Crew:
Directed by Matthew Harrison
Produced by Matthew Harrison and Madeline Warren
Screenplay by Christopher Grimm
Photographed by Michael Mayers
Music by Daniel Brenner

Synopsis:

Theo (Lawton Paseka), the "Bad Boy of Bowling", is suspended from the pro-tour for bashing an opponent in the head on national TV. Desperate to circumvent the 100 year suspension and get back into the game, Theo seeks out his estranged father Buzz, a man of legendary power in the bowling world - a man he has never met.

But Buzz has turned to the dark side of the sport and runs an illegal dwarf bowling operation with his nefarious partner Miles Kastle. "And nobody sticks a finger into a bowling ball in this town without Miles Kastle knowing about it."

Kastle's pyromaniac daughter Sheila (Christie MacFadyen) has the hots for Theo. Her psychotic brother Junior has just broken out of a mental institution and wants to murder Buzz.

Kastle offers to get Theo back in the pins - for a price, and Theo finds himself faced with one of the impossible 7-10 splits of life.

Festivals and Awards:
Winner First Prize Features Rome International Film Festival
Grand Prize Features Long Island Film Festival, 1993
First Prize Comedy New Orleans Film Festival, 1993
First Prize Prix Tournage Avignon Film Festival, 1993
Winner First Prize for Features at NYU Film Festival
Winner Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival
Boston Film Festival selection
Hamptons International Film Festival selection
Hirshhorn Museum, Washington D.C. selection
Winner XXXVI Mostra Internazionale Del Film DŐAutore San Remo, Ital
Winner Oldenburg Film Festival
Kino Arsenal, Berlin selection
Winner Florida International Film Festival

Quotes:
"A warped version of Rebel Without a Cause" Sun-Sentinel, Florida.
"Sure-footed, sustaining interest and laughs" Betsy Sherman, Boston Globe
"Reckless energy, charismatic leads." - Variety
"Dark and twisted." Marjorie Kaufman, New York Times
"A warped version of Rebel Without a Cause" - Sun-Sentinel, Florida.
"Brilliant!" - Il Secolo XIX, Italy
"Wirf Den Zwerg" ("Throw The Dwarf!") Tip, Berlin

Reviews:
Boston Globe September 23, 1993
by Betsy Sherman
WESTERNS SPOOFED AS BOWLING PARODY STRIKES
With comic panache and a bold visual style that belies the film’s no-budget origins, the exquisite SPARE ME twists conventions of the Western and thriller genres within its parallel universe of bowling monomania. Unlike most one note spoofs, though, New York director Matthew Harrison’s first feature is sure-footed, sustaining interest and laughs.

The movie’s beginning is pure tongue-in-cheek Western, as a mysterious stranger from Akron slouches into town. Stopping in a Pro Shop (the movie’s equivalent to a saloon), the disgraced pro bowler Theo Skinner, who has been put on 100 year suspension for bashing the head of a victorious opponent with his bowling ball, asks where he can find the legendary Buzz Fazeli. The stage seems set for a classic showdown between young gunslinger and old. But once he finds the philosophical former champ, Theo reveals that he’s the son Buzz never knew he had, and he’s hoping Buzz can help him get back on the circuit. The old bowler, grown fat and cynical, won’t commit himself just yet.

Something is rotten down in the lanes. Theo finds out that the local kingpin is the slimy Miles Kastle, for whom Buzz runs an illicit dwarf-bowling spectacle after hours. Theo first resists, then succumbs to the charms of Sheila, Kastle’s rebellious daughter who compulsively mutilates Barbie and Ken dolls. But the Kastle family saga doesn’t stop there, as Sheila’s lunatic brother Junior — who’s way to fond of his sister — has just escaped from the asylum and won’t be happy to find she has a boyfriend.

The cast is ably led by actor Lawton Paseka, who looks like Ricky Nelson gone to seed. Christie MacFadyen is terrific as Sheila, and Mark Alfred is a hoot as Buzz. There are plenty of striking bowling puns by screenwriter Christopher Grimm.

Il Secolo XIX March 28, 1993
by Fausto Serra
STRITOLATO TRA I BIRILLI
In grainy and moody 16mm SPARE ME is easy to follow and at times brilliant. The actors have the movements of cartoons, which is exactly what Harrison wanted. In sum: the film has a charm of its own, is a bit crazy, and marks a great starting point for the future of its author.