Rondo and Bob (2020, director/script:
Joseph O'Connell;
cast: Rondo Hatton, Robert A. Burns, Ryan Williams,
Joseph Middleton, Pribilski, Adam Littman, Dee Wallace, Stuart
Gordon, Fred Olen Ray, Joe Bob Briggs)
Rondo
Hatton (1894-1946) was a horror film actor. Robert A. Burns
(1944-2004) wore many hats in the world of low-budget horror
filmmaking, beginning his career as art director for
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
Rondo and Bob is their story.
Well, not really their story. They never met. Nevertheless, this
documentary shows how their lives "intersected." Okay, not very
much. Burns is described as a "lifelong" Hatton fan, and he did
interview Hatton's widow, Mae, but that's only a brief part of
Burns's life.
So how do you do a documentary about two men who never met?
Joe O'Connell's Rondo and Bob is
a dual biography. It tells the life stories of Hatton and Burns
through parallel editing, shifting between the two men,
contrasting the dramatic and emotional similarities and
differences in their lives. Hopefully some meaning or lesson will
emerge.
As an actor, Hatton was relegated to horror films by his appearance.
He suffered from acromegaly, resulting in facial deformities. He
had no particular love for horror. Acting in horror films was a
gig. Burns also claimed to have no love for horror, though he also
made much of his living from horror films. But Burns might have
been lying. If not, he certainly seems to have had a change of
heart over the course of his life.
Rondo and Bob is a highly
ambitious work. O'Connell's research is extensive. It's full of
archival footage and interviews from the people in both his
subjects' lives. A vast array of horror professionals and
celebrities offer commentary on Hatton, Burns, and the genre
itself. These include Dee Wallace, Stuart Gordon, Fred Olen Ray,
Joe Bob Briggs, and too many others to mention. So many that most
of them only provide brief sound bites. One wonders what was left
on O'Connell's cutting room floor?
But this is not a talking heads documentary. I said O'Connell was
ambitious. He has actors recreate scenes from both Hatton's and
Burns's lives. Joseph Middleton and Kelsey Pribilski portray Hatton
and his wife Mae. We see Hatton as a young man playing baseball in
Florida, about to leave for Europe and World War One. We see
convalescence in a hospital after a mustard gas attack. His courting
of Mae.
Ryan Williams plays the adult Robert A. Burns. We see him collaborate
with Tobe Hopper (Adam Littman). We see him at the University of Texas
in 1966 on the day that Charles Whitman shot up the campus. Yes,
O'Connell recreates the shooting from Burns's perspective, as
described by Burns. (He was there!)
O'Connell not only alternates between dual biographies, he alternates
between archival footage of his subjects, the actors portraying his
subjects, and expert commentary on his subjects. One minute we're
seeing the real life Burns discussing his life, then we see Williams
portraying Burns, then a photo of Burns as a child, then Josiah
Swanson portraying Burns as a child.
Ronda and Bob is a cinematic
collage. A visual scrapbook composed of photos, film clips,
interviews, archival footage, and recreations. It's an engrossing
experience, wading through all these memories. Lots of fun for fans or
horror or filmmaking in general.
Rondo and Bob has a messy feel
to it. That's because life is messy. Fiction has a dramatic arc, a
reason for every incident and then closure. But life is often
random, pointless, and incomplete. Plans go awry, projects left
unfinished, and then you die. What did it all mean?
Biographies often try to find meaning amid the randomness. Factoids
are cherry picked and arranged so that, hopefully, a pattern, a
purpose, a theme emerges. Messy life events are shaped into a
story arc.
A unifying theme does emerge from all of O'Connell's research,
linking these two men who never met. Both Hatton and Burns felt
distanced from people. Hatton was physically deformed. Burns was
likely autistic. Both men desired human connection but felt barred
by personal circumstances from fully participating in human life.
Ironically, Hatton was more successful at finding love than Burns.
Hatton died of a heart attack. Burns committed suicide after a
cancer diagnosis. O'Connell offers sensitive recreations of both
death scenes. Yet both men live on in their work.
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