Daddy’s Boys (USA, 1988) 90 min color DIR: Joseph Minion. PROD: Roger Corman. SCR: Daryl Haney. MUSIC: Sasha Matson. DOP: David Stump. CAST: Daryl Haney, Laura Burkett, Raymond J. Barry, Dan Shor. (Concorde)
Both Roger Corman’s autobiography and Beverly Gray’s book about her former boss cite this film as a major revelation in terms of the prolific producer’s creative input. So the story goes, Big Bad Mama II was costing too much money and time, and therefore (just like in the old days of The Raven and The Terror) Roger Corman thought of creating another feature on the same sets as the (relatively) expensive Angie Dickinson movie when they weren’t shooting. While something like this is second nature to Corman, this film instead became a labour of love. It was a rare instance in the Concorde period were he became genuinely interested in the creative process of the movie, rather than simply cranking out yet another routine genre picture.
That said, Daddy’s Boys indeed stands apart from the usual fare that was exiting the gates of Concorde at the time. It is an interesting psychological study of a family of criminals during the Great Depression. Perhaps the film’s biggest liability is that it doesn’t feel 1930s, with the 80s hair and interior scenes that are too brightly lit, but perhaps these were purposeful attributes to its otherworldly feel, as the characterizations sometimes become larger than life.
Jimmy (Daryl Haney, who also wrote the screenplay) wishes to break free from the throngs of his over-possessive father, simply referred to everyone as Daddy (Raymond J. Barry), and falls in love with prostitute Christie (Laura Burkett) who similarly wants to break free from the throngs of Madame Wang’s whorehouse. Together, they go on a “Bonnie and Clyde” crime spree, with the nicknames “Adam and Eve”. Before long, the news of their robberies gets back to Daddy: he kidnaps his own son and keeps him locked up in a room, so he understands the virtue of “family”. Daddy promised on his wife’s deathbed that he would keep the family unit together, and does so with a near-psychotic devotion. He even brands his kids with a tattoo, that in Jimmy’s eyes might as well be a mark of the Devil.
The latter allusion isn’t necessarily in jest, as Jimmy even has a dream where his family is like monsters. As such, Daddy’s Boys is nearly as much a Gothic horror film as a gangster movie. Before long, Jimmy stumbles on some corpses stashed in the homestead- the bodies of creditors who were coming to foreclose. Once he learns that his father would go to murderous degrees to keep this family together, he begins to fear for his own life, especially when he is roped into one desperate mission to confront the bankers.
Director Joseph Minion (better known as the screenwriter of After Hours and Vampire’s Kiss) gives his picture a subtle tone and uncluttered frame, forcing us to examine the characters. The flat, golden, barely populated landscape perfectly captures the otherworldly atmosphere that befits this unusual tale. This is a quiet movie that haunts one for days after seeing it.
Originally published in The Roger Corman Scrapbook.
Greg Woods
Greg Woods has been a film enthusiast since his teens, and began his writing "career" at the same time- prolific in capsule reviews of everything he had watched, first on index cards, then those hardcover dollar store black journals, then an old Mac IIsi. He founded The Eclectic Screening Room in 2001, as a portal to share his film love with the world, and find some like-minded enthusiasts along the way. In addition to having worked in the film industry for over two decades, he has been a co-programmer of films at Trash Palace, and a programmer/co-founder of the Toronto Film Noir Syndicate. He has also written for Broken Pencil, CU-Confidential, Micro-Film, and is currently working on his first novel. His secret desire is for someone to interview him for a podcast or a DVD extra.