Getting movie mileage from Montezuma's revenge

A 13-minute movie chronicling a bout with Montezuma's revenge is making Dave West a reputation as a filmmaker.

"One plane. One worm. One woman. No bathroom," reads a publicity blurb for "Puddlejumper."

The 1983 Jackson High School graduate's comedy short will be shown next week at the St. Louis International Film Festival. The movie already has won the Best Comedy award at the Arizona International Film Festival and at the end of October won the Audience Harmony Award at the Dances With Films festival in Santa Monica, Calif. It also has been shown at the Milan Film Festival in Italy, the Maui Film Festival in Hawaii, the Marco Island Film Festival in Florida, the Sao Paulo Film Festival in Brazil and the Seattle Underground Film Festival, among others. After St. Louis it will be screened at the Ajijic International Film Festival in Mexico.

The 37-year-old West, who now lives in Los Angeles, directed the movie and helped write the screenplay. He also is one of the executive producers. It is the high point of his career.

Airplane comedy

The comedy is the short odyssey of a young American named Ed who boards an aging passenger plane in Mexico after eating the worm in a bottle of tequila. Ed flirts with the pretty woman next to him until the onset of gastrointestinal distress becomes more pressing -- especially since the plane has no bathroom. The rest of the film concerns Ed's search for a dignified and speedy solution to his problem.

The movie is based on a similar experience that occurred to co-screenwriter Chris Marsall in Nicaragua. "We played up the girl angle," West said.

Born in Kennett, Mo., West lived in Gordonville when he was in grade school and in Jackson later on. He remembers loving the movie "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" when he was 5 and seeing "The Poseidon Adventure" at the Broadway Theatre in Cape Girardeau when he was 7.

At Jackson High School, West was a wrestler and baseball player but not an actor. He was not interested in hanging out with the drama club at the time. "I was more mesmerized by stereotypes," he said.

Halfway through his college career at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff he realized he had to be an actor and moved to New York City. There he attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and participated in off-Broadway and off-off Broadway productions.

Moving to Hollywood

Then he moved to Hollywood and switched sides of the camera. He realized he was "running around with actors-only blinders on ... I stepped back and said, I need to take control of what I do," he said. "I need to be the one to create the roles."

His latest work can be seen in the upcoming independent feature "Bachelor Man," which he co-produced and acts in. "Bachelor Man" was written by Rodney Lee Conover, a former humor writer for talk radio star and Cape Girardeau native Rush Limbaugh. He also is working on a new comedy short called "The Virginity Monologues."

West often participates in seminars at film festivals. "A lot of times they want to talk about the struggles of independent filmmakers," he says.

Some of that involves having many jobs. West also contributes content to Comedy ontap.com and to SportsHollywood.com. Tuesday night he was working for MTV in filming of an episode of the dating-game show "Dismissed."

Shorts are far from the star attraction at most film festivals. At the St. Louis festival, Kevin Kline and Marsha Mason will get most of the attention along with feature-length films like Pedro Almodovar's "Talk to Her" and David Cronenberg's "Spider." But festivals are a way for fledgling directors like West to get noticed.

"It's more of a calling card," he says. "I can show people, 'Look what I can do.'"

Family in Cape

West's mother and stepfather, Barb and Larry Haertling, live in Cape Girardeau as does his sister, Michele Griffin, and her family.

His mother remembers him memorizing whole TV scripts as a child. "'Welcome Back Kotter,' he knew all the dialogue," she said. "At the time you don't think anything of it."

She and her family have seen the slickly made movie and will attend the screening Nov. 21. "I think it's cute," his mother said. "I was expecting something a little more amateurish."

Her son's choice of subject matter does make it a bit harder to be a proud parent, she admits.

"You kind of hate to tell anybody it's about going to the bathroom."

sblackwell@semissourian.com

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