May 17th: STORYVILLE (Mark Frost, 1992)

A New Orleans man running for congress reckons with his family's past when he is blackmailed.

Mark Frost started in the business writing for television on two popular shows from the 1970s and 80s, The Six Million Dollar Man and Hill Street Blues. He was paired up with director David Lynch and the two collaborated on two screenplays, neither of which went into production. They were both persuaded to attempt a television series, and the eventual result was the cult classic Twin Peaks.

Frost had one screenplay to his credit in the 1987 film about a satanic cult called The Believers, starring Martin Sheen. When Twin Peaks was canceled after its second season, Frost used his newfound clout to get one of his old scripts produced as well as securing himself the director's chair.

The cast is headed by James Spader, a minor "Brat Pack" actor who had recently graduated to indie stardom thanks to his award-winning role in Steven Soderbergh's Sex, Lies, and Videotape. He's joined by 2-time Oscar winner Jason Robards (Magnolia, All The President's Men), Joanne Whalley-Kilmer (Willow), Charlotte Lewis (The Golden Child), Piper Laurie (Carrie), Michael Parks (Kill Bill), and two of Frost's fellow Hill Street Blues alumni, Charles Haid and Michael Warren.

The film was shot on location in New Orleans and rural Louisiana. Behind the camera was cinematographer Ronald Victor Garcia, who shot the Twin Peaks pilot episode and would also go on to shoot the series' feature film prequel Fire Walk With Me. Composing the musical score was Carter Burwell, a longtime collaborator of the Coen Bros.

Despite enthusiastic reviews from Roger Ebert, Vincent Canby of The New York Times, and Hal Hinson of The Washington Post, Storyville failed to make much of a dent at the box office. Frost would return to television on various projects, as well as writing horror novels and non-fiction novels about golf, including The Greatest Game Ever Played, which he also adapted for the big screen.

Running time is approx. 115 minutes.