Robert Hicks didn’t make”The Glass Chain” with Bob Dole in mind, but the 24-year-old novice filmmaker from St. Charles thinks Sen. Dole’s recent rampage against crudity and violence in the cinema is right on.
“Someone needs to step forward and call a spade a spade,” says the young director, who favors”better stories with less violence. That’s what I tried to do with ‘The Glass Chain,’ and it’s what I’ll continue to try.”
Hicks and producer Albert Kodagolian were fresh out of film school when they decided to make”Chain,” an entertaining story of two likable geezers, who once were gofers for Al Capone, trying to find a treasure lost by the mobster in 1930. Hicks filmed the low-budget movie in his native Fox Valley with friends and neighbors helping out.
Trouble is, outside of two short runs in Elgin this year, the movie has gone nowhere. Hicks hasn’t been able to interest distributors here or in Europe. They think audiences want big stars and more gore.
Hicks:”Violence and blood are OK to make a point, but not just to make a profit. Things won’t change till the public demands it.”
