Cinemawreck 101 #2: DUNE

I realize that to the goatee-adorned, Herzog and Godard-worshipping film snobs out there that we look crazy adding this to a list of so-called "indispensable" films (and don't get us wrong, we love Herzog and Godard just as much as the next guy in line at the Karma Kafe, we just chose to grow full beards instead of "cunt-mouth" goatees as my diminutive, longshoreman-mouthed friend Mary likes to call them*). I also realize that there are better sci-fi films out there, and that this is a film that many a David Lynch fan would like to pretend never happened. Look, we don't give a shit here at the Wreck, and the imperfections of DUNE - the failure of it both commercially, and critically, plus the fact that it is a curiosity piece in the oeuvre of it's legendary director primarily known for his weird, surreal art-house fare makes it a classic. Apart from all of the production back stories and gossip, there is a risky, flawed-but-great sci-fi masterpiece here, that only gets better with age (don't worry, at least one more Lynch film will make it to the 101 - Hint: It's one suave fuck of a film.)

The main problem with DUNE is a problem that befalls many films adapted from popular novels. Number one, there is the mammoth task of appeasing Frank Herbert's huge cult of fans. It's a philosophically complex novel, with many characters, many subplots, that must have been a nightmare when Lynch set out on his Herculean task of adapting it after the likes of Jordowosky and Cronenberg had tried and failed - or "tried and died" to quote the Bene Geserit mother. It's the classic story of the unlikely hero, Paul Atreides (Kyle MacLachlan), albeit one from aristocracy and privilege, that must rise up against great odds, and lead the inhabitants of planet Arakis against an oppressive system of Royal houses that seek to control the “known universe” through production of the consciousness-expanding drug known as the "spice melange". Did you get all of that?

Here's a quick inventory of DUNE's badass-ed-ness: spaceships, the shield-belts, Sting's death (Spoiler!), heartplugs, hunter-seekers, Mu' a ("My name is a killing word.") Dib, Baron Harkonnen's horrible skin condition, Dean Stockwell, imperial conditioning, and the poison-gas tooth, Jurgen Prochnow, Richard Jordan, Patrick Stewart, Brad Dourif, Everett McGill, Fransisca Annis, sandworms, thumpers, the hotness of Sean Young, the hotness of Virginia Madsen and her "but wait there's more!" intro, space folding and the guild navigator that does it (Lynch's own mutant baby from ERASERHEAD all growed-up and encased in a black tank of liquid), the bombastic hair-rock score of Toto(!), Brian Eno's "Prophecy Theme"(!), and I haven't even gotten to the lavish sets, and awesome creature designs by Carlo (E.T.) Ramaldi, but wait, I just did...

DUNE is campy, heavy-handed, mired with abortive story arcs, forced exposition, and for audiences unfamiliar with the books an almost indecipherable lexicon of otherworldly jargon. I remember going to see this with my dad back in the Winter of '84 and being given flyers with a glossary of terms. My dad had never read the books, and I was only eight, so it was a bit over my head, but I didn't care. I loved this movie from day one, and continue to. I can honestly say, even after getting into my too-cool-for-school "Twin Peaks" phase, that I have never once badmouthed the flawed greatness of DUNE.


*I am currently sporting a "cunt mouth" goatee. Sue me, it's Summer, and it hides my dimpled "booty chin".