‘Kingpin’ and Bill Murray’s perfect take
Sports movies are an underrated approach in film, taking many forms from drama to comedy to biopic, with contact sports such as boxing or American football often leading the at in terms of subject. However, one movie that centres on a lesser-explored competitive sport is Kingpin, a 1996 comedy directed by Peter and Bobby Farrelly, starring Woody Harrelson, Randy Quaid, Vanessa Angel and Bill Murray. The film focuses on an ex-bowler struggling with alcoholism who becomes the mentor of a new Amish talent.
Comedic actor Murray is brilliant in Kingpin as Ernie ‘Big Ern’ McCracken, a player Harrelson’s character defeats at bowling in the film’s opening and seeks revenge. As a national bowling superstar, McCracken returns later, evident in the climax match, where the character bowls three perfect strikes. The shot of each strike and the audience’s amazed reaction wasn’t put together through the power of editing three separate strikes out of how many tries it took, as the actor achieved three consecutive strikes while filming the scene.
Director Bobby Farrelly explained how the impressive athletic scene played out during a conversation with Fast Company, stating: “When we got to the final part and Bill had to get three strikes in a row, I figured it could take 10 to 15 rolls. It’s gonna take a while for him to get three strikes.”
“So I explained the situation to the audience. ‘It’s the last frame, he needs a turkey here. And so on the first one, you guys clap big, and then the second one, you clap bigger, and on the third one, you explode because he needs all three,'” he continues. “Of course, Bill gets up there, first one, strike. Everybody goes nuts. Second one, strike, the place goes crazy. Third one, strike. Three in a row.”
He adds: “They were really blown away. Like, Bill just threw three strikes in a row when he had to and they erupted. It was not fake at all.”
McCracken then achieves his revenge and wins the tournament by one pin. Murray’s performance in the film sets the comedic energy ablaze, dishing out zingers of lines that garner laughs every time.
The director also added how Murray improvised his lines in the film. “Ernie was a great idea on paper but he didn’t really have the lines until Bill showed up,” Farrelly explained. “Bill had nothing to work with, it was kind of a thankless role as written and he turned it into just a beautiful character”.
“Bill just threw all the pages away and just said, ‘I get it, trust me’, and we did and every line he came up with was better than the line that was scripted,” he continued. “You’re on a gravy train with biscuit wheels. Like, where the fuck did that shit come from? It was genius”.
