Hot Tomorrows (Martin Brest, 1977)

[beamish13]

It's interesting to look at the career trajectories of many 1970's film school students in America who managed to transition into the studio system. From creating franchises (BACK TO THE FUTURE) to directing endlessly replayed comedy classics (FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH) and creating wholly new worlds (BLUE VELVET), it's hard to imagine what kind of cinema we'd have today without having institutions of higher learning that nurtured talent who may have remained in the fine arts, creative writing or some other fields

In 2011, a short Martin Brest directed at NYU entitled HOT DOGS FOR GAUGUIN (1973) was selected for preservation by the Library of Congress. Why one of the US' leading cultural institutions would elect to keep for posterity an obscure film that is almost never screened in its entirety I cannot say. However, having viewed his first feature, HOT TOMORROWS, it's evident that even during the nascent stage of his career, Brest demonstrated both a keen visual sense and a willingness to acknowledge his debt to the cinema that he absorbed in his youth. HOT TOMORROWS is about a navel-gazing writer who is obsessed with the specter of death and the rapport that he has with his ne'er-do-well best friend. There's shades of HAROLD AND MAUDE, YOUR THREE MINUTES ARE UP (an underrated proto-SIDEWAYS starring Beau Bridges), and even FORBIDDEN ZONE (on account of a mesmerizing performance from the Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo and a grand musical finale). There are some amusing lines, and a very funny VO cameo from Orson Welles (!). The movies' greatest strength is its depiction of a fading, glamor-free Los Angeles filled with dive bars and a dearth of meaningful human contact, where the elderly are sequestered away and the nighttime provides only brief respites from the monotony of daily living.

Brest's career can be seen as a kind of cautionary story, with many ebbs and flows (being fired from WAR GAMES, finding critical and commercial success with MIDNIGHT RUN, becoming persona non grata after GIGLI). I do hope that he can eventually come back and work with a screenwriter whose sensibilities matches his directorial style.

[Roger Ryan]

I was always curious about HOT TOMORROWS, especially for the chance to see Ray Sharkey during the time he was a promising newcomer before his career and personal life went off the rails. As for Martin Brest, his follow-up to this film, GOING IN STYLE, remains a lovely slice of 70s filmmaking and is comparable to Hal Ashby's work during this period. I find it commendable that George Burns, in the middle of his late career resurgence, agreed to appear in a film sans his hairpiece and featuring a scene where he loses control of his bladder (not played for laughs). Much like Ashby, Brest settled into directing impersonal Hollywood product in the 80s; unlike Ashby, he was fairly successful at it...until the GIGLI mishap.

[stroszeck]

Brest's career definitely was (is?) an odd one. Some phenomenal successes mired by some unfortunate catastrophes. He seems to have disappeared off the face of the planet, but surely and in spite of the reputation of Gigli, he should have been able to continue to direct given the previous commercial successes he was able to produce. I'm very curious as to what he's up to these days.

[whaleallright]

There are a number of third-tier New Hollywood auteurs like this, whose careers started with a bang but have spun off in odd, unfortunate, or just obscure directions. I'd even place Bob Rafelson in this category--not too many critics rate his work after Five Easy Pieces, and everything after Mountains of the Moon is scarcely on anyone's radar. And what about Paul Mazursky, Michael Ritchie, James Toback, Jim McBride? Hell, even William Friedkin has spent most of his career on the outs, despite having two of the biggest hits of the 1970s.

And then there's that guy... what's his name... he had that big hit, American Graffiti, and then just fell off the map.

[knives]

For that I think a lot of these cases (Ritchie being point one) can be blamed on the producer swing that went on in the '80s that was just suffocating for the sort of director that could get success in the '70s.