NEW YOR( POST, IUESDAY, JUNE

7.

1988

0'G01ilt0Rt'l![llDr IREIT
Rol,eas a

schemerTruts neu)cotner"on, theroad,u

By FRANK TOVECE

fllm that opens thls week at a slntle theater could turtr

a8 "Easy Rlder" dtd
'60r.

AST'T'&if i",fi$
t!
the

out to redeflne the symbol of "the roa.d" tor the '80E, Just

ACLU la,wyer8. H6re the people oD the road uve and let

whlch opens Flrtday at the Quad Clnema on lsth Street, Kevln J. O'Conaor plsyr Jullus, a mlddlhg rck grrltsrfEt ard a pathetlc schemer who blutfs bls way lnto a queat for a legtndary, long-lo8t gultar-maker - StradlvaJt by way ot Dr. Ilvlngltone. But tlle roaal har cha^nged slnce the 1969 appearance of "Ea!y Rlden" On hlr routrdabout path lrom New York Clty to tlle snowy waates ol Nova Scotlq Jullus flnd8 no rednech mobs or tdealtrttc

In "Candy

MouDtaln,'

lltt ttODr X e1)in J.O'Cott tot ond Tom llve - but almost all ol guy who ollors gta other! sll exclted. I them, bom a
JulluE a rlde, to the Fdtarmaker hlmselt st the end of the ros4 do so only for a prlce. 'People do 'sell out' ln lt," observes the dark and laDky O'Connor, a soft-spoken 24. yeer-old who tlew ln a bwlldered whlrl from Chlcago'8
Goodm&n The&tre to partE

W@its in"Cortdy MoLnt@in.' dollneator ot sad humar de.

don't know any other w&y to worh" he aays 8lmost - not qulte - cheertully, ftst method erd that madness haa led Wurlltzer to

tell.

New York stage acslowly. "The cheractera veu-nted Mountaltr" featorE, "Csndy . don't elways act llke you tureE the muslclaDs Tom ' want them to ln & movle," H paueeE &galtl "I thbk lt'g Walt8, Lon Rdbone, Davld Johanseq Dr. John, Joe real relreshhg th&t way." o'coxron atrd a tolk Blnger "No, lt's sure not e Holly- Strummer FUU ol ideas. (who MscNll named Rttr wood movle," egrees wrltor dellvers a show-stopplng b8land co-dlrctor Rudy Wur- tad towar.d the end ol th known aa "CS Blues." In flt8 Ittzer wlth a ,ovlsl laugh. trrovle), s,!d starts, FrDcl\ gwls8 and Csledlan money fln&lly "AudlonceE are 80 pr-condlWurlt&er began shootlng got rcandy MouDtah" mede. ttoned to movies wlth a
,.

ln "Peggy sue Got M&rrled" (as the beat poet), "The ModerDs" (aa Ernest Hemlngway) and m&ny other fllma and TV show8. "It'8 not & t)plcal moYle," he &dd8

scrlpt such cult fllms ag "TVo-Lane Blacktop" (10?1), "Pat Garrett snd Bllly the Kld" (10?3) and "Walker" (1987). Not unexpectedly, lt also made "Candy Mountaln" h8.rd to flnance, The unorthodox iast dtdn't help: Aalde from then-unknow! O! Conror and & paasel ol

Wurlltzer. who Ytlth Frsn} rpotted o'conror long belore tbe actor's current succs8. "He's tull of great ldeas, h g6ts along wlth everyone, and he's not atrald to go sgalnst the cllche ol whet arl actor should look llh or be llk." O'Connor contrlbuted some the fllm's moat mmorable blt8, such a8 whn Jullu8 conducta a mock lntervlee' wlth hlmaell, uElng a t&pe recorder on whlch he's already lstd do{'n th "lntervlew-

"what & tlnd'"

marvolB

er's" seemlngly ad-Ubbed

questlons and aaldea,

clear, unamblEuous heppy endt[8, that when you try to ahow our crazy, conlllctlng

human emotlons and mlxed motlYatlons, a.a we do ln

'Candy Mountatur,' thst

acareE certaln people alld

the movle more than two Boti hard-edted end sentlyear8 ago wlth co-dlrector mental at once, the movle lg Robert FraDlq the eclectlc palntrly yet "dlrty," ln the phototrapher and short-f llm lilmma*ln8 senae ol aeemdlrector who Bhot the sup- lng sponta.neous, n&tur&I, not presEed Rolllng Stoler docu- Drettlfled- O'Connor hibself mentary uphemlstlcally ls equally 80, a brllltarrt

"I havont llgured lt all out " muses O'Connor of hle cratt. "Pople Eay 'Method actor'- I dont krow what the hell that ls. I can"t say l'm one type or another. I try
yet to 'steal' lrom everyone: Wll.

U&m Powell, Ga.ry Buaey,

Somo people who've aeetr the

Dourlf, but I thtnl tha.t's JuEt

movle aay

I'n llke

Brad
le

th

real."

nervousneaa,

whlch