Fun_People Archive
20 Sep
MROTW - Movie Review of the Week - Fire In My Hole

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From: Peter Langston <psl>
Date: Sat, 20 Sep 97 21:41:55 -0700
To: Fun_People
Subject: MROTW - Movie Review of the Week - Fire In My Hole

Forwarded-by: "Bluegrass music discussion." <BGRASS-L@LSV.UKY.EDU>
From: dibowde <dibowde@IBM.NET>

My banjer pickin' buddy and I just got back from seeing Stephen Seagull's
movie "Fire in My Hole", for a couple of reasons:

1.  A Nashville friend said some Station Inn denizens appear in it

	and

2.  Who doesn't like Stephen Seagull?

The movie is a "howler" to put it bluntly.  BUT, we did spot Rob Ickes
playing the dobro and none other than ED DYE from the world-famous Station
Inn (it's the Carnegie Hall of the South you know) in a scene.  They maybe
get 10 seconds of face time, but what the hey, it was pretty cool!  Ed was
being, well, Ed. Rob was picking his TIFKAD.

Also spotted a musical continuity problem (me, ever the perfectionist).
Stephen Seagull and his love interest are watching a band play and the
little lady asks Steve if he plays guitar.  "Yeah" he verbosely replies,
squinting all the while like he's eaten too much cheese.  One of the members
of the band hands over a guitar.  Now what the band member holds out in his
hand is a cheapo classical style guitar, a generic prop guitar.  What Steve
accepts into his hand in the next shot is a <gasp> original pre-war Martin
D-45, which he proceeds to take a hot break on (must be going to too many
Ricky Skaggs concerts).  The squint never fails.  Thank God he didn't sing.
Now that is a pretty good trick, and I would surely to God like to have
someone hand me a cheapo generic student's classical guitar with their hand,
and have it turn into a pre-war D-45 in MY hand.

The location of the town this movie "takes place" in is a little fluid.
They DO say repeatedly it's eastern Kentucky, and Appalachia.  But the town
is variously called Jackson or Jenkins.  Now I know both are real places
(Kenny Baker is from Jenkins, and I believe Roy Lee Centers was from
Jackson).  I am also fairly sure they are two distinctly different places.
Location filming was done in Hazard KY.

Sadly, the credits did not bear the names of Ed Dye nor Rob Ickes.

So if you love abandonded coal mines, lots of Jim Beam product placement
shots, squinting, country music stars acting their little asses off (Randy
Travis is ESPECIALLY effective), lots of cool hand submission holds, noble
but poor country people, broken noses, snake handling, squinting,
brother/sister love, liquid toxic waste that is both fluorescent and gives
off freakin' SPARKS, noble but corrupted-by-big-money country people,
gunplay, the best stick fighting since Buford Pusser, squinting, Rob Ickes,
Ed Dye, D-45's, the coolest truck wreck ever filmed, bees, incongruent
country churches with Levon Helm as the Reverend, squinting, gang fighting
(always one a time, that's the movie rule), Kris Kristofferson as a
smiling/likable? bad guy, squinting, hot guitar breaks, proctologist jokes
and VERY loud clothes on a fat man (did I mention squinting?), go blow $7.50
on Fire in My Hole.  Go drunk.  Go with Jimmy Martin.  Talk to the screen.
I wasn't quite loaded enough.  When the tape comes out, this goes right in
the archive next to Jesco White, the Dancing Outlaw.  Harry Dean Stanton
even does a little flatfoot, in honor of D. Ray White, I'm sure.

And whatdoyaknow, Steve has his name as co-author on all the original
soundtrack music!!!!  He's gotta get his due!  Randy Scruggs is co-author
on some.

The closing song is Harry Dean Stanton really and truly playing his Martin
and singing Kentucky Waltz, not lip synching either.  You gotta love a movie
like that.

Of course, who would miss ANY Stephen Seagull movie?  I'm so glad he threw
some crumbs to the country and bluegrass music community in making this
little gem.

I smell either Academy Award, or at least IBMA Certificate of Appreciation!!

Standard disclaimers, blah, blah, blah, blah.

"Oh Mr. Balfour, YOUR legs are so swollen!"  M.P.

© 1997 Peter Langston