Thursday, November 7, 1996
As a Beverly Hills High School student, director Larry Bishop
made a pact with his three best friends to make movies, and 30
years later, their dream has come to fruition in the form of ‘Mad
Dog Time.’By Emily Forster
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
ids of Hollywood stars often grow up with skewed perceptions of
reality, and Larry Bishop, the son of Rat Pack member Joey Bishop,
is no exception.
It’s obvious just from speaking with the younger Bishop about
his new film, "Mad Dog Time," that he exists on a different plane
than the average writer and director.
"I got the idea for ‘Mad Dog Time’ because I was thinking about
the phrase ‘There but for the grace of God go I,’" recalls Bishop.
"In that phrase, ‘grace’ is the goodness, the purity, the caring
aspects of God. But I thought ‘What would happen if Grace and God
went their separate ways?’ What I did was I separated Grace and
God, and personalized them. In the movie, Richard Dreyfuss plays
Vic, who is God, and Diane Lane plays Grace. It’s an allegory and
in the allegory if God is separated from Grace, there is no moral
standard. Grace would have to go in hiding because she’d know that
God was coming after her. Jeff Goldblum plays Vic’s hitman and in
the allegory he is Death. And she has to go run off with Death for
protection from God."
If it sounds philosophical and high-minded, it is. But Bishop
hides his existential story beneath the entertaining guise of a
tensely plotted, richly styled, and humorously written gangster
film. And with Bishop at the helm of this multi-layered gangster
movie, it is not the typical Tarantino wanna-be.
"The film is more like ‘Ocean’s 11’ (the Rat Pack hit starring
Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr. and Bishop’s father)
because in every other crime film where people rob things, there’s
always desperation within the characters," explains Bishop. "In
‘Ocean’s 11’ they were not desperate for anything. They were doing
it because they had nothing better to do. It was unique in the
respect that they weren’t short on cash, they were short on
thrills. In Scorsese’s films or Tarantino’s films, the characters
are always desperate. It’s a low life sensibility. My stuff has a
high life sensibility. There’s no shortage of cash. They’re
interested in power."
For a filmmaker, Bishop is quite philosophical. But sitting
under a shady table on the patio of the Beverly Hills restaurant,
The Fish House, Bishop looks more like Fonzie from "Happy Days"
than either a director or a philosopher. Thick sunglasses masking
his eyes, wide side burns running down his jawline, and a tight
black T-shirt beneath his jean jacket’s flipped up collar, Bishop
explains that "Mad Dog Time" is the result of a 30-year-old
promise.
"When we were 15, 16, 17 years old, me, Rob (Reiner), (Richard)
Dreyfuss, and Albert Brooks were it," says Bishop. "We were all
best friends at Beverly Hills High School and we all made a promise
to be in each other’s movies."
With Dreyfuss in the starring role and Bishop behind the camera,
the four friends were just a step away from fulfilling their dream.
But it became a problem for all four of them to meet on the set for
the same day.
"There’s a scene in the movie where Rob (Reiner) came in to be
Dreyfuss’ chauffeur," says Bishop. "I’m in the car too because I
play a hitman, so the only one missing was Albert Brooks, but he
couldn’t do it so we just said ‘We’ll name Rob’s character Albert,
and that’ll be it,’" says Bishop. "I just saw Albert at a film
festival and I told him ‘You’re in the movie.’ He went ‘What?’ And
I said, ‘You’re in the movie. We named Rob’s character ‘Albert.’
And he really appreciated that."
Possibly Bishop felt it a necessity to include Brooks because
when he first moved to Los Angeles, he was an outsider to the
tight-knit group.
"We moved to L.A. when I was 15 and I started high school not
knowing anyone," says Bishop. "I remember there was an orientation
day the day before school started and my next-door neighbor went to
the high school so he said he’d take me to orientation. So I’ll
never forget I’m sitting in the audience and they’re putting on
skits when a guy walks on and my neighbor says, ‘That’s Richard
Dreyfuss. He’s our best actor.’
"It always stuck in my brain, partly because I was thinking, ‘Oh
ya? Wait’ll you see me.’ But also because I like the idea that my
next-door neighbor wasn’t into acting but he knew who the best
actor was. What it meant to me was that it was filtered down to him
so that it was just like ‘There’s the prettiest girl in school,’ or
‘There’s the best athlete.’ He knew Dreyfuss was the best
actor."
While in high school, Bishop’s friends were a powerful support
system. When he looks back on the time, Bishop uses Dreyfuss’
theory about the four-way relationship to summarize what it was
like.
"Dreyfuss’ take on it was that we all encouraged each other when
we were 15 and 16 years old," says Bishop. "He feels everything
that we later became is because of the encouragement that we gave
each other while we were young."
After high school graduation, the close group split up when
Reiner and Bishop decided to enroll in UCLA for the fall of 1965.
In moving out of their homes and deciding to live off their own
incomes, Reiner and Bishop experienced the difficulties of their
newfound responsibilities together.
"We lived right off of Sunset strip above a garage because all
we could afford was $110 a month, and I know it sounds crazy but we
were worried where we were each going to get $55 a month,"
remembers Bishop. "But things moved along very quickly and we were
both making pretty good money within a half a year. We had started
our improvisational group. I got a contract to do eight films and
he was starting to write and stuff. It worked out pretty good. I
think we needed that fear to get going. You gotta get away from
your parents, so maybe you just need that whole adrenaline rush of
‘Am I going to make it?’ It’s better to be worried in a $55 place
than it is to be with your parents."
Without parental guidance, Bishop found himself struggling to
balance school, his and Reiner’s improvisational group called "The
Session," and his picture deal with American International
Pictures. As part of the AIP picture deal, Bishop had to be ready
to go film at any time. And coupled with the late-night rehearsals
for the improv group in the basement of Royce Hall, Bishop found
little time to make the on-campus theater auditions that were
required of theater arts majors. He decided to go for a degree in
philosophy because, as Bishop explains, "Philosophy intrigued
me."
Eventually even changing majors could not help Bishop
accommodate his hectic schedule and he had to drop out. But he
still kept in touch with Reiner, Dreyfuss and Brooks as each of
them found his niche in the film industry. Now with his directorial
debut in "Mad Dog Time," Bishop might finally gain a standing in
Hollywood that rivals those of his life long friends.
"In high school, Dreyfuss deferred to me in a way that he didn’t
defer to anyone else," says Bishop. "When we were boys, he thought
I was it. It could be argued that in doing this film, there’s a 30
year resolution of that feeling he had. We made a pact that we
would do films together, but it wasn’t just because he liked me. It
was because he thought I had talent and this movie is the
culmination of everything he saw in me."
FILM: "Mad Dog Time" opens Friday.
(above) UCLA alumnus Larry Bishop, director of "Mad Dog Time,"
opening Friday, lights a cigarette in the Sculpture Garden. (below)
Bishop appears in the film along with Angie Everhart.