'Bottle Rocket' Will Go Criterion
So this weekend Wes Anderson’s new film, The Darjeeling Limited, opens at the New York Film Festival, and his 13 minute short film, Hotel Chevalier, is now available for free on iTunes. Lots of chatter about the reception for the new feature and over Natalie Portman baring flesh in Chevalier, but for me this is the most welcome piece of news: Bottle Rocket (1996) is finally getting its due place amongst his following films in The Criterion Collection.
As Anderson told MTV News, “We’ve just begun work with the Criterion Collection to do ‘Bottle Rocket’ on a new DVD that’s going to have all kinds of stuff. There’s a lot of ‘Bottle Rocket’ that was on the cutting room floor, so we have a lot to work with on that one.”
Bottle Rocket will always go down for me as Wes Anderson’s most important film to date. Unfettered by the aesthetics which would become his calling card, and paired with co-writer and then first-time screen actor Owen Wilson, their first film would arguably go on to shape the American indie landscape in this decade as much as Pulp Fiction did in the 1990’s. Simple is good. Bottle Rocket is sublime.
Video: Bottle Rocket (1994) - The original 13-minute short film.
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October 7th, 2007 at 11:46 am
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November 15th, 2007 at 11:49 pm
Wow! This is long overdue, but very welcome news! I’m just finishing the film for what has to be the 40th time, and it’s just as fresh as the day I first saw it. I’d love to even see a sequel with Dignan 10-15 years later. I picture him tattooed and speaking with a touch of Hispanic lingo, and still hatching schemes and writing “75 Year Plans”.
May 8th, 2008 at 10:16 am
[…] including Francios Truffaut’s The 400 Blows, Wong Kar-Wai’s Chungking Express, and Wes Anderson’s (aforementioned) Bottle Rocket. Says Criterion, the new editions to be released in October “will feature glorious […]
August 16th, 2008 at 11:07 am
[…] on November 25: without a doubt, the most deserving of the Wes Anderson filmography - Bottle Rocket (1996) finally gets its crisp and clear, […]