Father Hood

Strap in ‘cause this one’s gonna get weird.  Tone, the circumstances during filming and the possible inspiration for the plot are all questionable decisions.

Let’s start with the last part first.  Jack Charles (Patrick Swayze (Dirty Dancing)) is a small time thief who’s about to take down the biggest score of his life.  His wife died leaving him with two kids, eighteen year old Kelly (Sabrina Lloyd (Sliders)) and ten year old Eddie (Brian Bonsall (Blank Check)).  He stuck them in foster care though because they cramp his style.  Kelly escapes and goes to Jack for help telling him the kids at the center are being beaten and sexually abused.  Jack isn’t interested at first but when he looks into her accusations he sees that they’re true.  He breaks Eddie out and now the three of them are on the run from the cops.  The bulk of the film is a road adventure from LA to New Orleans with Jack and co. dodging trouble at every turn.

Now according to IMDb some of these events (or maybe just one) were based on a guy named Mike Hardy who was a con that also kidnapped his daughter from foster care and he’s listed as a technical consultant on the film.  And this shit seems to line up because I found an LA Times article from 1990 about a Mike Hardy who was being charged for murdering his wife and it mentions the kidnapping incident.  He rammed into a van and held folks at gun point while in the movie Jack Charles pulls over a school bus and shoves a gun in people’s faces.  When Hardy was convicted a second article talks about Nicholas Pileggi testifying in the case. Pileggi produced Father Hood (and Goodfellas).  Fuckin’ out there, right?

OK, let’s talk about the tone.  It’s erratic as a sonuvabitch.  A lot of what the movie deals with like child abuse, child abandonment, child endangerment, juvenile centers being run like prisons, sexual abuse, trauma, etc. are pretty heavy topics.  And the picture is mostly shot and edited in a serious manner.  What I can’t fucking understand are the music choices.  They smack a rockabilly Stray Cats sorta thing on there every once in a while and it instantly makes the scenes ridiculously silly.  Either the filmmakers hedged their bet and hoped to appeal to a broader audience by lightening up the mood or they had no goddamn clue what they were doing.

The relationship Jack has with his kids is supposed to be humorous at times as well but I don’t find that to be nearly as big of a problem as the soundtrack.  Jack is a larger than life figure, Elvis wannabe, wears gaudy silk shirts with ugly ass designs, gold rimmed sunglasses, rings, sports a 50’s greaser hairdo, drives a 70’s Cadillac, you know exactly who this guy is.  He’s too cool for school so I can see the comedy in pairing him with kids aged eighteen and ten who argue and call him out on his bullshit.

This is a movie so odd matchups can be charming.  In real life though Jack would be a total piece of shit who pawned his kids off on the system long ago.  This is another tonal issue.  Jack lets it be known he’s not into his children, even yelling at them that he’s not their father (untrue), yet he never fails to rescue them from danger or put his own life at risk to save them.  I know humans are complicated but bouncing back and forth the opposite ends of the spectrum of love and hate wears on you.  It feels more like he learns to love his kids because the film needs him to rather than the progression happening naturally.

And the corny as shit courtroom speech at the end (without a doubt the worst part of the film) about how his children were ripped from his arms and he only wanted the best for them and you gotta be a responsible parent rings utterly hollow.  The head of the juvenile center protests “the man kidnaped his children, doesn’t that mean anything to anyone here?!”  Earlier in the movie this guy is shown to be a scumbag of the highest order but he’s not wrong right there!  The whole proceeding then devolves into a farce with arguments flying up and down unrelated to the current trial, death threats and assault.  No real judge would ever allow this crap.  At least there’s some correction of events with Jack getting fifteen months.

So we have a disreputable anti-hero guy, intense themes being vaguely explored, a terrible choogling slap bass soundtrack and a clash of personalities for comic relief.  What else does this need?  You guessed it, ACTION!  This crew goes on several car chases, a speedboat chase, commits attempted armed robbery and Jack jumps from the hood of a fuckin’ truck onto a fuckin’ boat being towed by a fuckin’ trailer.  Somehow, amazingly, these parts are done really well.  It’s crystal clear, has satisfying hits and is nicely choreographed.  And this is where I’m conflicted.  The more adventure-y aspects of this thing are kinda great because there’s a drive to them.  Jack needs to be in New Orleans by a certain day and has to keep moving if he’s gonna make his mark.  Ducking the police along the way adds to the sense of danger and urgency.

Another highlight are the performances.  Sabrina Lloyd is definitely the best.  She’s acting her ass off trying to convince Jack that foster is a hell hole and demands a better life for her and her brother.  She’s tough as nails and is careful to not let her guard down because she’s had a real rough upbringing and been through a lot of shit.  Lloyd gives the character some breathing room too like she gets a little giddy when Jack asks her to take over driving for a while so he can sleep.  She’s never driven before and with a smile exclaims “this is cool!”

Patrick Swayze is fun too and he looks like he’s having an awesome time but then I read he was hitting rock bottom with his alcoholism during the shoot.  Makes me view his performance a bit differently.  I mean he still brings joy to the movie but it’s really sad to know he wasn’t in a good place.  He checked into rehab the same year this film came out so he finally got the help he needed (until his relapse ten years later).

This was written by Scott Spencer (Endless Love) who’s more of a novelist.  It’s difficult to tell his original intent but I wanna say he meant for this to be taken seriously and the studio then tried to fill it with jokes and a boogie woogie soundtrack.  Who knows?

South African director Darrell Roodt (Sarafina!) got the call and as far as the actual shooting and performances go he does a fine job.  On certain technical levels it’s totally competent.  Like Spencer I’m not sure how much of the messy end result is his fault.  Disney made the movie (through Hollywood Pictures) so that makes me think they did some enormous meddling to shave the hard edges off.  Of course that raises the question of why they would greenlight the film in the first place considering the subject matter and their brand.

Jeez guys, I was all set to say maybe check this one out if sudden tonal changes don’t bother you but I dunno if I can do that anymore.  The really weighty shit like a pregnant teen being torn away from the woman who raised her and being dragged back to foster is heart wrenching.  But then Swayze’s kinda funny with his cocksure performance.  And then there’s that speedboat helicopter chase that’s really neat.  It needs to pick a lane badly.

The more I found out about this movie the creepier I felt about liking it even a little.  Between apparently basing the lead character on a shady crook (and later convicted murderer), knowing about Swayze’s alcohol addiction during filming and the bizarre choices in tone puts a damper on the enjoyment.  I mean how does this shit sound to you?  Do you wanna hang out with a hood who’s also a father and watch him grow into the idea of fatherhood while the rest of the picture comments on how fucked up a whole bunch of kids are treated both in foster care and by their parents?  It’s a lot.  It’s too much for a movie pushing a somewhat family friendly spin on a story about a criminal with a heart of gold who falls in love with his abandoned kids during a road trip (crime spree).