Remembering Jerry Stiller In 'The Independent'

Actor and comedian Jerry Stiller has died of natural causes at the age of 92. Here's a film that you need to see to remember his genius.

Ben Stiller tweeted about his father’s death Monday morning.

“I’m sad to say that my father, Jerry Stiller, passed away from natural causes." the tweet said. "He was a great dad and grandfather, and the most dedicated husband to Anne for about 62 years. He will be greatly missed. Love you Dad.”

The elder Stiller had a memorable career performing comedy skits with his wife Anne Meara and also did serious work as an actor on Broadway. But it was his more recent television roles on “Seinfeld” as Frank Constanza and as Leah Remini’s father on “The King of Queens" that most people may best remember him.

To pay tribute to Stiller, I am reposting my review of his film, "The Independent" from 2001. The mockumentary allows him to shine as it pokes fun of Hollywood's fringe filmmakers. You can easily find much of his other work, the TV shows are easy to get streaming, and YouTube has samples of his comedy work as half of Stiller and Meara. But this film seems difficult to track down.

Jerry Stiller epitomized a certain style and generation of comedian but also moved comfortably from doing Broadway to TV sketch comedy to movies and to TV sitcoms. But he was always great. This year we have already lost Buck Henry and Terry Jones, and now Jerry Stiller. At a time when we need comic relief, we keep losing these comic geniuses.

Go watch "The Independent" if you can find it or something else with Jerry Stiller and add a little laughter to your quarantine.

ORIGINAL REVIEW, May 3, 2001

Remember “Teenage Flag Burners,” “L.S.D.-Day” and “The Peace Zombies”? How about “Brothers Under the Covers,” “The Harlem Globetrotters Meet the Black Panthers” and “Nuclear Nun”? Well, you must have seen “A Very Malcolm Xmas,” “Abra Cadaver,” “Christ for the Defense or Right to Live, Left to Die”? No? Well if you've never heard of these or the 417 other films made by B-movie legend Morty Fineman then you need to check out the enlightening documentary “The Independent” (playing for one week only at the Ken Cinema beginning May 3).

Earlier this year, and in celebration of 30 years in the industry, Morty Fineman took out a full-page ad in Variety imploring acquisition executives to invest in his catalog of 400-plus independent films. Shortly after the ad appeared, Variety ran a story explaining that Morty Fineman didn't exist. The ad, the catalog of films, an accompanying website and Mr. Fineman himself are all the creation of filmmaker Steven Kessler. Not since Rob Reiner created the pseudo band in “This Is Spinal Tap” and Peter Jackson duped unsuspecting New Zealanders with “Forgotten Silver,” has a filmmaker pulled off a hoax of such magnitude and with such deadpan panache as Steven Kessler has with "The Independent." Kessler's "mockumentary" chronicles the life and times of fictional B-movie icon Morty Fineman. The film serves up a hilarious and loving tribute to filmmaking on the fringes of Hollywood. And as Kessler says in the press material: "part of the fun of marketing 'The Independent' in general release will be treating Morty and his films as if they are real."

Fineman states that "You don't make movies to make money. You make money to make movies." Regardless of the quality of Fineman's films, you can't deny his passion to make them. "The Independent" recalls the brilliant British series “The Incredibly Strange Film Show,” which provided portraits of real-life fringe filmmakers and conveyed their passion for making films by any means necessary. The people highlighted in the show-people like Roger Corman, Ed Wood, Ray Dennis Steckler and Herschell Gordon Lewis — are the inspiration for the character of Fineman. Like them, Fineman is part showman, part entrepreneur, part artist and full-time hustler, always looking for the next source of financing.

As Kessler's mockumentary begins, we find Fineman (played by the brilliant Jerry Stiller) directing his latest film, "Ms. Kevorkian," in which a gold lamé-clad, gun-toting angel of mercy bursts into hospitals to put the terminally ill out of their misery. But creditors pull the plug on the production and Fineman is forced out of his offices and home. He enlists the reluctant aid of his daughter Paloma (a marvelous Janeane Garofalo) who attempts to restructure her dad's company and find new investors. But the best offer she gets is from a company willing to pay $8 a pound for his weighty 400-plus film library. Desperate, Fineman sets his hopes on getting a film retrospective to re-ignite his career. After all, he points out proudly, he has always made movies with a social message — and, of course, plenty cleavage. Who can forget "Eco-Angels," where biker chicks "fight over the issues" of the environment. Fineman's loyal assistant Ivan (Max Perlich) finally gets a film festival to showcase Fineman's work. The only problem is that it's in the tiny city of Chaparral, Nevada where prostitution is the biggest local industry and a nearby nuclear test site is the closest thing to a tourist attraction. But Fineman is used to making lemonade out of lemons so even this questionable event provides a major source of hope.

“The Independent” clocks in at 85 minutes, which is exactly how long Kessler can keep his gag funny and entertaining. Kessler is continually inventive and clever, and he deserves an award just for coming up with the wonderfully silly 427 titles in Fineman's oeuvre. The film also benefits from Kessler's obvious affection for B-movies. And that affection leads to some of the film's best moment-the clips of Fineman's films. Kessler has a field day creating snippets of “Cheerleader Camp Massacre,” “Foxy Chocolate Robot” and more. He makes us nostalgic for the days when you could actually go to the theater and see cheesy schlock cinema on the big screen or in the drive-in.

Stiller should get an Oscar for his performance as Fineman and that's no joke. This is a role of a lifetime and Stiller relishes the opportunity. He finds humor in Fineman's mass of contradictions but also keeps him real and human and never lets him lose his dignity. He manages to be old school but with a certain hip appeal for being so outside the establishment. He also gets the opportunity to act with his wonderfully talented wife and long-time comic collaborator Anne Meara and his son Ben Stiller.

Further blurring the line between fact and fiction, Kessler has real Hollywood personalities appear as themselves and comment on Fineman's career. Roger Corman shows up and kind of bestows a seal of approval on the project. Also offering commentary are Peter Bogdanovich, Karen Black and Ron Howard who reveals that he's a big fan of Fineman's “Bald Justice.” Howard's delightful comic turn may prompt me to re-think my negative feelings about him as a milquetoast director. After all, anyone who would partake in a sly spoof like this can't be all bald ... umm, I mean, bad.

Ironically, Kessler's budget for “The Independent” is bigger than what the indies he's spoofing normally go for. Kessler supposedly secured around $10 million — more than all of Fineman's films combined probably cost to make (except of course for his epic fiasco “The Whole Story of America,” which cost a reputed $32 million).

“The Independent” (rated R for language and sexual content) is a rare comic gem that anyone who loves movies should embrace. Sadly the website www.finemanfilms.com seems to have been shut down. It had some hilarious material.