Great Character: Dignan (“Bottle Rocket”)

This month’s theme: Wes Anderson characters. Today: Dignan from the 1996 movie Bottle Rocket, written by Owen Wilson and Wes Anderson.

Who “rescues” his friend from a hospital that this friend attended voluntarily? Who prepares for his 75-year life of crime by leading that same friend through a robbery of that friend’s own mother’s house? Who is considered to be a liar by that very patient friend’s little sister? The answer is Dignan from screenwriter/director/cinema stylist Wes Anderson’s 1996 feature film debut Bottle Rocket.

Actor Owen Wilson also had his big break in front of the camera with Bottle Rocket, and also as a story scribe along with co-writer Wes Anderson. This Texas criminal comedy was enough to tickle the funny bone of New York crime drama authority Martin Scorsese, who included Bottle Rocket on his list of favorite movies of the 1990s.

Bottle Rocket from IMDB:

Focusing on a trio of friends and their elaborate plan to pull off a simple robbery and go on the run.

Owen Wilson plays Dignan, an animated, ambitious fellow, whose crooked career path tips the scale slightly over into the realm of delusional. He has his fidgety fingers manipulating his politely passive pals Anthony (Luke Wilson) and Bob (Robert Musgrave) into highly illegal mischief, like robbing a bookstore or hotwiring a rusty hot rod for a free set of four-wheel transportation.

DIGNAN: So don’t worry about your future man, because I am thinking.

We never meet Dignan’s parents, family members or outside buddies, therefore there is no reason to believe that there is anyone more righteous than Anthony and Bob in Dignan’s wannabe Pulp Fiction fantasy life. Mr. Henry (James Caan), Dignan’s past tense landscaping boss, and present tense crime boss, serves as more of a reluctant mentor than a true comrade. As a matter of fact, Mr. Henry’s hard-edged nonchalant life of crime make’s Dignan look like thievery never picked him to play on its team — Dignan hitched a ride on crime’s weary back instead.

DIGNAN: On the run from Johnny Law… ain’t no trip to Cleveland.

There is an insistent desire rotting inside Dignan’s gut that begs him to be in charge of everything. He is not in control over his life, or his lack of independence, and he is definitely not controlling Mr. Henry. Instead, Dignan plays a desperate version of artificial deviant dictator over the only followers that will allow him to mislead them — Anthony and Bob.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmFDafzmklA

Dignan’s obsession is probably not even with the act of stealing as much as it is with carving out a small speck of freedom to call his own. He clearly wants to be in control of his destiny, and that of his mates, for better…or for much worse. There are too choices for his three man squad — Dignan’s way or the way of Dignan.

DIGNAN: Pointless act! You don’t give a 500 dollar tip to the housekeeper! That’s inappropriate! That’s inexcusable! That, I don’t forgive!

Dignan seems to be fighting the feeling that inevitably he is a loner, a one-man explorer of Mother Earth’s Homeland. Andrew makes friends easily with his endearingly good nature, even female ones like Inez (Lumi Cavazos). Bob comes from a household that involves country clubs, a fancy pool, and parents that can skip off to foreign countries. Neither Anthony nor Bob really need Dignan in their life for it to feel complete, as much as he needs their companionship.

Dignan’s restless schemes of half-baked grandeur and fabricated cockiness may fool the others, but its not fooling Dignan himself. He struggles with feeling replaceable, insignificant, ignored and abandoned. When Anthony’s love affair with Inez grows in importance over Dignan’s illegal operations, Dignan fails at hiding his frustration and jealousy.

When Bob puts the hotel hideout thing to a halt and “steals back” his own car to bail out his brother Future Man (Andrew Wilson) from jail, Dignan’s self-centered orbit crash lands into the wilderness of reality.

Dignan acts like he has been betrayed because Bob stopped ignoring all sense of responsibility. Only when Anthony risks getting caught by police in order to rescue Mr. Henry’s crime colleague Applejack (Jin Ponds) does it dawn on Dignan that a selfish life is a living death.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QihI3ORsFn0

Saving Applejack also sort of saved Dignan from himself. Owning up to his responsibilities and risking getting caught so that his friends wouldn’t have to adds an effective touch of admirable honor to Dignan’s downward spiral. He never dragged anyone down with him by name-dropping his comrades after getting arrested. He bore the full blast of heat for his actions, just as much as his buddies bore the brunt of getting dragged into this nasty caper of cops and robbers to begin with.

DIGNAN: Ain’t it funny how you used to be in the nut house and now I’m in jail?

For his oversized determinations, his undersized understanding of karma and his even balance of wit and intensity — Dignan is one of Wes Anderson’s FIRST GREAT CHARACTERS.

Jason’s post reminds me of how much I enjoyed Bottle Rocket when I saw it at the WGA Theater upon its release in 1996. Such distinctive characters and unusual storytelling. Of course, looking back on it, we can see Wes Anderson’s creative fingerprints all over it, the start of what is fast becoming a great career as a writer-director.

Thank you, Jason, for this post. Please hit Reply and join us in comments to discuss Dignan in the wonderful movie Bottle Rocket.

You may follow Jason on Twitter: @A2Jason.


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