Best East Syracuse Film Auteur Nicknamed Bobcat

As in Goldthwait, Bobcat Goldthwait, the unpredictable comedianturned-movie maniac who left our neck of the woods nearly 30 years ago to conquer the stand-up stages of Boston and California, then somehow ended up surviving Hollywood’s boulevard of broken dreams with a five-flick directorial career that equals—numerically, at least—that of Terrence Malick. Locals are already familiar with the Bobcat backstory, including a Bishop Grimes diploma, a job as a Price Chopper grocery bagboy and gagging it up with the Generic Comics troupe, so there’s no need here for some Ralph Edwards-styled memory-flogging.

Instead, writer-director Goldthwait has a new cinematic tale to tell, one that premiered Sept. 9 at the Toronto Film Festival. God Bless America is a pitch-black road-trip social satire with Joel Murray and Tara Lynn Barr as a kind of surrogate father-daughter duo who embark on a killing spree with a pop-culture hit list. According to a Los Angeles Times article, Goldthwait was surprised by the Toronto audience’s enthusiastic reaction: “I really did think this {film could have been} my ‘Springtime For Hitler.’” And the movie does feature some location photography of downtown Syracuse, when Goldthwait and his crew dropped by July 23 to shoot some scenes near the Federal Building.

Magnolia Pictures, the company that issued Goldthwait’s Robin Williams-starring comedy World’s Greatest Dad, was quick to pounce on acquisition rights for God Bless America during the Toronto flick feast. So don’t be surprised if the movie is entered in other film festivals (could Goldthwait be the next Sundance kid?), followed by a 2012 theatrical distribution pattern as well as video-on-demand options.

Since Goldthwait’s World’s Greatest Dad and Let Sleeping Dogs Lie were both big hits when they screened at previous editions of the Syracuse International Film Festival, there’s always a glimmer of hope that maybe Salt City cinephiles will get another glimpse of Goldthwait. As of press time, the festival’s eighth movie marathon, which returns on Oct. 13 through 16, will not feature a blast of Bobcat, but the door is always open.