THE REAL EASY ANDY IN AMERICAN BOY

year: 1978 rating: ***1/2

Steven Prince, who played the gun-dealing blabbermouth "Easy Andy" in the Martin Scorsese classic TAXI DRIVER, has his hour to shine. This, a documentary involving Prince, Scorsese, and actor George Memmoli (the fat guy in MEAN STREETS and the ice-rink counter in ROCKY) sitting around a living room, is really a glorified home movie, inserting images of the subject as a child as the nasal-voiced journeyman banters about drugs, bagels, family members, working for Neil Diamond, and a lice-seeking gorilla. Few of the diatribes are interesting while others seem like bullshit overheard in a bar. But it's during the last fifteen minutes, as Steven shares about a fatal incident involving a gun in Arizona, where things pick-up. And the standout tale of extraordinary madness involves Prince saving an overdosing girl's life by injecting her in the chest with an adrenaline shot while reading instructions on how to do so. Sound familiar, Tarantino fans? Prince does seem like Scorsese's own Steve Buscemi, though not used enough. And Neil Young's obscure track "Time Fades Away" envelopes the pieces nicely.