Bottle Rocket and the 4th of July
Wes Anderson's 1996 debut film, "Bottle Rocket", is an unassuming introduction to the director’s signature style. The movie follows two unnoticed drifters as they spend a day in their dilapidated home and try out various pointless schemes for money or drugs before eventually getting caught by police after setting off fireworks inside one of Houston‘s ubiquitous malls.
The main characters in Bottle Rocket are all adults who can't seem to grow up. They spend their time playing games, smoking cigarettes, and having adventures that leave them looking decades older than they should be at this point of the story
A coming-of-age film would typically expect you to enter into it as someone new on planet Earth with innocent curiosity; ready to learn about life by observing others around him/herself - but not these guys! From day 1 everything is one big blurred scene where Anthony (the oldest) gets weed driving everyone crazy while trying unsuccessfully to teach Dignan how.
The University of Texas in Austin is where Anderson and Owen Wilson met. They’ve said that the idea for Bottle Rocket, their first short film which would eventually become an Oscar-winning movie with Platoon back home at Stanford farmland outside San Antonio - all started out as a practical joke gone wrong when they tried to prove themselves right after breaking into one another's shared apartment by fixing up some windows before landlord suspected anything!
Bottle Rocket is not just about a man trying to get his woman back. It's also an examination of what it means for someone who has lost everything, yet still manages to find some meaning in life through their love affair with booze and pills- all while being surrounded by nothing but garbage people that only want one thing from them: money!
The most “Andersonian” film is Bottle Rocket, which starts with an unassuming scene in Tokyo and goes on to list all of his favorite ages. This movie has a very different tone than other works like Royal or The Grand Budapest Hotel; it shows how much more possible life can be when you let go your burdens for just one moment.
The nugget discusses how actor Owen Wilson initially felt his involvement in the film wasn’t legitimate because it was written by someone else. Fortunately for everyone involved, Anderson convincing him otherwise and providing an insight into what went behind-the-scenes during filming makes up for this oversight with plenty of other bonuses including a making-of documentary which includes hilarious input from most cast members including James Caan!
