Director: Chris Blum

Cast: Tom Waits, Marc Ribot, Michael L. Blair, Ralph Carney, Greg Cohen, Willie Schwarz

Country: U.S.
Year: 1988
Running Time: 87 min
Format: 335mm

Big Time is "Un Operachi Romantico" about a guy named Frank who "hung his wild years on a nail he drove through his wife's forehead", in this combination live-concert film / music video documenting Tom Waits' "Franks Wild Years" stage show. Waits stars as Frank, a down-on-his-luck drifter with high aspirations. Over the course of three acts, we see Frank in his many incarnations: lounge singer, religious man, hobo, theater usher and used watch salesman.

Backed by Waits' wonderful band, and taking place on film set locations and the live stage, Waits performs many songs from his "Frank Trilogy" of albums (Swordfishtrombone, Rain Dogs, Frank's Wild Years). His show relies on great songs as much as theatrics, with songs sung from inside a bathtub, under a flaming umbrella, on a rooftop, in a boiler room, or onstage with the band.

--Skizz Cyzyk

Presented By: Jay S. Jacobs

Jay S. Jacobs is a freelance writer who has published extensively in a wide variety of magazines including C.D. Review, Creem, Magnet, Manhattan Mirror, New Review, Philadelphia Weekly, Rock Guide, Rockpile, and Underground Press. His book, Wild Years: The Music And Myth of Tom Waits (ECW Press), is the first detailed biography of Tom Waits, one of America's pre-eminent artists, who is both a well-respected film actor and the creator of a unique body of music that is increasingly strange, risky, and emotionally compelling. Mr. Jacobs is currently the co-publisher of www.popentertainment.com, an online entertainment magazine. He has also co-produced two upcoming compilation disks for Rhino Records and has written four motion picture screenplays that have been ignored or rejected by some of the biggest names in Hollywood. He lives in Philadelphia.