From our Obscure Works file, here’s a 40-year-old play that’s guaranteed to make you laugh like a Filipino ferret. Four movie people are stranded together in the Philippines during a typhoon. While the blockbuster movie’s insanely expensive sets sink into the mud, a writer, an actor, an art director and a makeup artist take turns showing us just how out of whack they—and the movie business—are.
The humor is bold and there’s no political correctness—and also nothing offputtingly heavy. The script is pure fun. You’ll read it in 90 minutes, and a year or two later you’ll read it again (for instance, after you’ve finished reading some dour tome that has been asking you to commit suicide). Reynolds was one of the uncredited writers on Apocalypse Now (two of his lines made it into the movie), and he clearly knows whereof he speaks in terms of the movie world. Find the book on Amazon or eBay. There are still a few old copies kicking around.