WEEDS

US, 1987, 115 minutes, Colour.
Nick Nolte, Rita Taggart, Ernie Hudson, Lane Smith, Joe Mantegna, William Forsythe, Anne Ramsey.
Directed by John D. Hancock.

1. The film based on a true story? Credible characters and events?

2. The San Quentin setting, the American road, prisons? Theatre? Broadway?

3. The title, the reference to the prisoners? The song – Weeds? The range of the score and songs?

4. An ensemble piece? Theatrical on screen?

5. The introduction to San Quentin, the usual aspects of prison life, the differences, the personalities and the clashes?

6. The focus on Lee, Nick Nolte’s presence and style? His case, the sentence? The reading and its effect? Black Desires? The role of Claude? The similarities to Jean Genet?

7. The play itself, Claude and his type, the reactions? The permissions, request and being granted?

8. The build-up to the performances, the auditions? Baghdad and The Impossible Dream? Burt? The other characters, the performances and their effect? The intensity of a Genet play?

9. Lillian, her background as a journalist, seeing the play, the write-up, the review? The collage of correspondence? Lee coming out, the relationship?

10. The group reassembling, the discussions, the conditions for putting on the play, the bonding? The play itself, the drama and interactions? The reflections on the play? The audience? The charge and the threat? Baghdad and the gun?

11. New York City, the parents, Carmine? The performance, the party, the bad review?

12. The prison riot and its effect? The visualising and intensity of the riot?

13. The transition to Broadway? The atmosphere of Broadway, theatre, reviewers, audiences? Expectations?

14. The story of creativity, rehabilitation? Time, the effect of time passing, change? How authentic?