Jack Nicholson the Wary Media Mogul

I tried to rent a DVD of Ironweed with Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep and Tom Waits – Kennedy did the screenplay – yet there is nothing out there in range of my budget but a used VHS tape of Ironweed for $12. It’s certainly worth it. But what is it with Jack Nicholson? I could find only four or five examples of his career on DVD, such as a stint on Saturday Night Live. He let Ironweed go to VHS, but he avoids DVD, while Meryl Streep has a list of forty or more DVDs available. I may be reading the lists wrong, or did a dumb search, but it looks like Nicholson boycotted the DVD format. He’s weird enough and wealthy enough to not care. What is going on here?

Ironweed is More Than a Winner

I like the novelist William Kennedy’s style in Ironweed. (He earned a Pulitzer for the book.) The dialogue flows. The backstory creeps forward without warning. Kennedy pulls together Francis and Rudy and Helen and lets them chat and spar, so there are multiple voices exchanging comical shots in dire moments, from the crafty Francis to the demented or dulled Rudy, to the almost disillusioned Helen – a neat trio for reflecting the facets of bums’ survival in the Great Depression. I’d avoid using the word plot to describe what goes on in the first 70 pages because I can’t see where we are going. I’ll let you know more later.