Rip Torn was an unlucky actor. He had his role of a lifetime at the beginning of his career rather than the end. Not that the gravity of his life was like that of mean-ass Maury Dann (Torn), a freefall through dingy motels, dreary liaisons, and the bottom end of a bourbon, neat. Maury is a country singer with a few minor hits, the melodies long since faded. He and his pickup band are on a tour of C&W dives in Alabama, playing for twelve-steppers doing the two-step. Payday captures this swing through the South with the gusto of a bar brawl-all broken bottles, bruises, and stumbling regrets. Berkeley-born writer Don Carpenter knows the territory: the twangy lines he feeds Rip Torn animate him like the uppers hidden in his guitar case. And Torn gets every note right in the discordant riff that is Maury's grimy descent. Before Jeff Bridges took on Bad Blake in Crazy Heart, there was Maury Dann, the baddest of them all.