Clay Pigeons is a 1998 black comedy film written by Matt Healy and directed by David Dobkin. The film stars Joaquin Phoenix, Vince Vaughn, and Janeane Garofalo.

Clay Pigeons
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	David Dobkin
Written by	Matt Healy
Produced by	Ridley Scott Tony Scott Chris Zarpas
Starring	Joaquin Phoenix Vince Vaughn Janeane Garofalo Georgina Cates Scott Wilson
Cinematography	Eric Alan Edwards
Edited by	Stan Salfas
Music by	John Lurie
Production companies	PolyGram Filmed Entertainment Scott Free Productions
Distributed by	Gramercy Pictures
Release dates	September 25, 1998 (1998-09-25) (United States) July 22, 1999 (1999-07-22) (Germany)
Running time	104 minutes [1]
Countries	United States Germany
Language	English
Budget	$8 million[2][better source needed]
Box office	$1.8 million[3]

It is the second film on-screen collaboration between Vaughn and Phoenix, the first film being Return to Paradise, released in the same year.

Plot

Clay Bidwell, a young man living in Montana, witnesses his friend Earl kill himself because of the ongoing affair that Clay was having with the Earl's adulterous wife Amanda. Feeling guilty, Clay now resists Amanda's advances when she presses him to continue with their affair as if nothing has happened.

After a jealous Amanda kills a waitress Clay briefly dates, he inadvertently befriends Lester Long, who happens to be a serial killer. Lester murders the nagging Amanda in an attempt to "help" his "fishing buddy", leaving Clay horrified. Soon enough, FBI agent Dale Shelby and her partner Reynard come to town and zero in on Clay as the prime suspect.

Cast

• Joaquin Phoenix as Clay Bidwell
• Vince Vaughn as Lester Long
• Janeane Garofalo as Dale Shelby
• Georgina Cates as Amanda
• Gregory Sporleder as Earl
• Phil Morris as Agent Reynard
• Scott Wilson as Sheriff Dan Mooney
• Vince Vieluf as Deputy Barney
• Nikki Arlyn as Gloria Collins
• Joseph D. Reitman as Glen

Production

Clay Pigeons was developed under filmmakers Ridley and Tony Scott's company, Scott Free Productions.

Vaughn has described his character, Lester, as "a guy who isn’t necessarily from the West — that’s just an image he’s created of himself. Whatever his reality is — being badly hurt by women or whatever — he’s made it over, taking bits and pieces of things he’s seen in movies. He sees his life as a strange Western movie, with himself as the hero. He thinks he’s a sane person in an insane world."[4]

Dobkin said of the characters, "I wanted everyone to be different than what they appear to be — the FBI agent who smokes pot, the small town sheriff who seems slow but is the one who figures [the murders] out in the end."[5]

Reception

The film received mixed reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 61% based on reviews from 54 critics with the consensus: "Joaquin Phoenix, Janeane Garofalo, and Vince Vaughn play for kills in this dark comedy, but the film's aim misses some of those Clay Pigeons."[6] On Metacritic the film has a score of 49/100 based on 26 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[7]

References

External links

• Clay Pigeons at AllMovie
• Clay Pigeons at IMDb
• Clay Pigeons at Box Office Mojo
• Clay Pigeons at Rotten Tomatoes
• Clay Pigeons at Metacritic

На других языках

[de] Clay Pigeons – Lebende Ziele