Mala Noche

78 minutesCountryUnited StatesLanguagesEnglish
SpanishBudget$25,000

Mala Noche (also known as Bad Night) is a 1986 American drama film based on Walt Curtis' autobiographical novel. It marked Gus Van Sant's directorial film debut, and stars Tim Streeter, Doug Cooeyate, Ray Monge, and Nyla McCarthy. The film was shot on 16 mm in black-and-white in Portland, Oregon.

Plot

The story follows relationship between Walt, a gay store clerk, and two younger Mexican boys, Johnny and Roberto Pepper. Walt and his female friend convince them to come over for dinner, but Johnny and Pepper have to return to their cheap hotel because another friend is locked out. Walt makes his first pass at Johnny by offering him $15 to sleep with him. Johnny refuses and runs to his hotel room, leaving Roberto locked out with nowhere to spend the night but Walt's. Settling for second best, Walt lies down next to Pepper and allows him on top for sex. However, he does not give up on trying to win over Johnny. The film progresses from there into not always clearly defined relationships, unbalanced by age, language, money, race, and sex.

Roberto gets shot by the police. Johnny successfully resists Walt's advances.

Cast

• Tim Streeter as Walt Curtis
• Doug Cooeyate as Johnny
• Ray Monge as Roberto Pepper
• Nyla McCarthy as Betty
• Don Chambers as himself
• Walt Curtis as George

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a rating of 96% from 25 reviews with the consensus: "Mala Noche is a raw and gritty portrait of desire, doomed romance, and rejection -- and marks debuting director Gus Van Sant as a filmmaker with a gratifyingly personal touch."^[1]

References

External links

• Mala Noche at IMDb
• Mala Noche at AllMovie
• Mala Noche at the TCM Movie Database
• Mala Noche at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
• Official French site
• Mala Noche: Other Love an essay by Dennis Lim at the Criterion Collection