Crazy Love

Crazy Love

After taking Studies in Non-Fiction Film II, I was able to focus more on the content because I knew what was expected of me in the end. The first time I took this class I was focused on writing down every detail of every movie. I found this to be distracting in that I was not able to fully enjoy the movie. This time, I took only the notes that I knew I was going to need and if need be, just rent the film and watch it over again. The movie that really caught my attention was Crazy Love. I have never heard of their situation and was very interested in how it played out. When I got home from the film, I realized that I had written no notes because I was so into the movie.

It all starts when filmmaker Dan Klores tells the true story of one of the most outrageous, wacky romances ever. Crazy Love explores the details of a very strange relationship, and how the extremely unlikely couple has stayed together for thirty years.

The film begins in 1957 in New York City where Linda Riss was in her mid to early twenties who had as the film states “a striking resemblance to Elizabeth Taylor.” The other main character of this film was attorney Burt Pugach. Pugach was reffered to as an “ambulance chaser” and was married and in his mid-thirties and was also from New York City. Being married, however, did not stop Pugach from falling in love with Riss on first sight when he saw her walking past her home in the Bronx. She wasn't that easy, though he was pretty rich as a lawyer/movie producer, and had all sorts of nifty objects. I find this ironic that the movie repeats that Pugach was in “love at first sight,” because it is what the entire film is about. The underlying plot of the movie was all about sight in the end. Once Riss and Pugach started to date, things started to turn in a new direction. Even though Riss finds out that Pugach is married she still continues to see him. This goes on for quite awhile until she realizes that he will not leave his wife and leaves him. During the year that they were daiting, Pugach treated Riss like an absolute princess. He took her to fancy clubs and wined and dined her. I belive this is where the movie started to get a real twist to the plot. Pugach began to stalk Riss trying to get her to give him a second chance. This went on for quite awhile until he found out the news that Riss decided to wed someone else. Once this was said, it began to get really scary for Riss.

Various photos of both Riss and Pugach were shown thoughtout the entire film. I think this worked well in that it helped the audience feel like we were really there when all of this was going on. Pugach went beyond stalking and began to threaten Riss when he found out she was marrying someone else. I remember Pugach saying “If I can’t have you, no one else will have you, and when I get through with you, no one else will want you,” very clearly. Pictures of the time that the threats were made pop up all over the screen. It comes to the audiences attention that the threats made were not empty. Pugach actually ordered a hit man to throw acid in Riss’s face to scar her for life. This ended up sending Riss to the hospital and losing the sight in one eye. When convicted, Pugach got a sentence of fifteen-to-thirty years in prison. Another added twist that stunned the audience was that he was released less than a year later on parole. Once out, the most outrageous part of the movie is revealed. Pugach and Riss marry.

When looking online, I found a quote that reminded me of this film. Chris Rock talks about how gay people should be allowed to marry “to be miserable as everybody else.” Once the film got to about the middle, I tried to figure out his personality. I believe it is easy to say that Pugach is passive-aggressive. There was some explicit meaning in this film. I wonder how far Pugach would have actually gone. Would he have ended up killing her if she did not want to be with him? I also began to wonder that when everything was said and done, was he her only option? Implicitly we, as an audience, all saw what we did not want in a relationship. The audience got a good feel for the situation, not just from Riss and Pugach’s narration, but also from other characters in the film talking about the whole situation. At first when the film begins I thought it was going to be a documentary on a beautiful love story; how I was so wrong. We go deep into their lives and get all the details.

Crazy Love is genuine entertainment,