This month marks the 25th anniversary since Paul Thomas Anderson first shook up the world. Boogie Nights was released in the fall of 1997; in more ways than one; it is a film of another era, although its legacy seems to get fresher by the day. Anderson’s epic tale of a high school dropout-turned porn star gave us something we never thought we’d see: 26-year-old Marky Mark in a pseudo art film. Meanwhile, the closest thing one associated, back then, with a film on the “porn” industry were features like Showgirls - which isn’t really about porn at all, even if it features Kyle MacLachlan contorting his body in bizarre ways.
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Unlike Showgirls (sadly), Boogie Nights totally reset the standard of what a film can be about. Not only is Anderson’s second feature raunchy, intrepid, and endlessly stylish; it also gives us a thorough look into a region of history where many others weren’t - and still aren’t - daring enough to go. Anderson saw himself as up for the task; having grown up in the San Fernando Valley in the late ’70s himself, he grew infatuated with the industry that seemed to have such a viselike grip on his hometown. Anderson’s first-ever version of Boogie Nights was a short film he wrote when he was just seventeen, The Dirk Diggler Story. He credits “A Current Affair” piece on Shauna Grant as his inspiration, as well as Spinal Tap.
In term’s of Anderson’s oeuvre as it exists in 2022, the titles that get thrown around the most as his “best” are usually 2007’s There Will Be Blood and 1999’s Magnolia. Both were critically acclaimed, Oscar-nominated films far deserving of their “masterpiece” titles, and if there’s anything likely to be shown in the film classes of tomorrow, it’s those two, for their bewildering scope and technical precision alike. However, there’s a certain audacity and exuberance to Boogie Nights that just can’t be found or replicated anywhere else. Anderson might have made some of the “best” films of the century, but he also made one of the most provocative, re-watchable, and well-rounded ones - depending on who you ask, maybe that makes it his greatest.
A Devastatingly Hilarious “Family” Film
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Boogie Nights may not be a family-friendly film, but according to Anderson, family is what it’s really about. In 1998, he told Cinemattractions, “It’s about finding a family, to tell you the truth…It’s about a lot of people searching for their dignity, and trying to find any kind of love and affection they can get.” It’s not hard to see how themes of family have influenced Anderson’s other work, when it comes to both how families are chosen and destroyed. But the fact that Anderson could make a “family” movie about the porn industry - or a porn industry movie about “family” - shows just how alarmingly talented he is. Perhaps it’s even more shocking that Boogie Nights is about family than There Will Be Blood.
With his ever-present passion and eye for detail, Anderson colors the family of Boogie Nights with so much sadness and humor that it’s hard to even put a genre label on the film. As opposed to being jarring or discordant, it’s this unique blend of tone and style throughout the film that incisively captures the many sides of its characters. Moreover, Boogie Nights almost even treads over into Scorsese territory with the frantic nature of its third act. It is constantly surprising us, while continuously leaving us with lines and images to remember. As is typical of Anderson’s absurdist humor, some of the funny parts are so hilarious because they feel like they don’t belong - like everything that comes out of Reed Rothchild’s mouth. The humor of the film only goes to show its characters as “real” people with the capacity for change, but also with the capacity to stay the same. In this strange way, Boogie Nights might be Anderson’s most authentic film because of how he depicts a large ensemble cast with such honesty. With the exception of Magnolia, few of his other films are as accomplished in scale like this.
Hollywood’s Legends and Rising Stars
In his later work that would come to define him as a true master, PTA is known for entangling with bona-fide legends by the likes of Daniel Day-Lewis and Joaquin Phoenix. He’s also done a film or two with world-famous composer Jonny Greenwood, as well as renowned, Oscar-winning cinematographer Robert Elswit. To a certain extent, it feels as though it wouldn’t be an Anderson picture if it didn’t forefront some of the biggest talents in the industry.
Boogie Nights, like some of Anderson’s other earlier work, takes a bit of a different approach. Despite the fact that a 2022 viewing might cause an intense wave of familiarity for audiences, the cast of the film was originally composed of mostly up-and-coming stars at the time of its release. Julianne Moore, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, William H. Macy, and even Mr. Diggler himself had only just begun to break out into Hollywood. It couldn’t be any more fortuitous that some of the greatest talents of a generation all came together at once in this fashion, and the result is something along the lines of history being made.
Of course, there’s the elephant in the room; i.e., the exception to the rule - that is, Burt Reynolds. It’s no less than a treasure to see such a rugged Hollywood legend in the role of the many-sided Jack Horner. However, Reynolds and Anderson weren’t exactly on good terms during the making of the film, at one point almost even coming to physical blows. Mark Wahlberg, as well, has since expressed regret over his role as Dirk Diggler. Leo was considered for the part, but could he have pulled it off? All of these facts, although not directly impacting the quality of the film, do help uphold it as a serendipitous legend. In terms of the iconic names it puts center stage, Boogie Nights was lots of perfection by chance.
Indie Cinema: Never Looking Back
It’s hard to imagine where indie cinema would be today, were it not for the monumental risks Anderson took twenty-five years ago with Boogie Nights. That’s not to say that it was anywhere near smooth sailing to get the film produced - it couldn’t really be further from the opposite. After being disappointed by the studio’s takeover of Hard Eight, Anderson vowed, in cocksure twenty-six-year-old fashion, to never compromise with this film. Thus, the original cut was three hours long and landed an NC-17 rating. Even if what we see is the turnout of a fraught and harrowing studio battle, Anderson’s film was still ultimately his own. He proved to the world that daring, controversial visions can indeed be ready-made for the world, and that the studio battle could be (mostly) won. Looking back at this one-of-a-kind film, it’s hard to underestimate how important the legacy of both Anderson and Dirk Diggler has really been.
