Review #169: 'Melvin and Howard' (1980)

Melvin Dummer (Paul La Mat) drifts through his life, taking things as they come. At one moment he is milkman of the month, then he runs a gas station. He floats through marriages and divorces. He is married twice to Lynda (Mary Steenburgen). He lives in trailer parks, apartments, and new-build houses. Melvin just tries to make an honest buck. One day he picks up what he assumes is an old bum, at the side of a desert road. The man claims to be Howard Hughes (Jason Robards), the multi-millionaire business tycoon. After setting Hughes off on the strip, Melvin continues into his life.

Some years later, Melvin receives a letter, dropped off at the gas station he works in, by a mystery man (Charles Napier), which purports to be the last will and testament of Howard Hughes, and which also leaves Melvyn $156,000,000. He leaves the will at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Mormon square, Salt Lake City. After the media frenzy placed upon Melvin, he is then dragged through court, as he is questioned about his story, and thought of as a liar, and opportunist. But Melvin doesn't really care. What he gets from this simple chance meeting, is that Howard Hughes sang one of his songs (Melvin writes songs, and they sing "Santa's Souped-Up Sleigh"), on their journey to Vegas.

Jonathan Demme's stunning comedy-drama, which is based on a true story, written by screenwriter Bo Goldman (One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest (1975)), is a very well observed, and affectionate portrayal of an assortment of working class characters. The relationships are palpable, played with ease by a great cast (Steenburgen won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress). Whether the real Melvin Dummer was a fraudster or not, does not matter in this diegetic space. For just as simply as Melvin drifts through human drama, he drifts off with no allusions of grandeur about money. In reality the "Mormon Will" (as it had been named), was found to be a forgery in 1978.


Directed by: Jonathan Demme
Starring: Jason Robards, Paul Le Mat, Elizabeth Cheshire, Mary Steenburgen
Country: USA

Rating: ***

Marc Ivamy