Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind, Paris, Texas… Wes Anderson gives us references to Asteroid City
Here are the films and books that inspired Wes Anderson for this choral work, which will be seen again this evening on Canal+.
Set in 1955 America, Asteroid City One begins like Miss Anne Abheim: a playwright writes his new play and, before the eyes of the audience, actors and narrators bring the story to life on the screen. The play in question, Asteroid City, takes place in the desert of the American West. Students and parents from all states gather in this village for Asteroid Day. Everyone hopes to win a scholarship awarded to the winner of a scientific competition. But the performance is brutally interrupted by a global event …
In apparently perfect Andersonian mode, the filmmaker multiplies plastically exquisite vignettes, kitsch retro settings, ultra-symmetrical frames and above all references to the theater and cinema of the time. To try to better understand this grand style’s homage to classic Hollywood and fifties theater, we asked the filmmaker and his collaborators about the films (and book) that inform this eleventh feature film.
Here is the list:
A man passed by by John Sturges (1955)
with: Spencer Tracy, Robert Ryan.
Summary: For the first time in four years, the train pulls up at Black Rock, a lost town in the middle of the desert. Visitor, John J. Macready (whose hand is amputated), questions the few residents he meets about how to get to the nearest location: an adobe flat. The mention of this place associated with this totally unexpected visit creates great aggression in the local population. The more Macready tries to understand and asks questions, the more dangerous the population becomes.
Petrified Forest by Archie Mayo (1936)
with: Leslie Howard, Bette Davis, Genevieve Tobin
Summary: In the wilderness of Petrified Forest National Park, travel writer Alan Squier stops at a small gas station. He meets the young and handsome Gabriel who dreams of going to France. But their romance is short-lived: the breakdown of the lawless gangster turns everything upside down.
bus stop by Joshua Logan (1956)
with: Marilyn Monroe, Don Murray, Arthur O’Connell
Summary: A young cowboy, participating in the Phoenix rodeo, meets a cabaret singer on a bus. Falling in love with the beauty, he will do everything to make her leave her ranch and the man she is to marry…
Paris, Texas by Wim Wenders (1984)
with: Harry Dean Stanton, Nastassja Kinski, Hunter Carson
Summary: A man suddenly reappears after four years of wandering, during which time he gives no explanation to his brother who has come to find him. They travel to Los Angeles to retrieve the son of a former missing person, with whom he travels to Texas in search of the child’s mother, Jane. A search for the unknown, a mutual search brings these two creatures together with a troubled past.
picnic by Joshua Logan (1955)
with: Kim Novak, William Holden, Susan Strasburg
Summary: A man falls in love with his best friend’s fiancee during a picnic.
New York-Miami by Frank Capra (1934)
with: Clark Gable, Claudette Colbert, Ward Bond
Summary: Ellie runs away from her millionaire father and decides to move to New York. On the way, she meets a journalist named Pete on the bus, who quickly realizes who she is, her father promising a reward to anyone who brings her back to him. Gradually, as the money starts to run out and they get mugged, Ellie gets to know Pete better.
3rd kind of encounter by Steven Spielberg (1977)
with: Richard Dreyfuss, Francois Truffaut, Teri Gar
Synopsis: In Indiana, when a power outage paralyzes the suburbs, Roy Neary, a cable repairman, sees a flying saucer pass over his car. Trying to figure out where these UFOs are coming from, Roy Neary comes across a gag order imposed by the federal government. What he sees and is haunted by the image of a mountain, which he desperately tries to rebuild, is abandoned by his wife and children. An international commission led by French scholar Claude Lacombe is trying to unravel the mystery.
Kiss me silly! by Billy Wilder (1964)
with: Dean Martin, Kim Novak, Ray Walston.
Summary: Dino, a charming singer on a comeback, crashes his car in a small Nevada town. Piano teacher Orville Spooner welcomes him and wants to let him hear his songs. He decides to replace his wife by hiring Polly, a waitress at a bar and a trainer in her spare time. Dino can therefore seduce the intended wife, without harming Orville’s marital happiness. But nothing goes as planned…
Like a stream by Vincent Minnelli (1958)
with: Shirley MacLaine, Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra
Summary: Army veteran Dave Hirsch is a disillusioned writer and fantastic entertainer. He arrives in his hometown of Parkman, Indiana by bus one fine morning. He is followed by Ginny Moorhead, a girl he barely remembers, a remnant of his well-soaked evening the day before. Dave reunites with his older brother Frank, and falls in love with Gwen French, a literature professor who is as charming as she is strict…
The Unhinged by John Huston (1961)
with: Marilyn Monroe, Clark Gable, Montgomery Clift
Summary: 1950, Reno, Nevada, capital of the marriage and slot machine industry.
A young divorcee befriends a group of misfits, including an aging cowboy, a heartbroken mechanic, and a time-worn rodeo rider.
A small group hunts a wild mustang…
of other men women by William Wellman (1931)
with: James Cagney, Mary Astor, Grant Withers…
Summary: Bill and Jack have been friends for a long time. Bill is the seducer, Jack, the faithful husband. Until Bill moves in with Jack and falls in love with his wife Lily.
In addition to these 11 films, Wes Anderson added two entries. A Name: Chuck Jones, Warner Bros. star cartoonist to whom we owe Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and Pepe Le Pew. And a book: The Moss Heart Book, Act One, An autobiography of a great American playwright published in 1959.
Wes Anderson: “I like this idea of a group. We all had dinner together in the middle of the desert, it was great!”
