Three Businessmen
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''Three Businessmen'' is a 1998
comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...
directed by
Alex Cox Alexander B. H. Cox (born 15 December 1954) is an English film director, screenwriter, actor, non-fiction author and broadcaster. Cox experienced success early in his career with ''Repo Man (film), Repo Man'' and ''Sid and Nancy'', but since th ...
and written by
Tod Davies Tod Davies (born 1955) is a writer, publisher and producer. Biography Davies was born and grew up in San Francisco,Jeff Baker (April 15, 2011"Tod Davies finds her new book under a big fir tree south of Ashland" OregonLive.com. where she attended ...
, who was also the producer. It is an international co-production between the United Kingdom, Netherlands, and United States. Two businessmen, played by
Miguel Sandoval Miguel Sandoval (born November 16, 1951) is an American actor of film and television. Biography Sandoval was born in Washington, D.C. He began working as a professional actor in 1975 when he joined a mime school in Albuquerque, New Mexico. H ...
and Cox, wander Liverpool in search of a meal. After wandering through Liverpool, they end up at various locations throughout the world and are eventually joined by a third businessman, played by
Robert Wisdom Robert Ray Wisdom (born September 14, 1953) is an American actor, best known for his roles as Howard "Bunny" Colvin in ''The Wire,'' Norman "Lechero" St. John in ''Prison Break'', and Harold Conway in the 2021 Hulu movie ''Vacation Friends''. ...
.


Plot

Art dealers Benny (
Miguel Sandoval Miguel Sandoval (born November 16, 1951) is an American actor of film and television. Biography Sandoval was born in Washington, D.C. He began working as a professional actor in 1975 when he joined a mime school in Albuquerque, New Mexico. H ...
) and Frank (
Alex Cox Alexander B. H. Cox (born 15 December 1954) is an English film director, screenwriter, actor, non-fiction author and broadcaster. Cox experienced success early in his career with ''Repo Man (film), Repo Man'' and ''Sid and Nancy'', but since th ...
) set out in Liverpool in search of a meal, and end up in a whirlwind trip around the Earth in search of food. After meeting businessman Leroy (
Robert Wisdom Robert Ray Wisdom (born September 14, 1953) is an American actor, best known for his roles as Howard "Bunny" Colvin in ''The Wire,'' Norman "Lechero" St. John in ''Prison Break'', and Harold Conway in the 2021 Hulu movie ''Vacation Friends''. ...
) in the desert, they discover they are present at the birth of the new female Messiah... and promptly forget again.


Production

In 1996, Dutch television producer Wim Kayzer contacted director Alex Cox and said he was looking for a project that fit the themes of "beauty and consolation". After discussing various ideas with Kayzer, including thunderstorms, Cox turned to writer-producer
Tod Davies Tod Davies (born 1955) is a writer, publisher and producer. Biography Davies was born and grew up in San Francisco,Jeff Baker (April 15, 2011"Tod Davies finds her new book under a big fir tree south of Ashland" OregonLive.com. where she attended ...
, who had an existing idea about two couples who roam the world in search of a meal over the course of one night. The lead characters were written for Sandoval and Cox, though
James Gandolfini James Joseph Gandolfini Jr. (; September 18, 1961 – June 19, 2013) was an American actor. For his role as Tony Soprano, the Italian-American Mafia crime boss in HBO's television series ''The Sopranos'', he won three Emmy Awards, five Scree ...
was considered for the role of Benny. The story was inspired by ''
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie ''The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie'' (french: Le Charme discret de la bourgeoisie) is a 1972 surrealist film directed by Luis Buñuel from a screenplay co-written with Jean-Claude Carrière. The narrative concerns a group of bourgeois people ...
'' and '' My Dinner with Andre''. The film's original title was ''Dad Has Left the Building'', a reference to the film's ending, in which a new messiah is born. After securing around $250,000 in funding from Japanese investors, the
Netherlands Film Fund The Netherlands Film Fund ( nl, Nederlands Filmfonds) is a subsidy fund for Dutch film productions and was founded in 1993. The Netherlands Film Fund is itself mainly subsidized by the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. In 2007, th ...
, and Kayzer, they began shooting in March 1998. Locations included
Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
,
Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...
,
Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
,
Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
, and
Almería Almería (, , ) is a city and municipality of Spain, located in Andalusia. It is the capital of the province of the same name. It lies on southeastern Iberia on the Mediterranean Sea. Caliph Abd al-Rahman III founded the city in 955. The city gr ...
, Spain. The scenes set in the desert were initially planned to be shot in Mexico, but Cox wanted to keep costs down by not traveling to a third continent; he also cited the Biblical look of Almería. The score by
Dan Wool Dan Wool is an American composer and sound designer. Originally from St. Louis, Missouri, where he played in the punk rock band The Strikers, he is based in San Francisco, California. He has worked in New York, Los Angeles, London, Mexico City a ...
and Pray for Rain features
Deborah Harry Deborah Ann Harry (born Angela Trimble; July 1, 1945) is an American singer, songwriter and actress, best known as the lead vocalist of the band Blondie. Four of her songs with the band reached on the US charts between 1979 and 1981. Born in ...
singing a techno version "
Ghost Riders in the Sky "(Ghost) Riders in the Sky: A Cowboy Legend" is a cowboy-styled country/western song written in 1948 by American songwriter, film and television actor Stan Jones. A number of versions were crossover hits on the pop charts in 1949, the most ...
".


Release

The film premiered at the
Hamptons International Film Festival The Hamptons International Film Festival (HIFF) is an international film festival founded in 1992, by Joyce Robinson. The festival has since taken place every year in East Hampton, New York. It is usually an annual five-day event in mid-October a ...
in October 1998. The international premiere was in 1999. Kayzer wanted the international premiere on Dutch television station
VPRO The VPRO (stylized vpro; originally an acronym for , ) is a Dutch public broadcaster, which forms a part of the Dutch public broadcasting system. Founded in 1926 as a liberal Protestant broadcasting organization, it gradually became more ...
, where he worked, and urged Cox to decline a spot at the
Rotterdam Film Festival The International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) is an annual film festival held at the end of January in various locations in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Since its foundation in 1972, it has maintained a focus on independent and experimental fi ...
. The Rotterdam Film Fund, in turn, wanted Cox to take a position at the festival as a judge and to premiere his film there. Cox, caught between opposing obligations, chose to hold the international premiere at the festival. Upset, Kayzer lost interest in screening the film. The Rotterdam screening went poorly, which Cox attributed to audiences wanting a fast-paced, entertaining film like ''Repo Man'', rather than a slower, philosophical film. Like most of Cox's films, it received a limited theatrical release.


Reception

Writing for ''
Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'', Oliver Jones called it "a dramatically turgid concept piece" that nonetheless has a satisfying ending and good acting from Cox. Although criticizing the writing, Jones complimented Davies' producing. Brendan Boyle of
PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fi ...
rated it 7/10 stars and compared it to city symphony films, saying the focus is on abstraction. He cited the play '' Waiting for Godot'' and the film ''
The Exterminating Angel ''The Exterminating Angel'' ( es, El ángel exterminador, links=no) is a 1962 Mexican surrealist film written and directed by Luis Buñuel, starring Silvia Pinal, and produced by Pinal's then-husband Gustavo Alatriste. It tells the story of a g ...
'' as influences, calling ''Three Businessmen'' more humanistic. In ''Screening Early Modern Drama: Beyond Shakespeare'', academic Pascale Aebischer described it as a critique of consumerism that was influenced by the Latin American film movement Third Cinema.


References

*


External links

* {{Alex Cox 1998 films 1998 comedy films American comedy films British comedy films Dutch comedy films 1990s English-language films English-language Dutch films Films about businesspeople Films set in Liverpool Films directed by Alex Cox 1990s American films 1990s British films