Pondering Godard’s death I watched Made In USA (J-L G, 1966) again yesterday. Incoherent narrative, as usual, but brilliant ending with a speech about politics by Karina/Paula Nelson that still rings true.
The DVD had an intro of about 3.5 minutes by Godard biographer Colin McCabe which I think gets one important piece of the narrative completely wrong!
Extras include excellent 10 min interview with Anna Karina.
Absolutely beautiful colour photography by Coutard.
Another appearance by Ernest Menzer, as Edgar Typhus. We used to think he must have been Godard’s father judging by the frequency of his cameo roles, usually as some kind of nuisance.
Marianne Faithfull is credited as a lead. She gets to sing 'As Tears Go By' unaccompanied. That's it.
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As far as I know it was never commercially released in Australia. It is the least known of the pre-1970 winning streak. This arose because Godard credited a novel by Donald Westlake as the source but didn’t bother to buy the rights. Westlake held up the US release for decades. The film finally opened in 2009, after Westlake died. Not that anyone would have the remotest idea of the ‘source’ novel but for it being specifically stated in the credits.
Subtitles at one stage translate a loudspeaker announcement asking for “Daisy Canion to come to the front desk…”
I say no more.
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