Durango Shoots The Mayor (But Not The Spokesperson)

by Bing Futch

The starter’s pistol has exploded and the race that is Decision 2000 has

begun. As government takes the media spotlight once again, a nation of

people are confronted with the stark realities of, as James Brown so

eloquently put it, Living In America. At least this year’s parade of

presidential candidates are an entertaining and colorful bunch, from Steve

Forbes’ unblinking rigidity on-camera (and off, for that matter) to Gary

Bauer’s startling resemblance to Zazu from “The Lion King” (which seemed all

the more plausible when he tumbled off of that stage in New Hampshire).

Comedy Central, God bless ‘em, has even recruited “Mr. Who Needs Comedy

Writers?” himself, Bob Dole to help with the satire during their “Indecision

2000” coverage.

It’s hysterical. Too bad it’s also tragic, because unfortunately–the

hijinks and incredible displays of power perversion that flicker on CNN are

all true.

Mexican-born filmmaker Johnny Durango gets passionate when the subject of

politics is brought up. His 1999 videofilm “Lawyers and Other Whores” takes

violent glee in skewering local Orlando officials and was shot in that city,

guerrilla-style, in such hallowed locations as the Orange County Court

building and City Hall. Some would call him a bit of an outlaw for that, and

he wears the title of “career rebel” well, pushing to lead an indie

filmmaking revolution in a high-quality digital format. His company,

Semiotix Inc., proposes to create, manage and distribute

“artistic/intellectual property which seeks to subvert the dominant

cultural/artistic/political consensus” in a comical way, of course. “LAOW”

does that with decisive lack of charm. The story was inspired by a real-life

Oh! Town scandal involving Mayor Glenda Hood, over a million taxpayer dollars

and Dubsdread Golf Course. In this thinly veiled plot, an idealistic young

lawyer finds himself sucked into the corrupt scheming of a motley group of

city government officials. There is sex. There are drugs. There is blood.

There is chocolate fetish and there is spoken word artist Patrick Scott

Barnes hurling hilarious epithets at Mickey Mouse. It all adds up to a

scathing indictment of “the little town that wanted to be a big city.”

Durango, who will be 41 in March, angrily protested to Mayor Hood and the

City Commission when the Orlando Sentinel broke the Dubsdread story in 1995,

but was unable to find satisfaction. No stranger to local politics, Durango

ran for City Commissioner in 1994 against Bruce Gordy, the man who is looking

to oust Glenda Hood out of the Mayor’s seat in the coming elections. He is

cheering on his former opponent. “All politicians are beholden to the special

interests that elect them, but some politicians are hipper than others and

Glenda Hood is not a very hip person.”

Johnny Durango was born to Irish-American and Mexican parents in 1959 and

eventually moved to the suburbs of Hollywood, Florida. After years of

private study, he attended New York University’s film school but was expelled

after a “serious altercation” with his professor. He met his wife in New

York City and the two of them re-located to Orlando in 1991, partially

attracted by the wave of production that was taking place in the City

Beautiful at that time. The edgy filmmaker ruefully recalls the boom led by

“Sea Quest DSV” and “Superboy.”

“I certainly hope that isn’t going to be the heyday of production in

Orlando,” he says, laughing. “God, that would be terrible.” Along with his

failed bid in the political ring (he came in second) and the year-long

production of “LAOW” he also had a highly negative experience while serving

as a social studies teacher at Orville Middle School. “I have really nothing

nice to say about teachers or the public school system, I think it should be

abolished, to be honest with you, but that’s a whole other story.” Indeed it

is one that Durango had planned on writing and filming in 2001 called “The

Tiger Empress.” He has since reneged, noting that “anger and rage are

perhaps not the best engines of my art.” Durango’s web page

http://www.durangofilms.com is chock full of radical thoughts and expressions, but

he veers neither left nor right. “I’m sure that some people on the right

would say that I’m a rabid leftist and liberals would call me a reactionary,

that’s just fine with me, but I’m a registered independent.” As an

independent filmmaker, some of his beliefs are surprising, like his anti-NEA

stance. “I have no interest in getting any arts financing from the government, I don’t think the government should be in the business of giving any artist

any money.” When asked about his favorite candidate for President, Durango

seems momentarily at a loss.

“Personally I like Pat Buchanan but I’ll probably end up voting for George

Bush because I despise the Clinton administration.”

“LAOW” may not win any awards for production design or acting excellence

(dare I say the film could stand a copious edit to shed some of its

unneccessary 126 minutes) but as sharp-tongued commentary and satire, it

comes up roses. Produced, written, directed and edited by Durango, featuring

an earnest cast and highly recognizable Orlando locales, it’s bound to

inspire debate in even the most passive audiences. Currently seeking

distribution for the videofilm, Durango is optimistic about the future of

Florida filmmaking, especially in and around Orlando. Despite his kvetches

with the city government, he’d rather be here than back in New York .

“All things being equal, it’s not a bad place to live.”