From the annals of long since forgotten films comes Fat City from 1972. Every calendar year
is overloaded with movie releases that, even if modestly successful at the
time, are destined to recede into memory as the years pass. The status of
classic or cult classic is reserved fro only a handful of films each year. You
need only go back eighteen years to find a Best Picture nominee called The Full Monty, for example. It was a
small British film that found great success in the United States. But how many
people think of it now? How highly regarded is it by those who do recall it?
Now consider that film’s status with another twenty-five years of age. So The Full Monty is no Fat City, of course, if for no other
reason than the latter was directed by John Huston, a Hollywood legend. But
even his fame never elevated the film above the level of New Wave Hollywood
footnote.
