Lucky

Dir: John Carroll Lynch

2017

*****

Not many people are lucky enough to reach their nineties and most of those that do don’t feel so lucky. Harry Dean Stanton however tried to live as long as possible so that he could carry on pursuing all the things he loved, making films and smoking being two of them. John Carroll Lynch’s debut (and what a debut it is) is a celebration of Stanton in many respects and I’d love to know just how he came about the story and just how he approached Stanton about it. Not many actors get to choose a swansong and most of the greats finish their careers on particularly bad choices but Lucky is about as perfect as it gets and perfect for such a great and admired actor such as Stanton. The film is full of everything a great Stanton film should have, as well as everything a Stanton fan could ever dream of, including drunken conversations with David Lynch, St Elsewhere’s Ed Begley Jr playing his doctor and a rekindling with Tom Skerritt thirty-eight years after they stared together in Ridley Scott’s Alien. The film also features a huge nod towards one of Harry Dean Stanton’s greatest performances and most iconic scenes featured in Wim Wender’s 1984 masterpiece Paris, Texas. Lucky is essentially the story of a 90-year-old man and his struggle against encroaching old age. He’s not ill as such but no one can live forever. The story depicts his coming to terms with his own mortality, as he searches for enlightenment. The film starts with Lucky waking up in the morning, smoking a cigarette, and then doing some yoga - the Five Tibetan Rites of Rejuvenation. He lives alone in a small house in the small desert town of Piru, California. Each morning he drinks a glass of cold milk (the only thing in his refrigerator) before heading outside. Later he heads to a diner for coffee where he is on friendly terms with the owner Joe (Barry Shabaka Henley) and the staff there. Joe suggests he quit smoking or it will kill him and we suspect this isn’t the first time he’s asked, Lucky replies (again) that if it could he would have died already. He stays and works on his crossword puzzle from his daily newspaper before walking to a local market where he picks up his cigarettes and another carton of milk for the morning. The owner, Bibi, tells him that her son Juan (Spanish for John) is having his tenth birthday in one week and is becoming closer to a man, and Lucky refers to him as Juan Wayne on his way out. That evening, Lucky stops at a bar and has a few Bloody Marys with the locals who frequent the establishment. One of the regulars named Howard (David Lynch) is depressed since his pet tortoise has escaped since it had outlived two of his wives – very much a David Lynch sort of conversation. This is Lucky’s routine. The next morning, Lucky is having his a cup of coffee when he becomes light headed and falls over. At the doctor’s office he is given a clean bill of health. Dr. Christian Kneedler (Ed Begley Jr.) tells Lucky that he has out smoked and outlived most his same age fellows who have ailments and that he considers Lucky a wonder of medical science. He tells Lucky his own father passed away about a year ago, the look on Lucky's face suggests that he has known the Doctor for many years. Possibly since he was a child. At the diner later that morning, he tells people he fell and everyone who usually jokes with him become concerned, not wanting to feel like a burden and that his time is short he leaves the diner after saying, "What's the fucking point?". That night, Lucky calls a friend while he is watching TV. He tells his friend that when he was a boy he accidentally shot a mockingbird with his BB gun. He says the silence was devastating and it was the saddest thing he had ever seen. He thanks his friend of listening and hangs up. At the bar, Lucky listens to the story from one of the bar regulars named Paulie (James Darren) about how he met and married his first wife and Lucky reflects that he has never been married or had any lasting relationship. Lucky then sees Howard talking with a lawyer named Bobby Lawrence (Ron Livingston) about making a will for himself and wanting to leave all of his possessions to his pet tortoise which Howard has named 'President Roosevelt'. Lucky begins causing a scene over Howard's life choices that everyone in this world is alone and is meant to be. Another day or two later, one of the diner staff, named Loretta (Yvonne Huff), visits Lucky to check on him. While smoking marijuana, Lucky shows Loretta old photos of his military service in the US Navy and they watch old VHS tapes of Liberace performing in concert as Lucky comments on his past life how he never got married or settled down. While having coffee at the diner, Lucky runs into the lawyer Bobby Lawrence where he confides in him about his accident days earlier. Bobby tells Lucky about a time when he nearly got into a car accident that could have been fatal and comments on being prepared for the unexpected. Lucky visits a pet store to look for a small animal to adopt as a companion, but he instead decides on a packet of live crickets. At the diner the next morning, Lucky meets a tourist named Fred (Tom Skerritt) whom he starts a conversation with after learning that Fred used to be a Marines veteran who served in World War II. Lucky tells Fred about his time in the US Navy during the war in the Pacific and of his evading death several times during combat (which is actually all true as Stanton served on the USS LST-970, a tank landing ship, during the Battle of Okinawa). Lucky attends Bibi's son Juan's birthday party and comes to enjoy the company and stuns and thrills everyone by singing a song in Spanish for the attendees. That evening, Lucky goes back to the bar for his Bloody Mary drinks as usual where he talks with Howard, Paulie and others about his life. Howard still hasn't found his tortoise and claims that it was "meant to be" of his companion leaving and that all things must eventually come to an end. Lucky then lights up a cigarette at the bar, despite being told not to by the owner, Elaine, and brings up his public smoking that got him banned from a place called Eve's. Lucky explains that everything goes away eventually and that everyone should make the best of life as they have it for now before they pass on. He leaves the bar still puffing on his cigarette. The next morning, Lucky wakes up and goes into his usual routine with drinking his cup of hot black coffee, doing yoga, and drinking a glass of cold milk. He then sets the clock on his coffee machine to the correct time and cleans up his house for the first time in months. He goes for a walk through town as he always does and passes by an outdoor botanic garden which is named 'Eve's' where he was banned for public smoking. In the desert, Lucky lights up a cigarette, looks up at a tall and imposing cactus, smiles, and begins his walk back to town. In the final shot as Lucky walks down the desert trail path alone, a tortoise walks across the path from one end to the other before disappearing in the desert bushes. Just before Lucky walks off he breaks the forth wall and smiles at the camera. This little smile for the audience comes direct from Stanton himself, who knew he didn’t have much time left in the world. It is wonderfully uplifting and sad moment and a piece of cinema gold for his fans. Whether or not it was planned I don’t know but somehow Stanton’s final ever scene speaks a thousand words without saying anything at all. It is a wonderful film, a persona journey and a heartfelt goodbye. I found it incredibly emotional, a film I think I will revisit many times again.