Edward Burns

Edward Burns is a writer, director, and actor. His name popped up yesterday when I wrote about Life or Something Like It. I also mentioned that when I was going to the New York Film Academy during the early-1990s the in-thing to do was to try to produce an independent movie for as low a budget as possible. Here are two examples.

Kevin Smith produced his 1994 piece of garbage Clerks for $27,000 – For the most part it was a static-camera film in black and white with a crappy script and even crappier acting. Yet Kevin Smith became a hero to independent film makers. To me, he’ll always be a hack.

At the same time and on the other side of the coin is Edward Burns ─ although we just called him Ed back then. He wrote, produced, and directed 1995s The Brothers McMullen ─ supposedly ─ for $20,000.

In my opinion The Brothers McMullen is a fine motion picture starring himself, Maxine Bahns, and Mike McGlone.

The movie’s about three Irish Catholic brothers from Long Island who struggle with love, marriage, and infidelity.

But Ed Burns cheated. No way he shot that picture for $20,000 – just under 100-Gs if he was lucky but no way 20.

He was already making inroads in the field, so he got donations of time, equipment, and manpower that never showed up on the expense report. He then took his independent production to Utah and was a winner at the 1995 Sundance Film Festival.

Fox Searchlight Pictures bought his movie, then put a couple bucks into it, smoothed out the rough edges and released it.

Fox Searchlight Pictures then ponied up $350,000 for a remake titled She’s the One. The plot went from three brothers in the McMullen family to two brothers in the Fitzpatrick family. One brother cheated on his wife with his brother’s ex-girlfriend, while the other brother impulsively married one of his taxi cab riders.

In my opinion it’s another fine movie. Ed Burns, Maxine Bahn, and Mike McGlone co-starred once again. But Fox beefed up the cast with John Mahoney from Frazier, Jennifer Aniston from Friends, Cameron Diaz, Leslie Mann, and Amanda Pete, who were all just getting started ─ and Fox got Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers to do the soundtrack.

The only thing that surprises me is that Ed Burns never attained the stature as a writer and director that I thought he would ─ or as an actor, for that matter. I thought he was good in all three areas.

I like both movies. If you feel like it watch them both, but I’d watch them in order to observe the evolution.

I’m America’s Best Crime Writer – Barry Bowe – & I approve this message.

My first book – Born to Be Wild – was published in 1992 and is still selling on Amazon & Kindle. it’s a true story about certain members of the Warlocks motorcycle gang.

The story took 21 years to play out with many twists & turns. It’s an amalgam of Sons of Anarchy and Breaking Bad – but these outlaw bikers make the Sons look like Cub Scouts.