‘Lucky’ star Stanton charms in final role
It’s hard to imagine a better going-away present from Harry Dean Stanton to his fans than “Lucky,” a charming valedictory effort from a great American artist who brought an endearing authenticity to every role. The actor, who died Sept. 15 at age 91, has been a popular supporting player on TV and in films, starting in the 1950s, when he appeared in everything from “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” as an uncredited corpse, apparently, to “The Rifleman” and “Have Gun — Will Travel.”
In “Lucky,” Stanton plays the title of role of a superannuated loner living in a small, well-kept house in a tiny, rundown town in the scorching, remote American Southwest. Lucky has his routine. He wakes up, washes, fires up some mariachi music, lights a cigarette, does yoga stretches that are over before the cigarette burns out and has a cup of coffee from a Mr. Coffee machine that blinks 12:00.
After that, Lucky walks to the tune of “Red River Valley” to the local diner, where he brings his crossword puzzle and is a regular, and must be reminded not to smoke by manager Joe (Barry Shabaka Henley). In the evenings, Lucky goes to a local bar where he drinks bloody marys. At the bar, Lucky banters with owner Elaine (Beth Grant), a sexy, tough-talking older lady and her longtime boyfriend, Paulie (James Darren), who looks in the mirror and can only think “oogatz,” which is Italian slang for “nothing.”
Lucky also drinks with Howard (David Lynch, who directed Stanton in “Twin Peaks” and “The Straight Story”). Howard — or “How-weird,” if you will — is grieving the loss of his ancient tortoise and best friend named President Roosevelt. The tortoise, a symbol of immortality, made a slow-motion escape and has not returned. In another scene, Lucky encounters a fellow World War II veteran (Stanton’s “Alien” co-star Tom Skerritt), and they exchange war stories like the boys they were.
“Lucky,” which was directed by the actor John Carroll Lynch, aka Twisty the Clown on “American Horror Story,” and scripted by Logan Sparks (“Constantine”) and Drago Sumonja, enlists the trappings of the small-town American West and not a little of the dreamlike, offbeat techniques of Lynch to address how to act when we reach an age when death is as near as tomorrow, which is where Lucky is according to his no-nonsense doctor (Ed Begley Jr.).
For his part, Lucky accepts an invitation to a fiesta, a party celebrating the birthday of a little local boy, and the old man drapes himself in glory by stepping up and singing a sad mariachi torch song in Spanish with the band. Try not to tear up then or when Lucky looks at the camera at the end of the film and flashes a smile at us. So long, pal.
(“Lucky” contains profanity.)