Writer/Director Corner: David Mamet

I’ve mentioned before I have a weak spot for movies about con artists and heists and the like, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that one of my favorite writer/directors is David Mamet. For some, his dialogue-driven style is cumbersome, but I really love the way his characters seem to be both very real and very stylized all at the same time. And I love that he comes back to the “who’s being conned here, anyhow” well again and again. It works for me, anyhow. That, and I love that he frequently works with people like Joe Mantegna and Ricky Jay.

The following list is in no way meant to represent the best of Mamet’s work, nor a “top 8 list” of my own personal favorites. The thing is, a lot of what I wanted to choose wasn’t in stock, and since I was putting stuff on the Wall O’ Cool, I went with what we actually have right now. So this isn’t a dis to great movies like Glengarry Glen Ross, The Spanish Prisoner, Heist, State And Main, The Untouchables, Homicide or The Winslow Boy, it’s just what we happen to have in stock at the time.

One of my new favorite actors (well, recent) is Chiwetel Ejiofor (you may remember him as “The Operative” in Serenity). In Redbelt, he’s a jiu-jitsu master who has chosen to lead an honorable life rather than become involved in the prize-fighting circuit. A chance meeting with a lawyer and an off-duty cop throws him into a tangled web that forces him to do the thing he’s worked so hard to avoid. Joe Mantegna and Ricky Jay appear as fight promoters and Tim Allen is kind of hilarious as a very Chuck Norris-like action star. (written and directed by Mamet)

A lot of people didn’t really like the third (or fourth if you count correctly) installment in the Hannibal Lecter series, Hannibal, based on the book by Thomas Harris. I did, though. I felt like it stuck closely enough to the story in the book and that Julianne Moore did a pretty good job of taking over Jodi Foster’s role of Clarice Starling. Having read the book, I knew what to expect from the Lecter/Starling relationship and I really loved Gary Oldman’s villainous Mason Verger. yeesh, I get the willies just thinking about it. (screenplay by Mamet, though it was rewritten by Steve Zaillian)

Mamet’s talky-mind-games style of dialogue really shines in The Edge. After their plane crashes in the wilderness on the way to a remote photo shoot, Anthony Hopkins and Alec Baldwin find themselves in a struggle for survival, not just against nature (and bears!) but also fear, suspicion and treachery. Good stuff here. (written by Mamet)

After a tarot reader tells him “You’re not where you belong”, Edmond (William H. Macy in a fantastic performance) leaves his wife and embarks on a dark and terrifying descent into his own personal hell. Telling you more would be a disservice. This is a hard movie to watch, but for fans of Mamet and Macy, well worth the effort.  (screenplay by Mamet, based on his play)

This one came as a bit of a surprise to me as I wasn’t aware that Mamet was involved. Ronin stars Robert DeNiro and Jean Reno as mercenary assassins, available to the highest bidder for whatever post-Cold War task the powers-that-be desire. Now, they’ve been called to France to steal a mysterious briefcase that not only are world-leaders after, but underworld-leaders, too. The Ronin must trust each other if any of them hope to get out of this alive.  (screenplay by Mamet)

Jack Nicholson and Jessica Lange heat up the screen in The Postman Always Rings Twice, a steamy thriller about a drifter who finds work in a diner and falls for the owner’s wife. Deciding he’ll do anything to get her, he becomes entwined in a plot to murder the young woman’s much older husband. Bad, Jack. Bad. (screenplay by Mamet)

Filled with international intrigue and double-crosses, Spartan features Val Kilmer as a super-secret agent sent on a mission to recover the apparently kidnapped daughter of a US official from a white slavery ring. Of course, since this is a political thriller and it’s written by Mamet, is anything what it seems to be? (written by Mamet)

Finally, we come to my first exposure to Mamet’s work, and maybe my third favorite Mamet flick after Glengarry Glen Ross and Heist. I’m talking about House Of Games. Set in Seattle and starring Joe Mantegna, Ricky Jay (of course) and featuring an incredibly wooden performance from Lindsay Crouse (which I can completely overlook because the dialogue and the story are so freaking amazing), it’s the story of a psychiatrist who attempts to help a patient get out of a gambling debt, only to be reeled in to the devious world of the con man. Ultimately, she finds herself locked in a high-stakes game of with Joe and his crew. I. Love. This. Movie. (written and directed by Mamet)

We also have the first season of the highly-rated black-ops show The Unit, which was created by and is written by Mr. Mamet.

So there you go, loads of cool stuff to choose from here!