by Terry Keefe
Sad news that filmmaker George Hickenlooper has passed away at the age of 47. I interviewed George several years back for Mayor of the Sunset Strip, his documentary on Rodney Bingenheimer, which was one of the most insightful films about fame and show business ever made.
The films of Hickenlooper often centered about an artist of some sort, and dealt with examinations of fame, the frenzy of renown, and artistic obsession. Edie Sedgwick in Factory Girl, chased fame for its own sake, through the Warhol Factory, to her own destruction. Francis Coppola, in the documentary Hearts of Darkness, nearly loses his sanity in the Philippine jungles bringing home Apocalypse Now. The floundering, fictionalized author played by Andy Garcia in The Man from Elysian Fields becomes a kept man to the young wife of a famed, ailing writer played by James Coburn, in order to both support his own writing, but also to be nearer the flame of a far more successful version of himself. And Rodney Bingenheimer in Mayor, a legendary L.A. disc jockey, promoter, and personality, is painted by Hickenlooper as someone who seemed content for many years to just be around the reflected glow of the famous, but who faces an emptiness inside him later in life, as the bright lights inevitably fade, and those he helped catapult to glory move on to the proverbial larger arenas. (If I had a criticism of Mayor, more of a point could have been made of the fact that Rodney's achievements in his chosen field, whatever the pitfalls have been, are immense. )
A significant talent who will be missed.
(At the top, filmmaker George Hickenlooper. Rodney Bingenheimer, in full 70s flight, below, from Mayor of the Sunset Strip.)
The struggle, the fictional author played by Andy Garcia in "The Man from Elysian Fields is a man guarded the young wife of a famous
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