Mad Dog and Glory 1993, Rated R

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Starring Robert De Niro, Uma Thurman, et al.

I'm not a big fan of small motion pictures. And by small, I'm not referring to the budget, or number of stars, but instead, the content of the film. Big films are, by definition, films like Titanic, Starship Troopers, and Armageddon, or any other pictures involving Bruce Willis in a spacesuit, trying to blow up an asteroid with some sort of nuclear device. Small pictures are those shown during primetime on PBS, those starring Helena Bonham-Carter, or, generally speaking, anything filmed on the British Isles, which, as a rule, must include Helena Bonham-Carter. Dialogue is not just an integral part of small pictures, it is the film. I don't like small film because I have a short attention span, or need to see explosions to enjoy a film. It's because most directors don't have the talent, or screenplays of which to work, to create enthralling small motion pictures. John McNaughton, director of Mad Dog and Glory, doesn't have this trouble though. Working off a screenplay by Richard Price, McNaughton has created one of my favorite small films.

Mad Dog and Glory is the story of Wayne (Robert DeNiro), a rather reserved Chicago crime scene photographer. Late one night, after photographing a particularly bloody murder, Wayne stops in a convenience store and talks a criminal out of murdering gangster Frank Milo (Bill Murray), who happened to be in the store at the same time. Frank, a very well connected individual in organized crime, comes to realize that Wayne's smooth talking controlled the situation and, in all probability, saved his life. As a thank you present for this, Frank sends Wayne an employee of his, Glory (Uma Thurman), to spend the week keeping Wayne company. Wayne and Glory fall in love, naturally, and Wayne must confront his passive nature--and Frank--to keep Glory from returning to Frank.

The pacing of this film is slower than most, but the very three-dimensional characters, excellent acting performances and solid, realistic dialogue propel this film forward. McNaughton, who used to live in Wicker Park, and Price, who also wrote the scripts behind the tight thrillers Sea of Love and Ransom, obviously feel right at home in Chicago, with Chicago characters like Wayne and Frank. Using Bucktown brownstones and restaurants, Lincoln Park locations, and LaSalle street at 3 am, McNaughton brought the feel of Chicago to the silver screen.

This may have been a small film, but with a positively stellar screenplay with which to work, John McNaughton has created an intensely quirky, entertaining film. Mad Dog and Glory is one of the best films shot in the city of Chicago.