News tips and press releases may be sent
to editor at hollywoodinvestigator.com.
All submissions become property of the Hollywood Investigator and
deemed for publication without compensation unless otherwise
requested. Name and contact information only withheld upon request.
Prospective reporters should research our
Bookstore.
by Thomas M. Sipos,
managing editor [May 30, 2022]
[HollywoodInvestigator.com]Rondo Hatton (1894- 1946) was a horror film actor. Robert A.
Burns (1944- 2004) wore many hats in the world of low-budget horror
filmmaking, beginning his career as art director for
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Rondo
and Bob is their story.
Well, not really their story. They never met. Nevertheless, this
documentary shows how their lives "intersected." Okay, not very much.
Burns is described as a "lifelong" Hatton fan, and he did interview
Hatton's widow, Mae, but that's only a brief part of Burns's life.
So how do you do a documentary about two men who never met?
Joe O'Connell's Rondo and Bob is a
dual biography. It tells the life stories of Hatton and Burns via
parallel editing, shifting between the two men, contrasting the
dramatic and emotional similarities and differences in their lives.
Hopefully some meaning or lesson will emerge.
As an actor, Hatton was relegated to horror films by his appearance.
He suffered from acromegaly, resulting in facial deformities. He had
no particular love for horror. Acting in horror films was a gig. Burns
also claimed to have no love for horror, though he also made much of
his living from horror films. But Burns might have been lying. If not,
he certainly seems to have had a change of heart over the course of
his life.
Rondo and Bob is a highly
ambitious work. O'Connell's research is extensive. It's full of
archival footage and interviews from the people in both his subjects'
lives. A vast array of horror professionals and celebrities offer
commentary on Hatton, Burns, and the genre itself. These include Dee
Wallace, Stuart Gordon, Fred Olen Ray, Joe Bob Briggs, and too many
others to mention. So many that most of them only provide brief sound
bites. One wonders what was left on O'Connell's cutting room floor?
But this is not a talking heads documentary. I said O'Connell was
ambitious. He has actors recreate scenes from both Hatton's and
Burns's lives. Joseph Middleton and Kelsey Pribilski portray Hatton
and his wife Mae. We see Hatton as a young man playing baseball in
Florida, about to leave for Europe and World War One. We see
his convalescence in a hospital after a mustard gas attack. His courting
of Mae.
Ryan Williams plays the adult Robert A. Burns. We see him collaborate
with Tobe Hopper (Adam Littman). We see him at the University of Texas
in 1966 on the day that Charles Whitman shot up the campus. Yes,
O'Connell recreates the shooting from Burns's perspective, as
described by Burns. (He was there!)
O'Connell not only alternates between dual biographies, he alternates
between archival footage of his subjects, the actors portraying his
subjects, and expert commentary on his subjects. One minute we're
seeing the real life Burns discussing his life, then we see Williams
portraying Burns, then a photo of Burns as a child, then Josiah
Swanson portraying Burns as a child.
Ronda and Bob is a cinematic
collage. A visual scrapbook composed of photos, film clips,
interviews, archival footage, and recreations. It's an engrossing
experience, wading through all these memories. Lots of fun for fans of
horror or filmmaking in general.
Rondo and Bob has a messy feel to
it. That's because life is messy. Fiction has a dramatic arc, a reason
for every incident and then closure. But life is often random,
pointless, and incomplete. Plans go awry, projects left unfinished,
and then you die. What did it all mean?
Biographies often try to find meaning amid the randomness. Factoids
are cherry picked and arranged so that, hopefully, a pattern, a
purpose, a theme emerges. Messy life events are shaped into a story
arc.
A unifying theme does emerge from all of O'Connell's research, linking
these two men who never met. Both Hatton and Burns felt distanced from
people. Hatton was physically deformed. Burns was likely autistic.
Both men desired human connection but felt barred by personal
circumstances from fully participating in human life. Ironically,
Hatton was more successful at finding love than Burns.
Hatton died of a heart attack. Burns committed suicide after a cancer
diagnosis. O'Connell offers sensitive recreations of both death
scenes. Yet both men live on in their work.
"Hollywood Investigator" and
"HollywoodInvestigator.com" and "Tabloid
Witch" and "Tabloid
Witch Award" trademarks are currently unregistered, but pending
registration upon need for protection against improper use. The idea of
marketing these terms as a commodity is a protected idea under the
Lanham Act. 15 U.S.C. s 1114(1) (1994) (defining a trademark
infringement claim when the plaintiff has a registered mark); 15 U.S.C.
s 1125(a) (1994) (defining an action for unfair competition in the
context of trademark infringement when the plaintiff holds an
unregistered mark). All content is copyright by
HollywoodInvestigator.com unless otherwise noted.
[HollywoodInvestigator.com]
