Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, August 27, 1995 TAG: 9508250123
SECTION: BOOKS PAGE: F5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MIKE MAYO BOOK PAGE EDITOR
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
\ This comic novel might have been titled "How to Succeed in the Movie Business Without Really Trying." Though it's not a strict satire, author Bruce Goldsmith gives his story a welcome streak of irreverence that makes up for some curious flaws.
The first-person narrator is Saul Bronstein, one-time San Francisco stand-up comic turned Hollywood PR guy. On the surface Saul has it all: his own business, Jaguar, expensive home, a beautiful wife who runs a thriving art gallery. But Saul's glass is always half empty. His agency is struggling; his wife Anita's money is keeping them afloat and all the evidence strongly suggests that she's having an affair with a wealthy client. Saul decides that the only way he can save his marriage and his life is through a huge business coup, something that will bring him buckets of money and public adulation.
His inspiration is to use the Los Angeles Film Festival to stage an exploitation retrospective, specifically the 14 films of legendary '70s B-movie star Lucy Montana. Her career ended in scandal and she has since disappeared. But Saul thinks he can find her and persuades the festival's management that the time is ripe for Lucy's return.
(In the movie business, a "hard R" rating means that the sexual content is strong enough to approach the erstwhile "X." Saul's proposal is roughly the equivalent of presenting "Emmanuelle" and all the sequels as the highlight of the Virginia Festival of American Film.)
So, off Saul goes in pursuit of his unlikely grail, finding unsuspected obstacles at every step on the path.
In terms of plot, the novel is fairly predictable, but Goldsmith is a skillful writer and Saul an engaging protagonist. Their primary concerns are sex and success, and Goldsmith describes both explicitly, sometimes so explicitly he verges on unintentional humor. At his best, though, he makes serious points and he makes them well, particularly when Saul cuts loose:
"I despise all those idiotic actors - made famous by People Magazine - for whom I used to book publicity tours so they could yammer on in public about all kinds of fashionable causes, usually while stoned to the gills on coke. You tell me who ... is against the rain forests? Or redwood trees? Show me a segment of the population advocating nuclear war? Hazardous waste disposal in Santa Monica Bay? These are fundamental components of complex interactions between industry and humanity that require a great deal of serious study to even understand. But who makes the effort? People think that by running off at the mouth on Oprah Winfrey, all the problems go away."
The supporting characters are fully developed, particularly Lucy (whose name brings to mind Kurt Vonnegut's Montana Wildhack from "Slaughterhouse Five.") If the last third of the story turns into middle-aged male wish-fulfillment, well, for some readers that's an easily forgivable sin.
Flaws notwithstanding, "The Hard R Marathon" is funny, intelligent and sexy. Recommended.
by CNB