One from the Heart

One from the Heart
theatrical poster
Directed by	Francis Ford Coppola
Produced by	Gray Frederickson Fred Roos
Written by	Armyan Bernstein Francis Ford Coppola
Starring	Frederic Forrest Teri Garr Raul Julia Nastassja Kinski Lainie Kazan Harry Dean Stanton
Music by	Teddy Edwards Tom Waits
Cinematography	Vittorio Storaro Ronald Víctor García
Edited by	Rudi Fehr Anne Goursaud Randy Roberts
Production company	American Zoetrope
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release dates	August 17, 1981 (1981-08-17)
Running time	107 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$26 million
Box office	$636,796 (U.S.)[1]

One from the Heart is a 1981 musical film directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Frederic Forrest, Teri Garr, Raul Julia, Nastassja Kinski, Lainie Kazan, and Harry Dean Stanton.

The story is set entirely in Las Vegas.

Plot

The evening of July 4, in Las Vegas, Hank (Forrest) a mechanic and Frannie (Garr), a travel agent, break up while celebrating their fifth anniversary. He has been insensitive to her yearning for adventure and excitement. They both spend a night with their idealized partners — Hank goes with Leila, a nubile and beautiful circus girl (Kinski), and Frannie goes with Ray, a dark, handsome musician (Juliá).

After their nights of passion, Hank breaks down, tracks Frannie to her lover's apartment and abducts her. She refuses to stay with him and walks away, saying that this time it is goodbye forever.

Hank follows her to the airport, where Frannie is about to leave for her dream trip to Bora Bora with Ray. Hank sings to her to prove he is willing to be more romantic, but she boards the plane, saying it is too late. Hank, distraught, goes home and is about to burn her clothes when Frannie returns, realizing she "made a mistake."

Cast

• Frederic Forrest as Hank
• Teri Garr as Frannie
• Raúl Juliá as Ray
• Nastassja Kinski as Leila
• Lainie Kazan as Maggie
• Harry Dean Stanton as Moe
• Allen Garfield as Restaurant Owner
• Rebecca de Mornay as Understudy

The director's parents, Carmine and Italia Coppola, appear as a couple in an elevator.

Production

The film was almost entirely shot on studio sound stages. The exception was filming on the back lot for a "Las Vegas junkyard" set, described by a character in the film as being "the garden of the Taj Mahal."

The cost of the production and the film's failure to recoup at the box office resulted in Coppola's declaring bankruptcy. One from the Heart was originally intended as an "antidote" to the enormous cost, pressures and production setbacks of his Apocalypse Now.^[2] But, production costs ballooned from $2 million to over $25 million. Coppola insisted on building sets to add to the artificiality of the proscenium.

Set construction included a replica of part of Las Vegas' McCarran Airport—complete with a jetway and jet airliner (built from the nose section of a crashed plane)—was built and used for the penultimate scene. The sets for the film took up all of the sound stage space at Coppola's recently acquired American Zoetrope studio. Because of the maze of wiring and flammable scrims, backdrops and other materials, production designer Dean Tavoularis half-jokingly referred to the Vegas Strip set—the centerpiece of the film—as a "firetrap", saying it caused him to have "nightmares about fires" during the film's production.

Coppola has said that the films he made during the rest of the 1980s and most of the 1990s, such as The Outsiders, Rumble Fish, The Cotton Club, The Godfather Part III, Jack and The Rainmaker, were done to pay off the debts incurred by One from the Heart.

One from the Heart features an original soundtrack from Crystal Gayle and Tom Waits. Waits received an Academy Award nomination for Best Musical Score. Tavoularis, whose art department was next door to the musical rehearsal space, used Waits' music as tonal inspiration, incorporating it into the film's highly stylized "look." Mickey Hart, drummer for The Grateful Dead, and musician Bobby Vega were also credited for their contributions to the production.

Release

Critical reception

As of September 2015, it has a 48% "rotten" rating on Rotten Tomatoes from 31 critics.^[3] The film had its premiere in San Francisco on August 17, 1981 and a New York City preview on January 15, 1982, at Radio City Music Hall. Janet Maslin in the New York Times described it as an "innovative, audacious effort," but said the film lacked story and tension.^[4]

In a later interview, Coppola has said that the film was still a "work in progress" when screened for blind bidding. He said the unfinished version was "a mess". He went on to say that "it was clear that it wasn't going to get a fair shot."^[2]

Box office

The movie grossed $389,249 on its first weekend on 41 theaters, with a total gross of $636,796, against a $26 million budget.

Soundtrack

References

External links

• One from the Heart at the Internet Movie Database
• One from the Heart at the TCM Movie Database
• One from the Heart at AllMovie
• One from the Heart at Rotten Tomatoes