Just the Ticket
USA 1998
Reviewed by Geoffrey Macnab
Synopsis
Our synopses give away the plot in full, including surprise twists.
New York ticket tout Gary Starke learns that the Pope is coming to give a mass at Yankee Stadium. Seeing this as an opportunity to secure his future and convince girlfriend Linda he is more than just a hustler, Gary tries to get hold of as many tickets as he can. But he has a rival, Casino, a tout with mob connections. Exasperated by Gary, Linda has started dating another man and now plans to study cookery in Paris.
Gary's old partner Benny lends him the money to buy more tickets and dies soon after. Gary gives the oration at his funeral, to which ex-heavyweight champ Joe Frazier turns up, giving substance to Benny's stories about his past exploits as a boxing coach. Disguised as a nun, Gary does brisk business selling tickets at Yankee Stadium. His cover is blown and he is arrested, but he sees the Pope from his cell. Once released, Gary brawls with Casino and is beaten up. Skulking in his one-room apartment, Gary is visited by a man who tells him he is the sole benefactor of Benny's life insurance and presents him with a cheque. With the cash, he is able to buy Linda the premises for a new restaurant. She abandons her trip to Paris.
Review
Gary Starke, the ticket-tout hero of writer-director Richard Wenk's Just the Ticket, could be a character from a Damon Runyon short story. A street hustler, a scalper with an eye for the main chance, he wears the clothes (gaudy Hawaiian shirts and baggy trousers) and speaks the patter. His associates are low-lifes like him, but all with their own code of honour.
So far, so familiar: in its early scenes, Just the Ticket seems to be developing into a likable comedy-romance set against the backcloth of the touts' murky world. Wenk (director of Vamp) shot most of the film on location in New York. He captures the frenetic quality of big-city street life, complete with touts who seem to see themselves as urban cowboys. ("There are no rules... it's the wild west here," one character observes.) In theory, combining the rough-edged, street-level drama with a love story should not have presented a problem. Chaplin did it in City Lights (1931) and countless other film-makers have followed suit. Nevertheless, in Just the Ticket there is a dispiriting sense that two different, largely incompatible films have been yanked together.
Whenever Andy Garcia (who also produced this particular film) and Andie MacDowell are on screen together, the tone changes. The edgy, improvisatory quality is lost and the storytelling becomes blander and less credible. In his scenes with MacDowell, Garcia seems so witty and resourceful that it's hard to credit that this is the same character who lives in a shabby apartment and doesn't even have the wherewithal to get himself a social-security number. MacDowell's is a thankless role. While she is holed up in the kitchen (she dreams of becoming a chef), Garcia gets the chance to clown around. She is the straight man to his comedian. At times, for example when he offers to sell a television on her behalf in return for a date, her sole function seems to be to set up his one-liners.
The whimsy grates. Garcia's routines with his pet dog and his habit of bouncing a ball wherever he goes are more irritating than endearing. Easily the strongest scenes are those when he is out and about, hustling, passing on tickets or tips, or trying to steal a march on rival tout Casino. The street sharks, who all have names like Barry the Book or Harry the Head, are sharply and affectionately observed. Gary's relationship with old-timer Benny (beautifully played by Richard Bradford) provides the few moments of grace and pathos. The rest of the crew dismiss Benny as a broken-down has-been - wrongly, it transpires, when ex-heavyweight champ 'Smoking' Joe Frazier (playing himself) turns up at his funeral.
After Frazier's cameo, Gary's bizarre encounter with the Pope seems anti-climactic, as indeed does the rest of the film. Just the Ticket peters out in as contrived and mawkish a way as any tearjerker. By glossing over the harshness, seediness and violence of Gary's ticket-tout life on the streets, Wenk ends up hiding precisely what made the premise for the film so vivid and arresting in the first place.
Credits
- Producers
- Gary Lucchesi
- Andy Garcia
- Screenplay
- Richard Wenk
- Director of Photography
- Ellen Kuras
- Editor
- Christopher Cibelli
- Production Designer
- Franckie Diago
- Music
- Rick Marotta
- ©CineSon Productions, Inc
- Production Company
- From United Artists
- Executive Producers
- Andie MacD0well
- Yoram Pelman
- CineSon:
- Marivi Lorido Garcia
- Co-producer
- John H. Starke
- Associate Producers
- Joe Drago
- George Hernandez
- Production Co-ordinators
- Shelley Houis
- CineSon:
- Rose Ferraro Fahey
- Unit Production Manager
- J.H. Starke
- Location Manager
- Deb Parker
- Post-production Supervisor
- George Hernandez
- Assistant Directors
- Robert E. Warren
- Jeff Bernstein
- Joan Bostwick
- Script Supervisor
- Deirdre Horgan
- Casting
- Amanda Mackey Johnson
- Cathy Sandrich
- NY Associate:
- Mercedes Danforth
- LA Associate:
- Elizabeth Lang Fedrick
- ADR Voice:
- Barbara Harris
- 2nd Unit Director of Photography
- Richard Eliano
- Camera Operator
- Rich Eliano
- Digital Effects
- Blue Sky/VIFX
- Digital Effects Supervisor:
- Hilmar Koch
- Digital Effects Producer:
- Amy Jupiter
- Senior Digital Artist:
- John Siczewicz
- Digital Effects Consultant:
- Christopher Scollard
- Digital Effects Co-ordinator:
- Michael D. Feder
- Digital Effects Artists:
- Sing Choong Foo
- Jaime Castañeda
- Digital Effects Editor:
- Tim Nordquist
- Art Director
- Henry Dunn
- Set Decorator
- Karin Wiesel
- Scenic Artists
- Susan Glod
- Ian Zdatny
- Costume Designer
- Susan Lyall
- Wardrobe Supervisors
- Jill E. Anderson
- Fionnuala Lynch
- Jane E. Williams
- Make-up
- KeyArtist:
- Sharon Ilson
- Artist:
- Kymbra M. Callaghan
- Key Hairstylist
- Aaron F. Quarles
- Title Design
- Charles McDonald
- Titles/Opticals
- Howard Anderson Co
- Additional Music
- Israel López 'Cachao'
- Joe Turano
- Andy Garcia
- The Band
- Good Call Johnny and The Scalptones
- Music Conductor/Orchestrations
- David Spinozza
- Music Editor
- Darrell E. Hall
- Music Recording Engineer
- Andy Mitchell
- Music Consultant
- Dino Nicolosi
- Soundtrack
- "The Scalper" by Israel López 'Cachao', performed by Israel López 'Cachao' and his Orchestra; "Linda's Theme" by Andy Garcia; "Linda's Mambo" by Andy Garcia, performed by Israel López 'Cachao' and his Orchestra; "When You're Smiling (The Whole World Smiles with You)" by Mark Fisher, Joe Goodwin, Larry Shay, performed by Louis Prima; "Money (That's What I Want)" by Berry Gordy, Janie Bradford, performed by Nil Lara; "Over My Head" (trad), arranged/performed by Cyrus Chestnut; "Call Me Irresponsible" by Sammy Cahn, James Van Heusen, performed by Bobby Darin; "Feelin' Alright" by Dave Mason, performed by Dr. John; "Come Rain or Come Shine" by Johnny Mercer, Harold Arlen, performed by Dr. John, Dianne Reeves; "Chihuahua" by Ray Gilbert, Louis Oliveira, performed by Luis Oliveira and his Bandodalua Boys; "Big Date" by Richard Wenk, Andy Garcia, Andie MacDowell, performed by Dr. John; "Heaven Is Almost Here" by Andy Garcia, Richard Wenk; "Amazing Grace" (trad), lead vocal by Daniella Garcia-Lorido; "Jesus Is on the Main Line" (traditional spiritual), arranged/conducted by Edward M. Tate, performed by Voices of Gospel First African Methodist Episcopal Church, Los Angeles; "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours" by Stevie Wonder, Syreeta Wright, Lee Garrett, Lula Mae Hardaway, performed by Stevie Wonder
- Sound Designer/Supervisor
- Leonard Marcel
- Sound Mixer
- Les Lazarowitz
- Recordists
- Eric Bretter
- Greg Fry
- Re-recording Mixer
- Ken S. Polk
- Dialogue Supervisor
- Craig Clark
- Dialogue Editor
- Alan Schultz
- Sound Effects Editors
- Reuben Simon
- Bruce Endres
- ADR
- Supervisor:
- Mark Relyea
- Mixer:
- Doc Kane
- Foley
- Artists:
- Sue Pusateri
- Leonard Marcel
- Recordist:
- Reuben Simon
- Technical Adviser
- Gary Swailes
- Stunt Co-ordinator
- Jeff Ward
- Cast
- Andy Garcia
- Gary Starke
- Andie MacDowell
- Linda Paliski
- Richard Bradford
- Benny Moran
- Elizabeth Ashley
- Mrs Paliski
- Fred Asparagus
- Zeus
- André Blake
- Casino
- Patrick Breen
- San Diego Vinnie
- Ronald Guttman
- Gerrard, culinary director
- Donna Hanover
- realtor
- Laura Harris
- Cyclops
- Bill Irwin
- Ray Charles
- Chris Lemmon
- Alex
- Ron Leibman
- Barry the Book
- Louis Mustillo
- Harry the Head
- Paunita Nichols
- Rhonda
- Don Novello
- Tony
- Abe Vigoda
- Arty
- Irene Worth
- Mrs Haywood
- Joe Frazier
- himself
- Sullivan Cooke
- 'Blinker'
- Alice Drummond
- lady with cash
- Anita Elliott
- refund lady at the Met
- Michael Willis
- TV customer
- Jack Cafferty
- newscaster
- Molly Wenk
- Fanny, Catholic schoolgirl
- Daniella Garcia-Lorido
- Lucy, Catholic schoolgirl
- Michael P. Moran
- Fat Max
- Helen Carey
- food critic
- Bobo Lewis
- Mrs Dolmatch
- Brian Schwary
- college kid in jail
- Davenia McFadden
- social security checker
- Lenny Venito
- Stanley
- Richard Wenk
- 'Good Call Johnny' DJ
- George Palermo
- undercover cop
- Anthony DeSando
- Kenny Paliski
- Robert Castle
- Uncle Donald
- Sully Boyar
- Uncle Tony
- Luis Aponte
- Maury, funeral director
- Joe Drago
- Father V. Crespo
- Alfredo Alvarez Calderon
- Yankee Stadium security chief
- Gene Greytak
- The Pope
- Joanna P. Adler
- Vickie
- John Tormey
- taxi cab driver
- Michael Higgins
- confessional priest
- Austin Lyall Sansone
- baby in womb
- Certificate
- 15
- Distributor
- First Independent Films Ltd
- 10,368 feet
- 115 minutes 12 seconds
- Digital DTS sound/Dolby
- Colour by
- DeLuxe