THE WHOLE SHOOTIN’ MATCH (1979)
Written & Directed by Eagle Pennell
Before Smith or Soderbergh, before Linklater or Sayles, a crook-nosed lad from Austin, Texas named Eagle was inadvertently inventing modern American independent cinema. Shot over a number of weekends on a zero budget with borrowed equipment, The Whole Shootin’ Match very casually made the statement that great film exists in places other than just NY and LA. Its story of the two Faulknerian schemers feels like a modern, ruralized iteration of the Jackie Gleason and Art Carney dynamic. Their gaffes and triumphs have an equally unaffecting quality on their friendship. The charm is undeniable. Though the film is cited by Robert Redford as the inspiration for the Sundance Institute, his endorsement was unable to buoy Eagle to sustained success and the director later died of alcoholism, undistinguished and penniless. Eagle’s story is included in the documentary The King of Texas. – [imdb]