Roscoe Lee Browne Quote of the Month: February 2009

Naked in New York is the kind of film you could have sworn you've seen a dozen times already: A story concerning attractive bohemian New Yorkers and their complicated love lives. At least in this particular case, you have a lot of familiar faces to distract you. Big stars in major roles (Kathleen Turner, Tony Curtis, Timothy Dalton) and brief glimpses of up-and-comers (Luis Guzman, Calista Flockheart, Lisa Gay Hamilton) populate this quirky story.

And then, of course, there's Roscoe Lee Browne. He only gets one scene here, and it's as a theatrical professor named Mr. Reid. Our protagonist Jake (Eric Stoltz) has just shown him his new, slightly disturbing play and wants his opinion:

Mr. Reid: "Let me understand. At the end, the end of the play. The main character becomes depressed, and in a state of sheer desperation, kills everybody who resides at the lumber camp with him."

Jake: "Yeah. Yeah, because you see he realizes that, that there's no other way out. He, he doesn't have any other options. He doesn't have any choice but to kill them."

Mr. Reid: "Well, you know there's great writing in there. There really is great writing. (pause) But on a personal level, I think you might want to go and talk with someone in health services."