Melvin and Howard (1980). Photofest.
(Jonathan Demme, US 1980, 95 min., 35mm)
Melvin Dummar (Paul Le Mat), an employee at a Nevada magnesium plant, imagines he is destined for greater things. On his way home from work one night, he picks up an old man (Jason Robards) who has crashed his motorcycle riding through the desert. While driving to Las Vegas, the man reveals himself to be the recluse Howard Hughes, who refuses medical treatment and asks Melvin for money after he is dropped off in a hotel parking lot. Melvin drives home to his wife, Lynda (Mary Steenburgen), and the unhappy marriage they share. Years later, Melvin receives a letter stating he is willed half of Hughes’s estate as repayment for his kindness, throwing Melvin into the spotlight he so thought he desired. Bo Goldman’s Academy Award–winning script was based on the real-life Dummar’s story and his fight with the courts to be recognized.
GEM Members admitted free to this screening.