Eating Raoul

Eating Raoul (1982)

Runtime: 83 minutes

Directed by: Paul Bartel

Starring: Paul Bartel, Mary Woronov, Robert Beltran, Susan Saiger

From: Quartet Films

Wednesday night, I watched this for the first time on TCM, right after the channel showed Freaks, a film I've seen a few times before and reviewed here way back when. I may not do a review at all for the next few days as I may be preoccupied with other things. For now, let me talk about this cult classic:

This was the second movie I saw on Turner Classic Movies Wednesday night as they spent the entire night showing cult classics. It is another film I have known of for many years but I never saw; I did not know more than its basic premise until relatively recently. Turns out, it's a pretty funny dark comedy, and one that feels still relevant today, especially the opening, which highlights how such beliefs as self-indulgence and self-gratification are bad, a message I wish more Americans would have received long ago.

Paul Bartel and Mary Woronov play characters named Paul and Mary; they are Mr. and Mrs. Bland, a couple with an appropriate surname. They are squares straight out of the 60's, and stick out in the wild and woolly 1980's. They wish to open a restaurant out in the country but run into trouble after dealing with real A-holes. They stumble upon the idea to kill swingers and people who are real sleazebags. Things are complicated when the titular Raoul shows up and butts his way into their lives.

Things are quite deadpan throughout, there are obvious tonal shifts and not every aspect works. Yet, this was a passion project, done incrementally for an entire year; all its successes for failures is on the shoulders of director/star/co-writer Bartel. While I understand those that don't care for the movie, I say that its flaws give it character, and make it unique. Certainly, a darkly humorous tale involving the murder of skeevy people by people stuck in the past who end up changing into the type of individuals they so strongly dislike, and the kills are straight from a cartoon and are not the tremendously bloody affairs that they naturally would be,.. it definitely stands out. I won't spoil all the surprises the movie has, but there's not only a small appearance from The Real Don Steele, there's also a song from Los Lobos, a half-decade before they became famous.

Bartel and Woronov worked very well together and the fact that they were so enjoyable playing out of touch people helped make this a fun watch despite the macabre subject matter. Like I said, it's not for all tastes-pun intended-but for a segment of film fans this will be gravy.