Main Cast: Richard Dreyfuss, Jessica Harper, Stephen Davies, Veronica Cartwright, Bob Hoskins
Release Year: 1975
Country: UK
Run Time: 100 minutes
MPAA Rating: NC17
Plot
Writer/director John Byrum filmed this bizarre and controversial period picture on one massive set. It takes place in the 1930s, and stars Richard Dreyfuss as Boy Wonder, a once-great Hollywood director, who spends all of his time in decrepitude in his rococo mansion (which will soon be leveled and replaced by a major highway), half-soused, unshaven and clad in his bathrobe and pajamas. Instead of shooting major Hollywood pictures, this impotent has-been is now reduced to shooting pornographic films with a coke-addled actress, Harlene (Veronica Cartwright) and a moronic leading man, Rex (Stephen Davies). Rex's employer, the financier Big Mac (Bob Hoskins) turns up, bringing along his shy and dim-bulb fiancee, Cathy Cake (Jessica Harper), whom he treats condescendingly but hopes to launch to megastardom as a movie actress. When Harlene overdoses, Rex and Big Mac haggle over her body. Mac then leaves Cathy with Boy Wonder, who tells the burned-out director that her one dream in life is to appear in movies, and asks if she could pose for insert shots for his next stag film. By shooting the inserts, Boy Wonder manages to regain his potency, but he is completely put off by Cathy, who suddenly realizes, after the fact, that the camera wasn't running. At that point, Big Mac returns and catches them in the filmmaking process. Although he is not really sure what went on, Big Mac vamooses with Boy Wonder's camera and paraphernalia and takes Cathy with him. Meanwhile, an aspiring thesp named Clark Gable turns up at the door, wanting Boy Wonder to direct him to stardom. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
Review
Like Day of the Locust, Inserts is a dark meditation on the underbelly of classic Hollywood and how the hunger for fame can corrupt those who possess it. However, Inserts is a much simpler, more claustrophobic affair: there are only five characters and the entire film is confined to the large parlor of a rundown Hollywood home. Thus, Inserts is often dismissed as being little more than a filmed play but such an observation is off the mark. Firstly, the simplicity of the film is a conscious design: John Byrum's witty, acidic script streamlines the story aspect to push the characters and dialogue to the fore. The actors really spark to the offbeat, multidimensional characters and deliver amazing performances. Richard Dreyfuss is by turns brooding and fiery as the obsessive Boy Wonder and Jessica Harper matches him moment for moment with a gutsy, revealing performance as the woman trying to get in his mind. The remaining trio of actors provides excellent support: Bob Hoskins pumps up '30s-style gangster actor mannerisms with modern method-actor intensity as the story's vice kingpin, while Stephen Davies and Veronica Cartwright bare all both emotionally and physically to turn their characters into memorable examples of Hollywood's wasted promise. As a director, Byrum keeps things basic but stylish as he uses the occasional slick camera move to underscore the dramatic staging of key scenes. Ultimately, Inserts is a film for a limited audience (Hollywood history buffs who can handle that subject's darker side) but its mixture of searing drama and vicious humor makes it worthwhile for the brave viewer. ~ Donald Guarisco, All Movie Guide
The story concerns a pornographic film production and the film took its name from the double meaning that "insert" both refers to a film technique and to sexual intercourse.
