbed, the M.O. of the serial killer, Gloria though was of course shot.

Noirsville

I was really impressed with Joaquin Phoenix, and I usually don't relate to him. Scott Wilson is great.  Janeane Garofalo did a surprisingly good job as the FBI agent, but Vince Vaughn comes off a bit unbelievable he's burlesquing his role of a cowboy trucker, and the film is supposed to be Montana. He's trying to play the kind of part that usually goes to someone scarier like Michael Madsen, Madsen oozes menace without even trying. Vaughn comes off like Billy Bob Thornton when he's having trouble reaching for more crazy than is believable, if you get my drift.

I lived 24+ years in Montana and if Vaugh's Lester character ever showed up in any bars in the western getup he's wearing, the smiley pocket shirts, bolo tie, and what looks like a right out of the box cowboy hat, that he sports he'd be a musician playing in a Country Western band or tagged as a dork, or "dude," and laughed out of the bar, or worse. He looks like he should be trolling a gay bar, lol. 

Then get this in his "bedroom" scenes he's wearin' "Mormon" underwear, lol. Give me a fucking break. When I'm screwing I'm naked. I'm surprised that Georgina Cates didn't laugh his ass right out of bed. And speaking of Cates, she is also very impressive as the femme fatale. She gives a real hard edge reality to the role. She should have had a much better career. Vince Vieluf as the dopey deputy, kind of reminds me of a young Warren Oates in In The Heat Of The Night. 

Though the film is supposed to all tale place in Montana. The opening target practice sequence probably looks the most like Montana in the whole film. Those high grassy steppes on the sunny South slopes of the Rockies is a staple Montana landscape. For the most part though, the countryside in Clay Pigeons looks a bit to dry and desert like for Montana (the filming locations were Utah and Califronia). I think, I even saw a Joshua tree in one scene and they only grow in the Mojave Desert. lol. 7/10.