Boogie Nights(1997)

Plot Summary

• In 1977, high-school dropout Eddie Adams (Mark Wahlberg) is living with his father and emotionally abusive mother in Torrance, California. He works at a Reseda nightclub owned by Maurice Rodriguez (Luis Guzmán), commuting there by bus every night. While working there he meets porn filmmaker Jack Horner (Burt Reynolds) who senses that Eddie could be a big star in the industry. Eddie also meets Jack's most frequent collaborator, actress Amber Waves (Julianne Moore) and porn starlet, Rollergirl (Heather Graham) who always wears rollerskates and never takes them off, even while filming. Jack auditions him by watching him have sex with Rollergirl. After coming home late & arguing with his mother, who calls her son a loser and his girlfriend a whore, Eddie storms out.Eddie arrives at Jack's in the middle of a big house party where he meets Jack's regulars, Buck Swope (Don Cheadle), Becky Barnett (Nicole Ari Parker) and Reed Rothchild (John C. Reilly), who is also an amateur illusionist and with whom Eddie becomes instant friends. Eddie also meets Jack's producer and distributor, Colonel James (Robert Ridgeley) who asks to see Eddie's penis. After seeing how enormous it is, the Colonel smiles widely, knowing Eddie will make him a lot of money.Adams gives himself the screen name "Dirk Diggler" and becomes a star because of his good looks, sexual endurance and youthful charisma. His first film features him having sex with Amber. During the shoot the camera runs out of film; Jack orders a quick reloading and the couple continue until Amber tells Eddie to ejaculate inside her, denying the crew the money shot for the scene. When Jack's assistant director, Little Bill Thompson (William H. Macy) suggests they use stock footage, Jack scoffs knowing the footage won't match. Dirk tells Jack he can start over if Jack needs a closeup.The film is a hit and earns Dirk some adult film awards and glowing write-ups in some magazines. His success allows him to buy a new house, an extensive wardrobe, and a "competition orange" 1977 Chevrolet Corvette. He and Reed pitch a series of successful action-themed porn films to Jack featuring a character he invented, a crime-solving, karate-practicing private eye named Brock Landers and his partner Chest Rockwell. The first film in the series is a hit, earning Eddie and Jack and their coworkers praise in adult film magazines and Eddie several awards. The character prompts a series of films that are also hits. Jack and his editor, Kurt (Ricky Jay) reflect on how the series has revitalized the filmed porn industry.Dirk works and socializes with others from the porn industry, and they live carefree lifestyles in the late 1970s disco era. At a New Year's Eve party at Horner's house marking the year 1980, Amber introduces Dirk to cocaine and has sex with him. Jack's sound expert, Scotty J (Philip Seymour Hoffmann), who's harbored a secret attraction to Dirk, tries to kiss him thinking Dirk had the same feelings for him. Scotty is left devastated when Dirk rebuffs him. Little Bill discovers his wife having sex with another man in one of the back bedrooms and, tired of being repeatedly cuckolded by his wife, shoots them both dead and kills himself.Dirk and Reed begin using cocaine on a regular basis. The action movies are doing great, and Dirk wins more awards from the Adult films association. However, due to his drug use, Dirk finds it increasingly difficult to achieve an erection, falls into violent mood swings, and becomes upset with Johnny Doe, a new leading man Jack has recruited. In 1983, after arguing with Jack. Dirk wanted to shoot a scene, but Jack refused as Dirk was high and hadn't slept for 2 days. Dirk is fired and takes off with Reed to start a music career along with Scotty. Dirk and Reed record some songs but can't get a record deal as the studio head refuses to give them the tapes until they give him the money for the recordings, money they'd spent mostly on cocaine.In 1981, Amber directs a short documentary about Dirk where he defends the porn industry against criticism of violence in the Brock Landers series. Dirk's and Reed's defense of violence towards women in the industry is dubious at best. Dirk comes off as arrogant when, while appearing on screen with Jack, he suggests that Jack allows him to block his sex scenes, which Jack mildly refutes. Jack rejects business overtures from Floyd Gondolli (Philip Baker Hall), a theater magnate in San Diego and San Francisco, who insists on cutting costs by shooting on videotape. Jack believes that video will diminish the quality of his films. However, when the Colonel is imprisoned for possession of child pornography, Jack finally partners with Gondolli, becoming disillusioned with the projects he expects him to churn out. Jack becomes more of a figurehead with Kurt doing most of the now indifferent filming.Jack decides on a different angle for the porn industry. He and Rollergirl and a small crew will take out a limousine, searching for random men on the street for her to have sex with. One of the men they pick up recognizes Rollergirl as a former high-school classmate. After a failed attempt at intercourse, he insults her and Jack. Jack throws him out of the limousine. Jack and Rollergirl both viciously attack the man, leaving him bloodied on the sidewalk. They return to the car and drive away from the scene.In September, 1983, Amber finds herself in a custody battle with her ex-husband. The court determines that she is an unfit mother due to her involvement in the porn industry, prior criminal record, and cocaine addiction.Buck Swope (Don Cheadle) marries fellow porn star Jessie St. Vincent (Melora Walters), who becomes pregnant. Buck and Jessie met at the new yr party, when both were feeling ignores as Dirk got all the attention. Because of his past, Buck is disqualified from a bank loan and cannot open his own stereo-equipment store. That night, he finds himself in the middle of a holdup at a donuts shop in which the clerk, the robber, and an armed customer are killed. Buck is the sole survivor and escapes with the money.Having wasted their money on drugs, Dirk and Reed cannot pay a recording studio for demo tapes they believe will enable them to become music stars. Desperate for money, Dirk resorts to prostitution but is assaulted and robbed by three men. Dirk, Reed, and their friend Todd Parker (Thomas Jane) attempt to scam local drug dealer Rahad Jackson (Alfred Molina) by selling him a half-kilo of baking soda disguised as cocaine. Dirk and Reed decide to leave before Rahad's bodyguard inspects it, but Todd attempts to steal additional drugs and money from Rahad. In the ensuing gunfight, Todd shoots Rahad's bodyguard and is in turn shot dead by Rahad. Dirk and Reed barely escape. Having hit bottom, Dirk reconciles with Jack.In 1984, Buck and Jessie give birth to their son, Amber shoots the television commercial for Buck's store opening, Reed performs a magic act at a strip club, Colonel James remains in prison, victimized by his hulking cellmate. Maurice opens a new night club and Rollergirl takes a GED class. Dirk and Amber prepare to start filming again. Dirk sits alone in his dressing room in a new ensemble resembling Don Johnson's in Miami Vice, giving himself a pep talk. Before he leaves the room for the shoot, he takes out his penis and admires it, repeating to himself that he's a star. After a few karate punches, he steps out of the room.

Storyline

• Adult film director Jack Horner is always on the lookout for new talent and it's only by chance that he meets Eddie Adams who is working as a busboy in a restaurant. Eddie is young, good looking and plenty of libido to spare. Using the screen name Dirk Diggler, he quickly rises to the top of his industry winning awards year after year. Drugs and ego however come between Dirk and those around him and he soon finds that fame is fleeting. — garykmcd San Fernando Valley, 1977. Jack Horner is a renowned director of porn, all his movies financed by "Colonel" James. He has his regular stable of cast and crew, most who have issues in their lives. They include: actress Amber Waves, who acts as the mother figure to the group in the absence of being a real mother to her biological son, about who she has told no one in her porn circle; actor Reed Rothchild, who wants to live up to his on-screen alpha male status; actor Buck Swope, who works as a stereo salesman on the side and whose country & western style seems to be problematic in getting ahead; actress Rollergirl, a high school drop-out who never takes off her skates; and assistant director "Little" Bill, whose marriage is threatened by his wife being both a nymphomaniac and an exhibitionist. Their collective lives are punctuated by excess in everything, whether it be sex, cocaine use, or the need to amass flashy material possessions. Into their lives comes Eddie Adams, a seventeen year old high school dropout from a dysfunctional family in Torrance. Eddie, who renames himself Dirk Diggler, is Jack's latest discovery, and whose success in the industry is largely predicated on being well-endowed. Because of the validation he receives for the first time in his life, Dirk is easy prey to be sucked into the excesses of the group. Although largely an innocent beyond the few dollars previously earned here and there by showing his penis to anyone who would pay, Dirk also changes as a person as he displays more and more bravado in relation to the amount of validation he receives. The next few years lead to changes in the group, not only because of changes in technology, namely the advent of video, but as the excesses in their lives start to take their toll, and as their association with the business may affect what their post-porn life will look like. — Huggo From writer/director P.T. Anderson comes the turbulent behind-the-scenes story of an extended family of filmmakers who set out to revolutionize the adult entertainment industry in the seventies. Idealistic producer Jack Horner (Burt Reynolds) has always dreamed of elevating his films into an art form. When he discovers young actor Eddie Adams (Mark Wahlberg), Jack begins to turn his dreams into reality. Under the stage name of Dirk Diggler, Eddie soon gives the adult entertainment world a star the likes of which it has never seen. But the rise to fame has its costs, and soon Dirk finds himself sliding down the slippery slope of sex, drugs and violence. The only question: can he get himself back together before it's too late? — Anonymous Eddie Adams would have been just another high-school drop-out had he not met the likes of adult film director Jack Horner. Horner transforms Eddie into Dirk Diggler, a rising-star actor with a special gift. Set in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the film is a tribute to the decor, style, culture, and social attitudes of the era. — John Selbie 2 more See all