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Insignificance (1985)

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On a hot night in 1952 a Professor (Michael Emil), an actress (Theresa Russell), a Senator (Tony Curtis) and a football player (Gary Busey) meet in a new york hotel. The characters are not given their real names in the film, but are clearly meant to be Albert Einstein, Marilyn Monroe, Senator Joe McCarthy and Joe Dimaggio. As well as resembling the well-known figures, the actors are also recognisable as a cross-section of America at that time.
An acting and writing tour de force rather than a statement on sports, politics, sex symbols or relativity, the film has a fluid progression of flashbacks and flash-forwards focusing on the fictional Einstein's current observations, childhood memories and apprehensions for the future. Theresa Russell, as Marilyn Monroe, holds the film together as the key linking element while Tony Curtis is a glorious ham as the hard-drinking, paranoid Senator, Joe Dimaggio (Gary Busey) is stolid and does not comprehend his famous wife while Einstein (Michael Emil) is sweet and childlike and closest to Monroe's own personality. Insignificance is presented here in its original 1.33:1 'as filmed' format and contains more picture area than previously-released widescreen versions, where the original image has been cropped top and bottom.