Search and Destroy

Martin Mirkheim discovers one day that he owes the Florida state 147.956 dollars in back taxes. That evening, he and his beautiful but absent-minded wife, Lauren, go to a party at her brother Rob's. During the evening he reveals his plans for making a film. Martin wants to base it upon the book Daniel Strong: An Adventure Story, which has had a great influence on him. Also at the party is Kim who, before he is kicked out by Rob, encourages Martin and his idea. Martin flies to Dallas to try to meet the book's author, Dr Luthor Waxling. The doctor is a famous TV personality with his own show. He is a self-help guru with slogans like ''strength needs no excuse'' and ''the past is pointless''. Martin is however thrown out of Waxling's head office, but not before he has charmed the receptionist, Marie. Through her he manages to arouse the author's interest, until he discovers that Martin doesn't have any money. Desperate, he returns to New York to search for Kim, the only person, apart from Marie, who's shown any interest in his film plans. Martin finds Kim who promises to help him financially. Apart from the money he gets Ron, Kim's friend, and before long they find themselves in the middle of a cocaine deal. The deal is a failure, but the nightmare has only just begun. Artist David Salle's debut film is an absurd black comedy, mixed with social criticism. The cast includes some established American actors: Griffin Dunne, Rosanna Arquette, Dennis Hopper, Ethan Hawks, John Turturro and Christopher Walken to name a few. The film takes many radical, emotional turns which are musically complemented by Elmer Bernstein's sensitive score. The excellent performances culminate in a bonus when Christopher Walken performs a song and dance number. Certain parallels can be drawn with Martin Scorsese's anguished comedy After Hours (1985). Griffin Dunne and Rosanna Arquette feature in both films and Scorsese is the executive producer of Search and Destroy. They have the same basis: an ordinary guy gets in- volved in one comic nightmare after another. The creators see their film as a screwball-tragedy.