Payday

In the early '70s, stalwart character actor Rip Torn got juicy leading roles in a trio of independently produced films: as Henry Miller in Tropic of Cancer, as a psychiatrist secretly filming his trysts with female patients and other lovers in Coming Apart, and as country singer Maury Dann in this wild ride, easily the best of the bunch. Dann is a hell-raising country singer in the grand if not glorious tradition of Hank Williams. He is unapologetically ornery and selfish, and if he weren't so damned charming about it, you'd want to take a poke at him. Don Carpenter's sharp script demonstrates the allure of Maury's world to several innocents (a groupie, a teenaged guitarist), but Carpenter, through his portrayal of the resourceful and ultimately self-absorbed Maury, makes it clear that the music business is not for the faint of heart. According to Payday, not everyone making, selling, or broadcasting music is evil, but there are more opportunities for those people who are. ~ Tom Wiener, All Movie Guide