"It's okay to use people if you throw a little love in."
--Mickey
In between the notoriety of Pretty Baby (1976) and the commercial, if not critical, success of The Blue Lagoon (1980), Brooke Shields appeared in a handful of films that were panned, given limited release, forgotten, or all of the above. Tilt was the only one of them I've seen, and the only one I ever wanted to see. I was an adolescent in the era, and this movie concerns pinball.
Tilt rests in the Venn Diagram overlap of '70s grindhouse, After-School Special, and road movie. It features a wannabe country/rock star and con artist, Neil Gallagher (Ken Marshall). He gets run out of Corpus Christi after rigging a pinball table and trying to win against local bar-owner and silver ball wiz, "The Whale," played by veteran actor Charles Durning.
Despite his singing talent, ol' Neil encounters roadblocks in the City of Angels. He hopes to earn the money to record a demo by exploiting a fourteen-year-old runaway. Nicknamed "Tilt," she operates out of Mickey's bar, where she hustles pinball and shares the profits with the owner.
He convinces her to head cross-country with him. She'll win at pinball bets, he'll handle other matters, and they'll split the earnings. It's made clear that, despite sharing (two bed) motel rooms, their relationship is not sexual, so at least he's not that sort of predator. He does, however, take more than his share of the profits.
Tensions build as they make their way back to Corpus Christi.
The film has a few redeeming elements. Charles Durning, arguably the best thing in this movie, gives an entertaining performance as the Whale. Long-time character actor Geoffrey Lewis has an uncomfortably hilarious cameo as a trucker who gives "Tilt" a lift. He rants about the moral decline of America while trying (unsuccessfully) to score with the fourteen-year-old.
Tilt was filmed in 1978 and given limited release in 1979. Poor responses from audiences led to it being re-edited and then shelved. In the 1980s it received heavy rotation on television. And that's where it belonged, even if it arrived there too late to be timely. If I had paid good money to see this in its original run anywhere but at a drive-in, I'd have been disappointed. But on TV, in an era when The Love Boat drew top ratings and Dawn: Portrait of a Teenage Runaway passed as edgy social commentary? The film is entertaining enough for that place and time. It survives as a compendium of the attitudes, styles, landscape, look-- and pinball parlours-- of the late 70s.
Director: Rudy Durand
Writers: Donald Cammell and Rudy Durand
Brooke Shields as Brenda "Tilt" Davenport
Ken Marshall as Neil Gallagher
Charles Durning as Harold "The Whale" Remmens
John Crawford as Mickey
Rob Berger as "Replay"
Karen Lamm as "Hype"
Harvey Lewis as Henry Bertolino
Geoffrey Lewis as Truck Driver
Don Stark as Gary Laswitz
Lorenzo Lamas as Casey Silverwater
Gregory Walcott as Mr. Davenport
Helen Boll as Mrs. Davenport
Frank Pesce as "Carrots"
Kathryn Gresham-Lancaster as Loretta Davenport
Bonus Seventies Movie Check-list: Tilt