One of the most woefully underrated directors of the 20th century, Alan Parker was twice nominated for the Best Director Oscar and was at the helm of some of the most critically acclaimed films of the lastquarter of last century. Much like fellow countryman Adrian Lyne, Parker's career stopped rather suddenly and abruptly just past the dawn of the new millennium, leaving usabsent one of the most vital voices in cinema. He seems content in his retirement, whether self-imposed or otherwise, however one can't help but wonder what post-2003 films he may have improved had he been at their helm.
Parker began his directing career the same way many of his British contemporaries like Ridley Scott, Tony Scott, Hugh Hudson, and Lyne all did, by making commercials. Parker attributed this to the utter lack of a British film industry in the late 1970s, saying that this vocation was essentially his film school. After penning a handful of screenplays directed by other filmmakers like 1971's Melody, Parker made the leap to feature filmmaking with 1976's Bugsy Malone. That film's central conceit—casting children to play all of the characters—certainly helped garner him attention in the industry, but it was his second feature that launched him into the stratosphere.
As I write this, I'm listening to the soundtrack of one of Parker's films we won't be covering today, 1996's Evita. That film is one of the most shining examples of what a director can add to a story that's been told a thousand times, with Parker jettisoning much of the original stage show's conceit to essentially make a musical biopic. It is one of his best films, and despite the lack of skin, I would highly recommend tracking it down. In the meantime, let's start with Parker's second film, the one that put him on the map and earned him his first Best Director Oscar nomination...
Midnight Express (1978)
Based on the true story of American Billy Hayes' experience being held in a Turkish prison following his arrest for drug trafficking, Midnight Express rocked the world when it was released just a year after Hayes' book of the same name. Oliver Stone won his first Oscar for writing the film's screenplay and though much of his own visceral style works its way into the film, it very much bears the more measured hallmarks of Parker's filmography than it does any of Stone's own films. The film opens with Hayes (Brad Davis) taping bricks of hashish to his body before attempting to board a plane out of Turkey, only to be arrested on the tarmac and sent to a brutal prison.
Although thefilmhas an almost exclusively male cast, Hayes' girlfriendIrene Miracle shows up at the prison just past the 100-minute mark and reveals her breasts so the incarcerated Billy can jerk off...
I don’t know if it was in Stone’s screenplay or if the idea came from Parker, butthe pan up to her face crying instantly kills whatever sexiness might have been present in the moment. Something tells me it was Parker’s idea and not Stone’s. The scene has, of course, transcended into legend with numerous parodies—including this brilliant bit from The Cable Guy—but even after all this time, it's as devastating as ever.
Fame (1980)
Parker's love of and connection to the musical world began with this 1980 film based on the students of the famed Fiorello LaGuardia Performing Arts High School in New York City.Although Famehas become synonymous with the more chaste television version that followed the film, Parker's original film is decidedly more hard-edged, to the point where the actual school wouldn't allow them to film there. The film follows a group of teens from the time they audition to be in the Drama, Dance, and Music Departments of the school, all the way through their four-year tenure there.
Originally titled "Hot Lunch," Parker decided to change the title when walking past a 42nd Street porno house playing a film with that title starring someone named "Al Parker." Whether or not that story is apocryphal, it'sarguably a lot better than whatever the truth may be. Parker did embed himself in the actual high school while writing the script to capture the feel of the school and get a handle on the popular vernacular of the time, all in the name of adding authenticity to the film. That was his goal from the beginning, not to have musical breaks in the way your typical film musical of the time did, but rather to have the songs explode out of the characters in a fairly realistic way.
The film's most famous moment comes during their Junior year when they attend a midnight showing of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, with Maureen Teefyjoiningthe cast members on stage to do the Time Warp. This scene alone really helped the whole Rocky Horror phenomenon to spread beyond New York City.Of course, being set in a performing arts high school, there's plenty of time spent backstage, including a skinsational scene where we catch a glimpse of dancer Nora Catrone topless...
The film's most sobering moment comes very near the end when the lovable Coco (Irene Cara, who also performedthe title song) is invited to put herself on tape for a film director. It turns out the guy is an amateur porn director and she sobs while taking off her top in the most heartbreaking moment imaginable...
Man, Parker truly has an affinity for combining nudity and tears. I wonder what that's all about? Anyway, this scene helps to illustrate Parker's ultimate point which is that the film's title is meant to be ironic. In an interview at the time of the film's release, Parker said, "the story is really about failure, both personal and professional, the chasing of dreams and the cruel realities of showbusiness."
Pink Floyd: The Wall (1982)
Having now switched my listening over to Pink Floyd's 1979 double LP The Wall, I feel sufficiently prepared to tackle one of the more divisive rock-n-roll movies ever made. Released in the same year as Parker's achingly intimate relationship drama Shoot the Moon, The Wall is a film best experienced and not watched. Parker's involvement with the film began when Pink Floyd frontman and bassist Roger Waters approached the director about an idea he had to combine a live-shot concert film with animation in order to create a unique experience for the audience. Parker agreed to produce the film, but didn't want to direct as he had already committed to make Shoot the Moon.
Circumstances prevented the film from being made to Waters' original vision, withcinematographer-turned-directorMichael Seresin failing to capture all of the concert footage needed to complete the film as originally intended. The ball then bounced back into Parker's court, who worked from a screenplay credited only to Waters, to create the film as we know it now. Waters himself tested for the lead role of Pink, a rock star tortured by the isolation that fame has brought him, but the studio was unconvinced he could handle the role. Instead, they brought in Boomtown Rats frontman and future Live Aid mastermind Bob Geldof to play the lead role, though Geldof had many suggestions on how to reshape the role.
Eleanor David plays Pink's Wife in the film—and yes, that is the character's name—and has three nude scenes in fairly quick succession in the film between the 30 and 46 minute marks...
There's also a topless scene several minutes later from Jenny Wright playing an American groupie that Pink picks up and parties with, though she eventually enrages him to the point of destroying the room...
By all accounts, the film's production was a constant tug-of-war between Parker, Waters, the studio, and animation director Gerald Scarfe, with everyone ultimately ending up disappointed by the finished product. It's far from a perfect film, but there's enough iconic and haunting imagery in the film—combined with Pink Floyd's incredible music—to help the film achieve cult status. If you're a fan and you've been avoiding it because of all the badmouthing Roger Waters has done over the years, it might be time to give it a shot.
Angel Heart (1987)
The following is excerpted from our Anatomy of a Nude Scene article about the film, which you can read in its entirety by clicking here...
The film's centerpiece sex scene attained notoriety before the film was even released, with several profiles written at the time—including one in theLos Angeles Times—commenting on a sex scene thatwasmade out to contain borderlinepornography. As blood drips on the two love-makers, there are some shots of Rourke's ass thrusting, which the MPAA objected to and Parker willingly cut from the film after much debate. Bear in mind, this is a film where human hearts are consumed on screen, yet ten seconds of thrusting from Rourke was all that had to go in order to secure the studio mandated R-rating. The thrusting has been restored in the film's blu-ray release...
Commenting in the aforementioned LA Times interview, Bonet dismissed the controversy as ridiculous...
"It's nothing that hasn't been done before or that hasn't been seen before," Bonet said, comparing the brief glimpse of one of her bare breasts and Rourke's posterior to the R-rated frontal nudity in films such as "Blue Velvet."
While it's obviously not quite as innocent as they interpreted it to be,Angel Heartisobviously nowhere near as scandalous as other films of the era. Of course, the ultimate twist of the film finds Angel discovering that he is indeed Johnny Favorite, the man the devil has been tracking down in order to obtain his soul. This, of course, repaints the entire sex scene as Angel—and the audience—soon realizes that hehad sex with and subsequently murderedhis own daughter. That's right, we get one last blood covered nude scene from Bonet as she lay dead in bed with Angel/Favorite's dog tags around her neck...
Blood is obviously an integral part of certain voodoo ceremonies and isoften associated with the devil, so it's not entirely surprising that the film features a lot of it. It adds an obvious extra layer of meaning with nearly every one of the very pointedly underage Epiphany's nude scenes featuring her doused in blood. Sure, there's the innocent interpretation that she's a sacrificial lamb, yadda yadda yadda, but that interpretation would break with the direction Parker has been clearly been pointing you the entire time.
The Road to Wellville (1994)
One of the most undeniably strange comedies of the 90s, Parker's film about the real health facility created and run by cereal magnate and health guru Dr. John Harvey Kellogg (Anthony Hopkins) is an absolutely bizarre and often hilarious film. Based on T.C. Boyle's novel of the same name, with Parker handling screenwriting duties, the film centers around an upper-middle classcouple played by Matthew Broderick and Bridget Fonda who travel to Kellogg's health spa to help heal the divide between them following the death of their child. Kellogg runs the Battle Creek, MIsanitariumwith an iron fist, promoting frequent colonics, vegetarianism, outdoor exercise, and strict abstinence from sex.
Of course, like any other place promoting abstinence from sex, the facility is overrun withlecherous guests who frequently sneak off for sexual escapades. For her part, Fonda hooks up with a swinging group of folks including Camryn Manheim and DS9's Colm Meaney, who turn her on to the benefits of sex—all while Broderick spies her infidelity from a safe distance...
For his part, Broderick finds himself being (unsuccessfully) seduced by a randy nurse played by Traci Lind (below, top), but Broderick only has eyes for an obviously ill patient played by Lara Flynn Boyle (below, bottom)...
The film takes a few too many detours and is overall something of an unfocused mess, but that is part of the film's shaggy dog charm. It would be impossible to do a sufficient takedown of Kellogg's many insane beliefs in a two-hour movie, but the film does the best it can with a sprawling cast filled with outstanding supporting actors—including a never better on film Dana Carvey as Kellogg's deviously disgusting son.
The Life of David Gale (2003)
Finally we come to the end of the road for Parker as a director with what is inarguably his worst film, 2003's anti-capital punishment screed The Life of David Gale. Following a well-received but commercially ignored adaptation of the bestselling novel Angela's Ashes in 1999, Parker assembled one hell of a cast—Kate Winslet, Laura Linney, even a young Melissa McCarthy—to bring this story to life, though it was sadly more than such a rotten script deserved. Disgraced two-time Oscar winner Kevin Spacey stars as the title character, a liberal anti-death penalty professor whose career comes to a screeching halt when he is accused of sexual assault by a graduate student (Rhona Mitra)...
The charges are dropped, but his career and personal life are irrevocably ruined by the accusation. Gale is consoled by a fellow anti-death penalty activist (Laura Linney), who turns up murdered the morning after sleeping with Gale. The disparaged Gale is arrested, convicted, and sentenced to death for the crime, but a journalist (Kate Winslet) isn't convinced that he's guilty. It is eventually revealed that she is, in fact, on to something as a videotape shows that Linney actually committed suicide, on videotape, framing Gale—with his consent—to prove a point to the world about the futility of capital punishment. Winslet is unable to get the tape to the governor in time to save Gale's life and he dies a martyr for his cause.
Heavy handed doesn't even begin to describe the film, which plays like the worst sort of pandering diatribe of a film imaginable. Had Parker favored subtlety—not his favorite tool in his toolkit—perhaps it wouldn't have played like such a mess. The video of Linney's death is graphic and gruesome, but we do get to see her boobs, bush, and buns as she, well, suffocates herself on the ground...
Apart from Linney and Mitra's nude scenes, the only other thing worth exploring in regard to this film is Roger Ebert's glorious zero star review of the film, which includes the following blisteringly hilarious line...
Spacey and Parker are honorable men. Why did they go to Texas and make this silly movie? The last shot made me want to throw something at the screen--maybe Spacey and Parker.
Man, the first part of that quote didn't age well at all.Had we known at the time this would be Parker's swan song on film, perhaps it would've been granted a little more leniency toward the director, but such is the benefit of hindsight. I truly hope this isn't his last film, but even if it is, his career is diverse and outstanding enough to merit his inclusion in the pantheon of great 20th century filmmakers.
Alan Parker Films with Nudity Not Covered in This Column
Alan Parker Films without Nudity Worth Checking Out
—Shoot the Moon (1982)
—Mississippi Burning (1988)
—Evita (1996)
—Angela's Ashes (1999)
Check out the Other Directors in Our Ongoing "SKIN-depth Look”Series
—Rainer Werner Fassbinder: Part One
—Rainer Werner Fassbinder: Part Two
—Rainer Werner Fassbinder: Part Three
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Non-nude images courtesy of IMDb
