Mann boy Tony Wagner returns to discuss another “compromised” movie!
Eerie, violent, and hacked to bits by the studio, the supernatural horror mystery THE KEEP would be an oddity in any director’s career. In a remote Romanian village during World War II, Nazis (Jürgen Prochnow, Gabriel Byrne) occupy a foreboding stone citadel feared and revered by the locals (Robert Prosky, W. Morgan Sheppard). Tempted and terrorized by an unknowable presence inside, they relocate a Jewish historian (Ian McKellen) and his daughter (Alberta Watson) from a concentration camp to uncover its secrets. Also, an altogether average and unremarkable Greek gentleman (Scott Glenn) arrives to make sure things don’t get too out of hand (he is measurably less than successful).
Originally planned as a 3.5-hour epic, Paramount Pictures demanded cut after cut until audiences were left with a kind of incomprehensible 98 minutes of… something. As a result, Michael Mann has all but disowned THE KEEP, leaving behind a weird, complex monolith to his unrealized vision. Kind of like a certain The Keep I know!
In this brisk discussion, Tony helps us figure out what there is to THE KEEP, despite there being so little of its creator’s original vision in the end product. Is it a dreamy admonition of the all-consuming power of wrath that keeps the viewer at a tantalizing arm’s length? Or is it a goofy, cheesy stage play with only glimpses of the greatness that could’ve been?
Is THE KEEP actually the movie it’s supposed to be out of the box, or is the actual thing obscured behind the sticky slime trail of studio interference? You’ll hear arguments for both sides on this lively episode!
Find Tony…
References:
#NazisWeHateTheseGuys #DCP
Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast, Bluesky at @trylovepodca.st, and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch!
Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music: “It Ends” (an arrangement of “Walking in the Air” composed by Howard Blake) arranged and performed by Tangerine Dream from the THE KEEP soundtrack.
Timestamps
0:00 - Episode 350: THE KEEP (1983)
3:19 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary
5:28 - A broken, odd, “compromised” movie that runs on vibes
19:29 - The fumbled unfolding of the mystery
27:55 - A movie where Mann reckons with his Jewish identity
31:53 - What this movie meant for Mann’s career
53:55 - The Nazi kills
57:07 - The Junk Drawer
1:03:37 - To All the Loves We’ve Tried Before: 1983
1:07:18 - Cody’s Noteys: Try Your Own Advent-Love (a choose-your-own-adventure through the titular Keep)
