B-Movies and Couch Classics: The Spanish Prisoner • House of Games

B-Movies and Couch Classics
The Spanish Prisoner & House of Games

By Arik Treston
Correspondent for Movie Merchants

The Spanish Prisoner
1998 Sony Pictures
Classics
Almost every diehard fan of theatre and cinema is familiar with the name David Mamet. Both raved about and panned, Mamet has become synonymous with sharp, staccato dialogue that plays out like a fierce tennis match. Some critics find his back-and-forth writing pretentious and aggravating. I wouldn’t always disagree with them (see Mamet’s Oleanna, both play and film). But, in general, his style is so seductively unusual that you can’t help but be drawn into his strange, profanity-laden world. (Mamet fans will be shocked to see that The Spanish Prisoner is rated PG). Those who know his work will recognize his dialogue in the first half-hour of this movie — the disconnected, "I’m-not-listening-to-you-yet-I-keep-talking-to-you" speaking pattern of the characters. Thankfully, in The Spanish Prisoner, Mamet limits the use of this technique, so the viewer is more quickly drawn into the twists and turns of the plot rather than being bogged down in existential dialogue.

In addition to being a renowned Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright (Speed The Plow, Glengarry Glen Ross, American Buffalo), Mamet is the author of a number of fine screenplays (The Untouchables, The Verdict, The Edge, Wage the Dog). He has also added film direction to his resume, first with House of Games (see review below), followed in 1988 by the sweetly whimsical Things Change, and 1991’s dark and slightly preachy Homicide.

With The Spanish Prisoner (the title refers to an old con game), Mamet returns to his House of Games mode. He artfully crafts a taut serpentine thriller that keeps our hero, played with innocent restraint by Campbell Scott, in a maze for which there is no map. Scott invents a "process" which could make millions of dollars for his company, but becomes increasingly suspicious that he won’t get his rightful share. His boss, played by Ben Gazzara, assures Scott that when the time is right he will be rewarded. Enter Steve Martin (yes, that Steve Martin, in a role that fits him like a glove), a mysterious millionaire who befriends and advises Scott. Throw a girl into the mix (Rebecca Pidgeon — Mrs. David Mamet), as a particularly nosy secretary, and let the labyrinth stew bubble and boil.

The treat for the audience is to sit back and wonder who, what, where, when, how, and why. Mamet keeps us, as well as his protagonist, in the dark where we cathartically empathize with Scott. One of the joys of a Mamet twister, you don’t foresee the outcome. Mamet doesn’t follow formula. For all cinephiles, it’s so refreshing to be transported into a parallel film universe that isn’t filled with falling asteroids or fueled by mega-million budgets.

Although I would like to go into further depth about this film, I can’t without betraying my keep-big-plot-points-out-of-reviews ethics. I can tell you, though, you’re in for a skewed twist of the thriller genre with this puzzle of a movie.

House of Games
1987 Orion Pictures
House of Games, Mamet’s first movie, revels in chilly tones and even chillier characters. The heroine is played with an icy lack of attachment by Lindsay Crouse (the former Mrs. David Mamet). Crouse’s character is a successful psychiatrist (she could use one herself) who intercedes on a patient’s behalf with a group of con men. These "confidence men," headed by the always-sublime Mamet regular, Joe Mantegna, eventually allow Crouse access to their world. While appearing out of her element in this seedy underground realm, Crouse actually is more suited to it than she visually lets on. Staying true to the precepts of good suspense and genuine thrills, we are taken for a ride with Crouse as the world becomes one gigantic house of smoke and mirrors and where the famous X-Files adage — "Trust no one" — comes into heavy play.

Simply put, it’s fun to be fooled and tricked and to have the rug pulled out from under us. It’s a ploy too often underused in current suspense movies. Usually, plots can be identified and mapped out from miles away. Although House of Games isn’t a revolutionary addition to the genre, it’s refreshing, it’s crisp, and it offers a challenge to its audience. Mamet doesn’t insult the intelligence of his audience. He teases it, tests it, and invites us to actively participate — in the con, in the game, in the dialogue, and in the off-center universe that he has managed to create.

For other great con/twist films:

1995’s The Usual Suspects with that sly who-is-he? Kaiser Soze. Starring Kevin Spacey, Gabriel Byrne, and Stephen Baldwin.

1990’s The Grifters. The story of three con-people and how self- destructive a con/love combination can be.

1982’s Deathtrap. Based on the Broadway play, Deathtrap is a deceitfully delightful take on marriage, writer’s block, and murder. Starring Michael Caine, Christopher Reeve, and Dyan Cannon.