Movie Description
Brewster is an idyllic little town with clean streets, green parks, a booming economy, and a friendly, content populace. Or so it seems...until one day, a mysterious stranger arrives. A seemingly congenial, clean-cut, and upstanding citizen himself, Whiley Pritcher (Ron Marquette) buys airtime at the local public access station, and puts on a show called "Our Town," during the Sunday family hour. Whiley poses one question to his call-in audience, "What's wrong with Brewster?"--a question that soon unearths the corrupt, insidious world that lies beneath the town's placid veneer.
The first feature film from Bryan Singer and Christopher McQuarrie, (the collaborators behind THE USUAL SUSPECTS), PUBLIC ACCESS is an ambitious, disturbing look at small town life. Like David Lynch's BLUE VELVET, Singer here attempts to reveal the dark, sinister side of an Anytown, USA. Working with a tight budget, a script he co-wrote in ten days and a cast of relative unknowns, Singer manages to construct an intriguing debut that introduces him as a major new talent.
| Credits | | Cast: | Brandon Boyce, Charles Cavanaugh, Larry Maxwell |
Notes
Theatrical release: 1996.
Although it made the festival circuit in 1993, the film was not given a wide release until after the success of THE USUAL SUSPECTS.
PUBLIC ACCESS won the 1993 Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival (co-winner, with RUBY IN PARADISE).
The film is the first collaboration between Bryan Singer and Christopher McQuarrie, who are old friends from Princeton Junction, New Jersey.
It was after he saw PUBLIC ACCESS that Kevin Spacey wanted to work with Singer and McQuarrie.
The headlines on the front page of the newspaper Whiley Pritcher reads at the start of the film include "Crime and Unemployment Reach Record Low," "Will Breyer Run for Senate?," "Abernathy Fights Dismissal," and "Telephone Service Held Safe Against Disaster."
Brandon Boyce, who plays Kevin in the film, wrote the screenplay for Singer's later film APT PUPIL.
Christopher McQuarrie plays the first cop, and provided the voice for one of the callers on the show.
The call-in number for "Our Town" is 555-4855.
Editorial Reviews
"...[The film] is serious minded and bounces around some provocative ideas..."
Variety - Todd McCarthy (02/08/1993)
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