I’ll always remember the day Bette Midler recommended the film ‘Payday’ to me. When I say ‘to me’ I mean I heard her on the radio. ‘It’s a film about how life used to be for country singers, how hard it was‘ she told me Radio 2

Payday stars Rip Torn as Maury Dan, a journeyman type C&W singer. I first remember Torn from playing Artie on The Larry Sanders Show, and I’d seen him in a few less than great recent films. But it seems ole Rip is a man of hidden depths. For starters he really is (nick)named Rip Torn, how fucking cool is that? And he almost landed the lawyers role in Easy Rider till him and Dennis Hopper got in an argument and Dennis pulled a knife (or was it the other way? I kinda hope it was…) Jack Nicholson, you are a salamander of fate.

Payday is a great film with some great scenes. Maury’s tripped out mother, the duck hunt, and the awkward menage a trois in the back of a filthy tour car. As Bette cracked open another Carlsberg Special Brew she confided to me ‘This film should have made Rip a star’