Howlin' Wolf!!!

The "Wolf Of Wall St." is a comic masterpiece, and that Scorsese was able to do this regarding such a vile, morally contemptible character, is a tribute not only to moviemaking in general, but to any theological vision of a life full of morally contemptible characters, and angels, and so it will ever be. Jordan Belfort is despicable, and I get why DiCaprio and Hill feel it's their karmic duty to spell it out for those that can't figure it out, but I think they are doing this because the movie is so comically brilliant, that you almost forget that you are watching despicable characters, with almost no cheesy reedeming factors, but doing so guilt free because the movie is so over the top, and comical, that you the viewer are having too much fun to care that they are despicable, though I can imagine others not getting it is a comedy, and justy hating every frame, and I could understand that too. Jordan Belfort throws midgets against dartboards, cheats on his wives perenially without thinking twice about it, and does so many drugs, it's a wonder he's alive. He also say's so many disgusting morally reprehensible things in his narration (I made $49 million dollars one year, and I was pissed that it wasn't $52 million, so I could say that I made a million a week) that you're just left sort of flabergasted because the excess is so great, that the dialogue becomes humorous in spite of itself, though I can't believe this wasn't intentional, but maybe it wasn't since DiCaprio looked bewildered at the Golden Globes, after winning the award for the best comic performance, kind of like Jack Nicholson looked after winning the Golden Globe for a comic performance in "About Schmidt," thinking they made a drama, but I'd argue Alexander Payne's "About Schmidt" really worked in spite of itself, while I think Scorsese had a real grand plan for "The Wolf," or that DiCaprio infused with him the idea, or so he suggested at the globes. Whatever the case, it's a great great movie.

And by 'movie,' I mean, 'movie' and not 'film.' There is a serious B element in "The Wolf Of The Wall St." that I think is it's crowning achievement, because I haven't seen this kind of B movie ever before, and may never again, and I'd say it was B because it almost never plays it straight, like Goodfellas, that I've already written about at length. Or maybe it was an A list movie with a B outcome, as opposed to something like "High Noon" that was a B movie, with an A list outcome, because there were stars galore in this picture, and love it or hate it "The Wolf Of Wall St." is one of the freest most liberated movies I've seen in years, a quality of the best of B movies, but not A movies that go by a stricter code of conduct, whether they be drama or comedy. Scorsese threw all convention to the wall, and like a great artist I once knew said, "Down With Good Taste!"

"The Wolf Of Wall St." is a tasteless movie, but deliciously so, and so abrasively, that it feels free, and yet it is Scorsese, with some great actors, and to be honest, tasteless or not, funny or serious, it's kind of an unforgettable character study. If you love the movie, you'll think Jordan Belfort is hilarious, not that you cheer him on, but you watch in a a kind of stunned disbelief, because you're not necessarily rooting for his downfall, and yet you don't really care if it comes, just like he doesn't really care if his clients win or lose money on his shady investement deals, as long as he Jordan makes money. If you hate the movie because it's lack of good taste and that you think it's begging you to take Jordan Belfort seriously, I'd bet it's a scathing indictment of the American economy, and I wanted to think this going in, or before I had decided to see the movie, writing it off in an fb post, but I changed my mind and am glad I did.

In some ways, I thought it was Scorsese's most religious picture, though this could be dived into endlessly in its own essay (The Last Temptation of Christ, and his first movie with Harvey Keitel as a failed priest) not to mention that Scorsese was considering the priesthood at one point, and admitted to a religious theme in his work. It's funny I say that about this movie except that the characters moral sins are writ so large, that you almost end up looking at it as a morality tale, free of personal judgement, because I really felt the only judgement worthy of Balfort and his sleazy friends, was that of God, leaving me free of any moral incrimination as the viewer, and this was a relief, since I think so many great movies try to incriminate the viewer. As priest, Scorsese the filmmaker gave me the freedom to abdicate to God, letting me off the hook, and absolving me of my sins through Balfort's licentiousally absurd behavior.

I don't usually talk about this, but I'd like to comment on the music in the movie, because I really felt it enlightened the picture, or gave it a certain indefinable stroke and music, especially 'contemporary' rock and blues, has always been Scorsese's style, and a defining color in his pallete. I think "Easy Rider" was the first movie to use a rock n' roll soundtrack because it was cheaper than having a score, and Dennis Hopper had a preview without any music and had to do something and voila, you have one of the best movie soundtracks of all time, influencing generation. I know there were a lot of movies in the early to mid-Seventies that used a 'rock n' roll' soundtrack, such as Harold and Maude, but then it was one artist, Cat Stevens, that was highlighted. I'd say Scorsese took off where "Easy Rider's" soundtrack left us hanging, and literally filled a whole movie with popular hippie era rock and no soundtrack unlike Coppola with the "Godfather," as great as the theme for that was. I'd argue this gave Scorsese's movies a looseness and contemporary quality that many of his contemporaries lacked, or were striving to achieve, though Altman sort of did in "Nashville," but then it was all country, whereas Scorsese almost became the guy at the bar punching in all the right songs.

In some ways, I'd say Scorsese initiated this style, that Tarantino developed, and many movies copy, even if "Easy Rider" was the accidental initiator. Admittedly, I haven't been a big fan of Scorsese's for awhile, but I do remember Van Morrisons "T.B. Sheets," defining "Bringing Back The Dead." I think he did something new in "The Wolf Of Wall St." by literally playing oodles of Howlin' Wolf (pun intended!), along with a Bo Diddley song, and I'm sure many others that I don't remember, since the movie was three hours long almost to the minute, and effused with music, but I don't think I've seen a Scorsese movie in a long time that really gave me the feeling he'd made an evolution with a soundtrack, and the "Jumpin' Jack Flash" scene, when DeNiro enters the bar, and "The Monkey Man" scene, when Ray Liotta is tooting up in "Goodfellas," are standouts, but I'd say he achieves the same in the "Wolf Of Wall St." Scorsese manages to make Howlin' Wolf, one of the great Chicago Blues singers, completely contemporary, if not ahead of his time, and I haven't heard Howlin' Wolf in this way for a long time.




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