Themes: Living With Disability, Mothers and Sons, First Love
Main Cast: Cher, Sam Elliott, Eric Stoltz, Estelle Getty, Richard Dysart
Release Year: 1985
Country: US
Run Time: 120 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG13
Plot
This is the true story of Rocky Dennis (Eric Stoltz), a personable young man suffering from "lionitis," a fatal disease which causes hideous facial disfigurement. The son of freewheeling biker Rusty Dennis (Cher), Rocky is accepted without question by his mom's boyfriends and cycle buddies, but treated with pity, condescension, and disgust by much of the outside world. The local high school principal tries to get Rocky classified as brain-damaged so he won't have to enroll the boy in his school, but Rusty fights for her son's rights with the ferocity of a mother lioness. Rocky makes friends easily both at school and at summer camp. He also falls in love with Diana (Laura Dern), a blind girl who cannot see his deformed countenance and is entranced by the boy's kindness and compassion. Now that he's got his own life in order, Rocky sets about to wean his chronically depressed mother from her drug habit. Mask is the sort of story that might have ending up wallowing in its own pathos had the acting, direction and scriptwriting (by Anna Hamilton Phelan) been anything less than very good. The film proved a much-needed financial success for director Peter Bogdanovich, though unfortunately it didn't come soon enough to stave off his declaring personal bankruptcy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Far removed from his early-1970s critical heyday, director Peter Bogdanovich (The Last Picture Show, Paper Moon) briefly returned to favor with 1985's Mask. Based on the tragic true story of Rocky Dennis, the material rescues its inherently formulaic nature with heartfelt performances from leads Eric Stoltz and Cher -- who won the Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival -- and a surprisingly compelling script from Anna Hamilton Phelan (Gorillas in the Mist). Bogdanovich sued Universal Pictures after they made alterations to his final cut: most notably, the songs of Bruce Springsteen were replaced by those of Bob Seger to cut costs. Bogdanovich failed to revitalize his career with the film's critical and popular success; his next film was the shockingly bad screwball comedy Illegally Yours. Cher, however, continued to prove herself a worthy actress, culminating in her Best Actress Academy Award in 1987 for Moonstruck. ~ Brendon Hanley, All Movie Guide
Laura Dern - Diana; Micole Mercurio - Babe; Harry Carey, Jr. - Red; Dennis Burkley - Dozer; Lawrence Monoson - Ben; Todd Allen - Canuck; Nick Cassavetes - T.J.; Lou Felder - Mr. Adams; Wayne Grace - Drug Dealer; Dr. Norman Kaplan - Himself; L. Craig King - Eric; Kelly Minter - Lorrie; Rummel Mor - Track Runner; Ben Piazza - Mr. Simms; Alexandra Powers - Lisa; Ivan Jorge Rado - Dr. Rudinsky; Andrew Robinson - Dr. Vinton; Chris Rydell - Senior High STudent; Jo-El Sonnier - Sunshine; L. Charles Taylor - Boy Friend; Barry Tubb - Deuey; Joe Unger - Boy Friend; Marsha Warfield - Home Room Teacher; Jill Whitlow - Annie Marie; Jeff Jensen - Biker; David Scott Milton - History Teacher; Anna Hamilton Phelan - Puppy Lady; Jack Wright - Biker; Mike Adams - Biker; Cathy Arden - Hospital Doctor; Jeannie Dimter Barton - Junior High Secretary; Creed Bratton - Carnival Ticket Taker; Les Dudek - Bone; Marilyn Hamilton - Mr. Kaplan's Aide; Howard Hirdler - Stickman; Paige Matthews - Stickman's Girl; Beth McKinley - Senior High Student; Eddie Paul - Biker; Patricia Pelham - Canuck's Girl; Gale Ricketts - Sunshine's Girl; Stan Ross - Drunken Biker; Allison Roth - Nancy Lawrence; Toni Sawyer - Mrs. Adams; Rebecca Sharkey - Angel; Anna Thea - Woman Counselor; Louis Waldon - Camp Cook; Scott Willardsen - Jr. High Student; Steve James - Hospital Intern
Credit
Howard Alston - Co-producer, Robert Chase - Costume Designer, Sandra Culotta - Costume Designer, April Ferry - Costume Designer, Tony Scarano - Costume Designer, Denise Schlom - Costume Designer, Peter Bogdanovich - Director, Barbara Ford - Editor, Eva Gardos - Editor, Tom Cole - Makeup, Zoltan Elek - Makeup, Michael Westmore - Makeup, John M. Elliott, Jr. - Makeup, Norman Newberry - Production Designer, Laszlo Kovacs - Cinematographer, Martin Starger - Producer, Richard J. de Cinces - Set Designer, Dan Lester - Special Effects, Eddie Paul - Stunts, Peter Bogdanovich - Screenwriter, Anna Hamilton Phelan - Screenwriter, Rocky Dennis - Short Story Author
The film is based on the life and early death of Roy L. "Rocky" Dennis, a boy who suffered from craniodiaphyseal dysplasia, an extremely rare disorder known commonly as lionitis due to the disfiguring cranial enlargements that it causes.
The son of a freewheeling biker girl, Rocky Dennis (Eric Stoltz) is accepted without question by his mother's boyfriends and motorcycle friends, but treated with pity, condescension, and disgust by much of the outside world. Rocky's mother Rusty Dennis (Cher) is determined to give the boy as normal a life as possible, despite her own wild ways as a member of a biker gang. She fights to have him included in a mainstream junior high school, when the principal would rather classify him with mental retardation so that he can be sent to a special education school.
Rocky goes on to thrive at school, gradually overcoming discrimination and eventually accepts a job as a counselor's aide at a summer camp for the junior blind. Now that he has his own life in order, Rocky sets about to wean his chronically depressed mother from her drug habit. He also falls in love with Diana Adams (Laura Dern), a blind girl who cannot see his deformed countenance and is entranced by the boy's kindness and compassion. At the end of the film, Rocky dies quietly in his sleep at the age of 16. In the words of a grieving Rusty, "Now you can go anywhere you want, baby."
Rusty, Gar, and Dozer later visit his grave, leaving flowers and some of his Brooklyn Dodgers baseball cards by his headstone.
Impact
The commercial success of Mask was a milestone in the career of Bogdanovich, who had directed a string of critical and financial failures following his three successful films of the early 1970s. It also helped launch the careers of Stoltz and Dern, and firmly established Cher as a serious actress.
Difference from the film and real life
The gravestone at the end of the film shows Rocky's birth and death dates as 1964 and 1980, respectively. He actually was born December 4, 1961, and died October 4, 1978.
The film was a box office success grossing $42,400,000 in the US alone, with a further $20,478,600 in rentals with a North American Box Office gross of $63,000,000. [2]
