‘I Was Bombed in Harvey’ film review: Documentary finds improbable humor and heart in the chronicle of the 1980 Lake Tahoe bombing

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Amy Bandlin Storkel and Brian Storkel Outlaw bizwhich premiered at SXSW in 2022, was the rare reenactment-based documentary that I thought benefited from extensive treatment. The directors manage to use extensive re-enactments to amplify the sense of heightened cinematic pleasure in the story of an eccentric collector whose love of Pez dispensers has somehow taken on the flavor of international espionage.

The sense of “it’s real, but it’s kind of like a genre film, so it’s okay to enjoy it” returns in Storkels’ new documentary debuting at SXSW, I was bombed in Harveywhich relies heavily on stylish re-enactments in recounting the details surrounding the infamous 1980 bombing at Harvey’s Wagon Wheel Casino in Lake Tahoe.

Here, the re-enactments lack the level of skill with which they were performed Outlaw biz Lots of fun, and feels more like a crutch than an additional aesthetic option. But the Storkels have something more serious and sentimental in mind. So, yes, the story of a bitter immigrant, his motorcycle-racing sons, the Satanic bomb and its aftermath is brutal, but it’s grounded in a more personal story about family secrets and trauma.

The film ends by illustrating the limitations of the Storkels’ passion for reenactments and their general interest in stories that are strange enough to be exciting and not gory enough to be treated with a degree of whimsy.

The basics of the story, for those who don’t remember/never knew: On August 26, 1980, a bomb appeared in an office space above the casino in Harvey. The bomb was large, and a note attached to it indicated all the ways in which it could not be defused. The bombers demanded $3 million and a helicopter within 24 hours. The FBI and local law enforcement were called in, but not everything went as planned, either for them or for the bomber himself.

Because the event in question took place more than 45 years ago, the Storkels have assembled an impressive number of their main characters, including bomb squad members, FBI experts, the lawyer who eventually took over the prosecution of the case, and, in place of Harvey’s landlord Harvey Gross, Gross’s grandson Kirk Ledbetter. Many of these characters are quirky characters, with a variety of cowboy hats, facial hair, and bow ties in between.

However, even better are the views from the other side of the story, led by Jim Burgess, whose father Big John was the architect of the conspiracy, in retaliation for the gambling debts that crushed his lucrative multi-million dollar empire. Jim was a teenager at the time, terrified by his abusive old man and forced to help him with his brother, John Jr. While John Jr. is no longer with us, his girlfriend at the time, Kelly, is discussing her involvement.

The re-enactments, which include bomb-making and transportation, as well as a three-pronged escape plan, have a flavor reminiscent of 1970s heist and spy films, accompanied by Michael James Lee’s cheerful score. Unlike re-enactment in Outlaw bizThese filmed scenes lack set pieces or real performances from the actors. It doesn’t distract, but it doesn’t enhance either.

The Storkels have other cinematic elements at their disposal anyway. They have plenty of Big John plotting, a wealth of engagingly dated news footage and a scene of Jim Birges taking his daughter Hope to some key locations from the event. It’s a part of his past that he hasn’t actively embraced, for perfectly logical reasons, but the documentary treats his ownership of the story as a sign of healing, which I think I can buy into, at least to some extent.

It’s not a spoiler to say that if a bomb killed a thousand people in Lake Tahoe in 1980, it wouldn’t be the first time you’d heard about it, nor would documentary filmmakers be on friendly terms with a participant in a terrible domestic terrorist attack. However, I will say that the film is just a hair more naive to Jim’s interpretation of events than it fits the circumstances He could They killed a thousand people. It’s safe to say it was a different era, where people blindly followed their parents, especially when they were abused, but the directors allowed Jim Burgess to be more affable and less controversial than he deserved. A little more effort would have darkened the story, but it would have been a little more believable.

It’s not a damned problem. Especially in the last 20 minutes of the documentary, there’s some real catharsis to Jim’s involvement, and it doesn’t feel unearned.

I have larger objections to the use of AI to reconstruct John Jr.’s voice, which is part of a widespread documentary trend that I’ve never seen used in a way that serves a purpose. Once your film already has demonstrable reenactment skill, why bother with the false authenticity of the reconstructed narrative? Until AI voice reconstructions can be done to actually sound human and not 85 percent human… stop it. Until then, seriously consider whether your attempt at digital grave robbing serves a purpose. Here, a vague and unimpressive audio reading from a memoir that Jim Burgess has already told us is perhaps not entirely accurate.

There’s a lot of technique in there I was bombed in Harvey This doesn’t quite work, compared to the prosperity it served Outlaw biz OK – but at the same time, maybe the movie overall reaches a deeper level.