Grey Gardens

March 15, 2015February 21, 2018 | Paul Wake Baker

This story of a simple-minded mother and daughter, born into privilege and unable to generate the income necessary for basic survival, forces us to ask dangerous questions about social responsibility. HBO Films enlisted two extraordinary actors, Jessica Lange and Drew Barrymore, to create this compelling movie, that deserves a much wider audience than what the cable channel can generate.

Based on historical events, this film tells the story of Edith Bouvier Beale (Lange), aunt of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy/Onasis (Jeanne Tripplehorn) and her daughter, also named Edith (Barrymore). For simplicity, I’ll use the film’s reference of “Big Edie” and “Little Edie” to distinguish the two characters. Most of the movie takes place in 1975, when two filmmakers, Albert and David Maysles, filmed a documentary, called Grey Gardens, the name of the East Hampton estate, on Long Island, where the two women lived, but there are also flashbacks through their lives leading up to that time, beginning in 1936.

Big Edie (Edith Bouvier, sister of John Vernou Bouvier III, Jacqueline’s father) was a lady of high society who married New York businessman Phelan Beale (Ken Howard). They settled on the Long Island estate of Grey Gardens and had several children, Little Edie being the oldest. In 1936, as a young woman, Edie decides that she wants to become an actress and singer. Although not overly talented, her energetic, bubbly personality could have carried her quite far, but both her father and mother prevented it from happening. Phelan, quite aware of her simple-minded personality, thinks that she should marry a wealthy man who can take care of her, while Big Edie wants to keep her at home at Grey Gardens, where she can help to entertain their endless parties. Big Edie is herself a singer and wants nothing more than to sip champagne, sing, and entertain.

Frustrated with the way his wife throws away their money, and struggling himself in the Depression era economy, Phelan takes Little Edie to New York City, where he tries to get her to stay within her allowance and find a husband. She is more concerned with getting an audition, but falls in love with a married man, tycoon Julius Krug (Daniel Baldwin). When Phelan learns of this relationship, he forces Little Edie to return to Grey Gardens. With a big audition coming up, she drives back into the city and tries to see Julius, who becomes enraged that she might ruin his marriage.

Utterly dejected, she returns to take care of her mother at Grey Gardens. Suffering from a nervous disease, exasperated by seeing her life fall apart, Little Edie loses all of her hair and takes to covering her head in scarves and blouses, creating her own unique look. Ultimately, Phelan can no longer support their lifestyle. He is disgusted by the continual round of parties and he divorces Big Edie. When he dies, he leaves her the Grey Gardens estate and a limited trust for the survival of his ex-wife and daughter. Gradually, all of their servants and friends leave until they are completely alone.

The older sons urge Big Edie to sell Grey Gardens so that she and Little Edie will have enough money to live on once the trust expires, but she feels that estate is her home, all she has left, and she refuses to sell. With no one to maintain it, the estate begins to fall apart. Big Edie adopts lots of cats and raccoons wander the house picking through the trash. At last, the trust expires and there is no longer any income. Scrounging for food and without heat, the two women barely survive the harsh New York winters, listening on a little radio as Jacqueline marries John F. Kennedy, survives his assassination, and marries Aristotle Onasis.

Neighbors complain about the stink emanating from the property and eventually city inspectors come to condemn the property, but the women carry on in spite of it. The attention of the city brings a photographer to the house and Little Edie invites him in to take their pictures and when the word gets out that Jacqueline’s family is living in complete poverty and filth, she comes to visit them. Fondly remembering the gay days of her aunt and cousin, she contributes the money to enable them to survive, hiring local contractors to clean up the house, fix broken windows, haul out their rusting old car, and provide for them going into the future.

When the Maysles show up with the idea of doing a documentary, Little Edie embraces it as an opportunity to showcase her talents to the world. In the film, she sings and dances, argues with her mother, shows them around the property and sees a future in which she can finally escape Grey Gardens for good. Big Edie, who has depended on her daughter so long, allows Little Edie to go to the premier and finally accepts that her daughter will have to go out into the world.

Directed by Michael Sucsy and written by Sucsy and Patricia Rozema, the script takes a great deal from the real lives of the two women, but especially from Little Edie. Her surviving letters and journals were used by the director to flesh out the details of her life and used very successfully in the movie. The camera is non-intrusive in the storytelling and fragments of the documentary have been recreated to great effect, intercut with the regular action.

Jessica Lange is terrific as Big Edie, showing a great range as we see the character grow from a woman of around forty into her old age. A consistent and marvelous performance.

However, Drew Barrymore really steals the movie. Her Little Edie, although every bit as simple-minded as her mother, is given an amazing degree of nuance that allows her to touch us with her own tragedy, yet soar with her indomitable spirit. If anyone ever doubts that Barrymore is not one of the best female actors working today, please refer them to this movie, because she carries with a brilliant performance.

Nominated for 17 Emmy Awards, it won Outstanding Television Movie, Lange won for Best Actress, Howard for Best Supporting Actor, as well as winning for art direction, hair, and make-up.

Both a tragedy and a comedy, this is an emotionally engaged, beautifully written and acted movie. I highly recommend it!

The Descendants

March 9, 2015 | Paul Wake Baker

Although this movie might not be suitable for all ages because of language and some adult situations, it is nonetheless a family movie. It deals with the issues people face, both as parents and as children, and ultimately it addresses the responsibility of generations to their family.

When Elizabeth King (Patricia Hastie) falls into a coma as a result of a boating accident, her husband, Honolulu attorney Matt King (George Clooney), is forced to grapple with the problems his youngest daughter, 10 year old Scottie (Amara Miller) has developed in her mother’s absence. Scottie has begun to act out her own insecurities by sending offensive texts, bullying her fellow students, and posting pictures of her comatose mother. The time comes when Matt is informed by their doctor that there is no longer any hope that Elizabeth will recover, and, per her living will, will be removed from the machines that keep her alive.

Matt and Scottie fly to Kauai to pick up his oldest daughter, 17 year old Alex (Shailene Woodley) who attends a private school. Alex is drunk when they get there, but she comes home with them. As they argue, Alex reveals that her mother has been having an affair, so Matt sets out to find out who the man is. Alex insists that her friend, Sid (Nick Krause) accompany them on this journey. They must tell Elizabeth’s parents about the decision of the doctors. Her father, Scott (Robert Forster), is a bitter man who is trying to deal with his wife’s Alzheimer’s disease. When Sid laughs at her behavior, Scott punches him in frustration.

They discover that the man Elizabeth was having an affair with is Brian Speer ((Matthew Lillard), a wealthy real estate agent. They discover that Brian has taken his wife Julie (Judy Greer) on a vacation to Kauai, so they follow.

All of this very personal action takes place against Matt’s family background. He is the sole trustee of a family trust dating back to the last Hawaiian kings that includes 25,000 acres of prime land on the island of Kauai. This trust is set to expire in seven years due to Hawaiian law and Matt’s cousins, who have squandered their inheritance are pressuring him to sell the land now so they can all cash in. It is a matter of some concern to the Hawaiian people, as the developers who have bid on the land want to turn it into another resort.

Director Alexander Payne (Sideways, Nebraska) adapted the Academy Award winning screenplay along with Nat Faxon and Jim Rash from a novel of the same name by Kaui Hart Hemmings, who served as a consultant on the movie. His style is characterized by simplicity so that what you see is pretty much what you get. None of the camera work or lighting ever imposes itself on the action and that is sometimes a very good thing.

George Clooney is terrific as Matt, driving the film from beginning to end with a restrained and thoughtful performance. Alongside him, Shailene Woodley and Amara Miller are absolutely perfect as his daughters. Wonderful performances by Judy Greer and Beau Bridges (as Matt’s cousin Hugh) add to the dramatically powerful, yet sometimes comedic story.

The movie is engaging, heartwarming, and flawlessly beautiful. With the landscape of Hawaii constantly dominating the action, the eye is never disappointed. In addition, the soundtrack of Hawaiian songs, befitting all of the moods of the story, is an absolutely perfect addition to the storytelling. In spite of the subject matter, it will leave you feeling very good, comfortable, and content with the world.

In an industry that thrives on thrill-a-minute action, larger than life special effects, and a blaring soundtrack, more movies with the passion, power, and humor of The Descendants are desperately needed. I highly recommend this film!

Midnight Cowboy

February 25, 2015February 25, 2015 | Paul Wake Baker

This classic 1969 John Schlesinger film, adapted by Waldo Salt, from the novel by James Leo Herlihy, won three Academy Awards, for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. It is the only X-Rated film to ever win Best Picture. Starring Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman, in what many consider his signature role, the film is about what happens to our dreams when they are tested against harsh reality.

This review discusses the movie in full detail, so beware spoilers.

Joe Buck (Voight) is a young Texan who quits his job as a dishwasher and hops a bus to New York City to become a “hustler,” to sell his body to rich old women and make a ton of money. He wears a buckskin jacket, beautiful shiny boots, and a black cowboy hat. As the bus travels north, flashbacks tell the story of how his beautiful young mother dumped him with his grandmother, Sally Buck (Ruth White), who raised him while having a series of affairs. As a young man, he was involved with a girl named “Crazy Annie” (Jennifer Salt) who repeatedly told him “you’re the only one.” A gang finds them making love in a car and while some of them hold Joe, the others rape Annie while he is forced to watch.

When he arrives in New York, he takes a hotel room and wanders the streets trying to find some woman who needs his services. A wealthy middle-aged woman (Sylvia Miles) takes him up to her apartment and they make love, but the next morning when he asks for money, she weeps and he actually ends up paying her, by giving her cab fare.

He meets Enrico Salvatore Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman), a street con man that everyone calls “Ratso.” They have a drink together and Ratso tells him that he knows a pimp who can get him lots of work. He takes a fee of $20 for setting up a meeting with O’Daniel (John McGiver), then disappears. O’Daniel tries to get Joe to go down on his knees with him and pray to a plastic Jesus mounted on the back of his bathroom door, but Joe freaks out and runs away. When his money runs out, he takes to the street. Seeing young homosexuals on the street dressed in cowboy gear, he agrees to oral sex with a young man (Bob Balaban) in a movie theater, but when the boy tells him he doesn’t have any money, Joe is forced to let him go. Begging crackers in a diner, he watches a mother playing with her son by running a toy mouse over his face.

One day, walking past a coffee shop, he spots Ratso and tries to get his $20 back, but all Ratso has is some change. However, he offers to share his room with Joe, a flat in a condemned building that still has running water. Joe comes back with him and the two of them begin a strange, shaky friendship. Ratso, whose dream is to one day move to Florida and get healthy, helps Joe to clean up and they try to hijack a male escort service job, but Joe blows it and they are back where they started.

Winter arrives and with it an intense cold wave. Stuck in their flat with no heat and no money, Joe and Ratso barely get by, but things take a turn for the worse when Ratso gets sick. Sitting in a diner one day, they are approached by a strange pair, who take Joe’s picture and give him an invitation to a party at their flat. This odd couple show up at a Warholesque scene involving pulsing music and film, decked out art scene celebrities (including Viva, Ultra-Violet, and other Andy Warhol actors). Joe smokes a joint and then is given a pill, while Ratso fills up his coat pockets with salami from the ample spread provided. Wandering into a room filled with red light, Joe becomes entangled with Shirley (Brenda Vaccaro), a wealthy woman who agrees to take him home and pay him $20 for sex. Ratso, who is now covered in sweat most of the time, falls down a flight of stairs. Although he has always been crippled, he is now having difficulty walking.

Initially, Joe finds he can’t perform with Shirley, but when she taunts him with being gay, he comes on very aggressively, then is surprised by the aggression she displays, clawing up his back with her fingernails. Nevertheless, she gives him a referral to one of her friends and Joe thinks he’s finally on the way to becoming a stud.

When he gets back to their flat, however, Ratso is even more sick, so he goes back out and hooks up with a homosexual salesman, Towny (Barnard Hughes). Worried about Ratso, he tries to get money from Towny, but when the man resists, he beats him and steals the money to buy two bus tickets to Miami for he and Ratso, who can no longer walk.

Ratso wets himself in the bus, so Joe goes to buy them light clothing for the warm weather. He gets Ratso a Hawaiian shirt with palm trees on it and he throws away his buckskin jacket, boots and cowboy hat. As the bus nears Miami, Ratso dies in his seat.

There really aren’t enough good things to say about this movie, which today remains one of the best films ever made. Obviously, it’s for Adults Only, even though the X-Rating was later downgraded to an R. In spite of the nudity, the thing that really concerned censors at the time was the abundance of homosexuality in the movie, which no longer carries the stigma it once did. No sex is graphically shown in the film.

I think most credit for the success of this movie is the vision of director John Schlesinger whose use of color, unique camera shots, and creative editing creates a look that is almost one of a kind. Because dreams are so important, the camera itself has a very dreamy quality, whether it is in the flashbacks to Joe’s childhood or Ratso’s dream of a life in Florida. The dark blue quality Schlesinger gives to New York City makes it a fully separate world, always fearful and eerie and on the edge of society. At times, he allows the film to move into black and white and then back into color. In this film, the city itself functions as dream world and that becomes fully apparent when the sun strikes the two friends on their way to Miami. They have emerged from the darkness into the light.

The cast is full of terrific actors, which I never realized when I first saw it in a theater so many years ago. You see it now and can only wonder at stalwarts like John McGiver playing a plastic Jesus loony and Barnard Hughes as a simpering fag. Bob Balaban was virtually unknown at the time, but Sylvia Miles and Brenda Vaccaro were well-respected actors throughout the industry. Jon Voight is terrific as Joe Buck and he carries a little boy optimism throughout his terrible experiences, but Dustin Hoffman steals the movie with his fully realized Ratso Rizzo. Even at the time, it had to be considered one of the best performances of all time, but now it clearly shines and withstands the test of time. He is simply brilliant.

The song that launches the movie, “Everybody’s Talking,” written by Fred Neil and sung by Harry Nilsson, truly gets under your skin and it sets the tone for the movie in the same way that “Sound of Silence” sets the tone for “The Graduate.” You won’t be able to get it out of your head and that’s not a bad thing. The entire score is amazing. John Barry supervised the music and won a Grammy for Best Instrumental Theme, a haunting melody carried by a harmonica.

Obviously, I recommend this movie strictly for adults, but it must be considered one of the best films ever made, if not in the Top 10, then very, very close. Brilliant filmmaking!

W

February 12, 2015February 12, 2015 | Paul Wake Baker

Waitress

Funny, touching, tough: three words that truly describe this vastly underrated 2007 comedy-drama, written and directed by the late Adrienne Shelly. Starring Keri Russell as a pie baker in a terrible marriage, this film is really about standing up for yourself and what is important in your life.

Warm Bodies

There are few films that boast a truly original premise, but Warm Bodies is one of them. What genre is it? Well, it’s the only zombie romantic comedy I’ve ever seen. Written and directed by Jonathon Levine, it stars Nicholas Hoult as a zombie boy who falls in love with a human girl, played by Theresa Palmer. Great fun!

We Bought a Zoo!

We Bought A Zoo! is a friendly little movie released in 2011, based on the memoirs of the same title by Benjamin Mee, who bought his own zoo in England. Starring Matt Damon and Scarlet Johansson as Benjamin and his Zookeeper, the movie features an amazingly cute performance by Maggie Elizabeth Jones as Benjamin’s daughter Rosie.

Words and Pictures

Which is more important: words or pictures?

This is at the core of this powerful 2013 film about education and artistic expression. The script by Gerald DiPego is extremely well written and the direction by Fred Schepisi is outstanding, but the real reason for this movie’s success is in the two great performances by Clive Owen and Juliette Binoche as the two teachers who inspire their students to understand and to achieve more than mere talent can produce.

Norma Rae

February 6, 2015 | Paul Wake Baker

Freedom can be understood in many ways, but anyone who ever worked a factory job before the advent of unions understands freedom as the right to be treated as a human being, rather than as a machine part that can be worked to death and then thrown away. Martin Ritt’s 1979 movie, Norma Rae, shows the difficult road to obtain that freedom.

The following review discusses the entire movie, including the ending, so if you don’t want the movie spoiled for you, I suggest you see it first.

Norma Rae (Sally Field) is a woman in her twenties who works at a textile factory in a small southern town, the only real job available to local workers. She has been married once and has one child from her ex-husband and another she earned in the back seat of a car with another local boy. Struggling under minimum wages, she lives with her mother (Barbara Baxley) and father (Pat Hingle), who also work in the factory. Her only recreation seems to be meeting a traveling salesman for sex whenever he passes through town. Although all of the workers at the extremely loud factory are upset about their working conditions, Norma Rae is the only one who complains to her bosses.

A union organizer, Reuben Warshowsky (Ron Leibman) comes to town representing the Textile Workers Union of America to try to organize the workers, but is met with animosity. Most of the workers fear for their jobs in a town where their jobs are the only jobs to be had. Norma Rae makes friends with Reuben as he settles in for a long battle. At a bar, she meets a local man she had known as a child, Sonny Webster (Beau Bridges) and they go out for a beer. They meet Reuben at the bar and he gives them a ride home because they are too drunk to drive.

Sonny takes Norma Rae out to the lake with her two children and his own daughter from his previous marriage and he proposes to her. Shortly afterward, they are married and settle into their own home. The plant manager gives her a promotion and a raise to a job where she spot checks the work of the other workers, but she loses her friends because of it, so she goes back to her regular job on the floor.

When her father dies of a heart attack because his manager won’t let him take a break when he feels breathless, Norma Rae joins Reuben in his fight to establish a union. She heckles and badgers her neighbors and works tireless hours with Reuben trying to convert people and get enough votes for the union to go through. The plant managers try a number of tactics to break up the union organizers and one of them is to plant a letter on the bulletin board accusing black workers of running the union effort. This leads to several beatings of African American workers. Furious, Reuben asks Norma Rae to get the text of the message. She tries memorizing it, but that fails and Reuben tells her that she must simply write it down. She replies that she will be fired, but Reuben assures her the union will stick up for her.

She stands at the bulletin board writing down the message when she is confronted by management. They bring her into the manager’s office and fire her. She insists on writing down the names of all the managers present and they try to force her to leave. As they escort her across the factory floor, she turns on them, defiantly proclaiming that they will have to get the sheriff to throw her out. Standing up on a table, she writes the word “union” on a cardboard sign and turns in a circle showing it to the other workers. One by one, they shut down their machines in support of her effort.

The sheriff arrives and takes her to jail. Her one phone call is to Reuben who bails her out and takes her home. She wakes each of the three children and sits with them on the sofa, explaining what she’s done and reciting her mistakes in life, showing them pictures of their fathers and telling that in spite of all of her mistakes, she has done the right thing in standing up for the union, that her freedom and their future is the most important thing of all.

Her example inspires more people to join the union and when the vote is taken, they narrowly win certification. Before leaving town, Reuben asks her what she will do now and her answer is simple and concise: “live.”

Based loosely on a 1975 book, Crystal Lee, a Woman of Inheritance by New York Times reporter Henry P. Leifermann, the script by Harriet Frank, Jr. and Irving Ravetch fictionalizes the real Crystal Lee Sutton into Norma Rae Webster, placing the story in a different town, and creating characters different from the real ones in the original book.

Martin’s Ritt’s direction is terrific and one of the reasons Norma Rae is such a good film. His use of the hand-held camera keeps the movie immediate and kinetic. The other reason it is a terrific movie is the performance of Sally Fields as Norma Rae. At the time, she was just beginning to overcome her early type casting as the joyful, innocent girl in the television show The Flying Nun. Just prior to filming Norma Rae, she had won an Emmy Award for one of the best television dramas ever, Sybil, in which she played a girl with multiple personalities. Part of what makes her performance so appealing is that she keeps it so down to earth. Not once during the entire movie is she unbelievable as this uncomplicated, emotional Southern girl who must stand up for her rights. It is such a good performance that she won the Academy Award for Best Actress. It changed her life and broke her out of the mold she had been set in.

The supporting cast is excellent, including a terrific performance as by Ron Leibman as Reuben. He was kind of shafted in the credits and advertising. Beau Bridges was a bigger name and even though he has a much smaller role, he was given billing over Leibman. Both Pat Hingle and Barbara Baxley are terrific, too, as are the children in their smaller roles.

This movie is very powerful and it holds a just place in film history. It should be seen by everyone, but especially those who are unsure what unions are and how they came to be. It is an excellent film.

The Graduate

January 22, 2015January 22, 2015 | Paul Wake Baker

“Hello, darkness, my old friend… I’ve come to talk with you again…”

Packed like a factory assembled doll among a throng of passengers, Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman) sits anonymously on an airplane about to land in Los Angeles. As “The Sound of Silence” plays, he steps up onto a conveyor belt, his figure black against a white wall, as if he were on an assembly line about to be delivered for final packaging.

A recent graduate of a prestigious east coast college, Ben has no idea what to do with himself, no idea what he wants to do with himself. He feels lost, adrift. His parents (William Daniels and Elizabeth Wilson) hold a party to celebrate his graduation, but it is attended only by their wealthy friends, not one person his own age. Lying in bed, in front of his fish tank, he stares blankly out into the world. Forced to attend the party, he searches for some escape, but is cornered by a man who has only one word for him: plastics.

Retreating to his room, his privacy is broken by Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft), the wife of his father’s law partner (Murray Hamilton), who nearly forces him to give her a ride home. Getting him inside on the pretense that she needs the lights on, she fixes him a drink. Ben figures out that she’s trying to seduce him and attempts to escape, but can’t seem to get away. Mrs. Robinson then invites him up into the bedroom of her daughter Elaine (Katherine Ross) to see the girl’s portrait. She is currently away at school attending the University of California-Berkeley. Mrs. Robinson begins to undress in spite of Ben’s obvious nervousness, but is interrupted by the return of Mr. Robinson. Ben quickly runs downstairs and sits with his drink when the man comes in the front door. Mr. Robinson encourages him to date Elaine when she returns to L.A. on a school break.

At her request, Ben calls up Mrs. Robinson and she agrees to meet him at a hotel. Overcome with nervousness, Ben goes through with his tryst and begins a summer of laziness, lying around in the pool during the day and meeting Mrs. Robinson for sex at night. Gradually, he begins to want more from their relationship and forces Mrs. Robinson to begin talking about herself. When the conversation comes around to Elaine, she forbids him to date her. Ben rebels and they each say hurtful things, but when Mrs. Robinson begins to dress to leave, he apologizes and they continue their sexual meetings.

After Elaine has returned, Ben’s parents force him into dating her, over Mrs. Robinson’s objections. In order to make it a horrible date, Ben takes Elaine to a strip joint and the stripper on stage twirls her pasties directly over Elaine’s head as silent tears fall from her eyes. Humiliated, Elaine runs out and Ben follows her, feeling horrible about what he’s done. He catches her, apologizes profusely, and they go out for burgers. Whether through guilt or genuine attraction, Ben falls for Elaine and she seems to be falling for him. He makes another date with her, but when he pulls up at the house, in a rainy downpour, Mrs. Robinson gets into his car instead, once again forbidding him to see Elaine, this time with the threat that she will tell Elaine about their affair.

Ben runs back to the house and reveals to Elaine that he has been having an affair with her mother. Appalled, she throws him out and tells him she never wants to see him again. Ben watches from a distance as she returns to Berkeley, then he follows her there and finally gets her to admit that she loves him, too. Mr. Robinson shows up at Ben’s apartment and forbids the relationship, leading Elaine to leave school and marry her boyfriend. Frantically driving back and forth, Ben finds the church, but he can’t get in. Running up to the second story, he looks down as the wedding vows are concluded and begins to scream her name. Seeing the vicious faces of those around her, Elaine screams back Ben’s name. Using a cross to fight off the angry wedding party, Ben and Elaine escape, getting into the back of a bus and riding away.

The Graduate, released in 1967, still stands today as one of the best films ever made. The screenplay by Calder Willingham and Buck Henry is based on the 1962 novel of the same name by Charles Webb. Produced by Lawrence Turman and directed by Mike Nichols, the movie was delayed for several years because they simply could not find the right cast. Almost every big name in Hollywood was considered for every major role, but no one seemed to fit.

Actresses considered for the role of Elaine included Patty Duke, Faye Dunaway, Sally Field, Shirley MacLaine, Raquel Welch, Joan Collins, Carroll Baker, Candice Bergen, Goldie Hawn, Jane Fonda, Ann-Margret, Elizabeth Ashley, Carol Lynley, Sue Lyon, Yvette Mimieux, Suzanne Pleshette, Lee Remick, Pamela Tiffin, Julie Christie, and Tuesday Weld.

Robert Osborne of TCM said, “Mike Nichols wanted Doris Day for Mrs. Robinson, Robert Redford for Benjamin Braddock, and Gene Hackman for Mr. Robinson.”

Other actresses considered for Mrs. Robinson included Jeanne Moreau, Joan Crawford, Lauren Bacall, Audrey Hepburn, Patricia Neal, Geraldine Page, Claire Bloom, Angie Dickinson, Sophia Loren, Judy Garland, Rita Hayworth, Susan Hayward, Anouk Aimee, Jennifer Jones, Deborah Kerr, Eva Marie Saint, Rosalind Russell, Simone Signoret, Jean Simmons, Lana Turner, Eleanor Parker, Anne Baxter, Shelley Winters, Angela Lansbury, Natalie Wood, and Ava Gardner. All were either turned down, refused to appear nude, or were unimpressed with the part. Anne Bancroft, an accomplished stage and screen actress, wife of director Mel Brooks, took the part even though she was only seven years older than Dustin Hoffman

Hoffman and Ross were both chosen as Ben and Elaine when they tested together. He was a 29 year old New York actor who was virtually unknown outside the live theater, but Turman brought him to Los Angeles to test. Even though he was very much against the type they wanted for Ben, Nichols liked him very much and gave him the role.

The Graduate was also Nichols’ first film, although he was very well known from his Broadway successes. It is surprising that a stage director should create one of the best films ever made in his first effort. Maybe the long wait while they searched for the right cast gave him the extra time to craft the film into the beauty that it became. Every single shot is lovingly assembled and extraordinarily powerful. Hitchcock had mastered the art of framing long before this film was made, but Nichols uses camera angles in an even more powerful way. The most iconic shot in the film is, of course, the one that shows Ben framed behind Mrs. Robinson’s leg, sheathed in a black stocking, but it is only one of hundreds of nearly perfect shots.

The creative use of dark and light in a color film was nearly unprecedented at the time. For example, there is a scene early in the seduction when Mrs. Robinson is sitting at the bar in her home and Ben nervously paces back and forth in front of her. It is shot from behind Ben who appears only as a black silhouette moving with a kind of nervy relentlessness back and forth, revealing Mrs. Robinson sitting with one leg propped on a bar stool, allowing Ben a tantalizing view.

Mirror shots are used to extreme advantage, the most obvious one when Mrs. Robinson takes Ben to Elaine’s room to seduce him. As he looks at the portrait of Elaine, Mrs. Robinson appears nude in the reflection off of the glass. Brilliant! Not only is it a visually stunning image, but it also points up the terrible situation that Ben will be in later when he has to choose between the mother and daughter.

The use of music and sound is also brilliant. “The Sound of Silence” is such a perfect representation of Ben’s state of mind at the beginning of the movie that the simple image of Ben’s head framed against the aquarium as it plays tells a whole story without any dialogue whatsoever. The other Paul Simon songs, performed by Simon and Garfunkel, are super appropriate and set the mood wherever they are used. The song “Mrs. Robinson” was adapted by Paul Simon especially for the film and it went on to become a huge hit. Quite often Nichols uses silence itself to punctuate that deep, dark mood that Ben brings into the movie, relieving it with the beautiful Paul Simon melodies.

The acting is all superb. Dustin Hoffman is wonderful as Ben, creating all kinds of great little mannerisms that make him a complete person, not the least of which is the short falsetto “Humpf” that comes out when he is particularly nervous. Anne Bancroft gives a great performance as Mrs. Robinson, terribly restrained, yet allowing the viewer to see how great her own boredom is and how much her affair with Ben means to her, despite the fact that it is exclusively sexual. Although Katherine Ross’s part is not huge, she does a great deal with it, especially in the scene where Ben reveals he’s been having an affair with her mother.

In addition, the supporting roles are extremely well done, most especially William Daniels as Mr. Robinson. The cast list isn’t dense, but there are also a large number of cameo appearances, including Buck Henry, Alice Ghostley, Elaine May, Mike Farrell, and Richard Dreyfuss.

In spite of Ben’s heavy attitude coming into the film, it is really a first rate comedy and also a feel-good movie. Although it was made in 1967, the comedy isn’t dated at all. In fact, it could have been made last year and still hold up to scrutiny. The only real reference to the time it was made was when Ben gets a room in Berkeley, his landlord tells him that he won’t tolerate any “agitators.” In places, the costumes or hairstyles may give away the time, but they are nearly invisible, unlike many other period movies where they are obvious. It comes in at under two hours and it doesn’t feel long at all. In fact, it moves really fast.

The only “error” I found in the movie is that when Ben is driving north to see Elaine in Berkeley, he crosses the Bay Bridge into San Francisco, which he wouldn’t have done without a specific purpose. It doesn’t really make sense in an otherwise perfectly crafted movie.

All of the parts of this film work so harmoniously that it should stand the test of time going forward in the future. Many other good films may be made, but I believe that The Graduate will remain one of the best films ever made. It certainly makes my Top Ten. Because of the adult situations, I will recommend it for mature viewers.

A brilliant, long-lasting movie with great comedy, great angst, and a feel-good ending!

O

January 21, 2015January 21, 2015 | Paul Wake Baker

Ordinary People

For those who remember what life was like in 1980, Ordinary People will be a real trip to the past. For those who are too young to know, this movie will give you a brief tutorial in clothing, hair styles, cars, and so on. For both types of people, this will be an extraordinary family drama, full of terrific performances, raw and deeply moving.

N

January 21, 2015February 6, 2015 | Paul Wake Baker

Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist

When a movie has as its basis such an incredible novel as Rachel Cohn and David Levithan’s Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist, there should be no way that it could fail, yet this insipid teen comedy manages to toss aside all of the best stuff from the novel, including, amazingly, some of the best comedy. It changes the course of events and ends without a single note of the beauty that gave the book such raw power.

Norma Rae

North by Northwest

Mistaken identity, an innocent man, bloodthirsty spies, a long train trip, a beautiful, sexy blond, and suspense building to a nail-biting conclusion—all these staples of legendary director Alfred Hitchcock drive his epic 1959 film, North by Northwest.

Notorious

The sexiest and most mature of all Alfred Hitchcock’s films, Notorious is also one of his most suspenseful movies. It’s a torchy love story set among dangerous ex-Nazis in Rio de Janeiro, with Ingrid Bergman putting her life in danger to prove to the American agent she loves that she has become an honest woman. Beautifully shot in black and white, all of Hitchcock’s mastery drives a story that is thrilling right up to the end.

Words and Pictures

January 7, 2015 | Paul Wake Baker

Which is more important: words or pictures?

Jack Marcus (Clive Owen) teaches writing at Croyden, a high end preparatory school in Maine. A professional writer himself, Jack is flirting with losing his job because of functional alcoholism and a lapse of productivity, having failed to publish in quite a few years. In addition, the school literary magazine which he edits has gone downhill, producing flat, uninspired writing and nothing original from him. His principal, Rashid (Navid Negahban), confers with head of the governing board, Elspeth (Amy Brenneman) about Jack’s conduct and they give him a warning that his status will be reviewed at the next meeting.

The new Honors Art teacher, well-known painter Dina Delsanto (Juliette Binoche), who suffers from severe rheumatoid arthritis and walks with the aid of a cane, challenges her students to go beyond themselves to create better art. Using the old phrase “a picture is worth a thousands words” she tells her students that words are cheap and useless, thus fueling the “war” between the two arts at the school and inspiring the students to achieve more.

Drinking heavily and fighting to keep his job, Jack tries to write something new and inspiring, but all he can create is insipid, so he steals a poem that his son wrote and publishes it in the literary magazine as his own. It is so good that Dina uses it to inspire her students to make drawings and painting based on it. Three students figure prominently in this battle of the arts: Emily (Valerie Tian) an Asian painter, Cole (Josh Ssettuba) an African-American graphic artist, and Swint (Adam DiMarco), a writer and would-be cartoonist. Swint, a show-off has a crush on shy Emily and he begins to harass her, eventually going so far as to distribute an obscene cartoon of her throughout the school. Jack has defended Swint, but when he discovers the cartoon in Swint’s sketchbook, he turns the boy in and Swint is expelled.

When Dina gives terrific testimony of Jack’s behalf at the board meeting, his job is saved. He brings her flowers and they consummate their simmering love, but Jack gets up in the night, finds a bottle of vodka in her refrigerator and proceeds to get drunk. He tells her about plagiarizing the poem from his son and then, losing his balance, he falls into Dina’s most important painting, smearing it. She throws him out and Jack must begin to confront his own problems for the first time, facing his alcoholism and trying to redeem his own spirit.

Obviously, in a movie like this, the writing is paramount and I give extremely high marks to Gerald DiPego for his literate and organic script. Director Fred Schepisi thought his words were important enough that he was kept on the set during the filming in order to make changes himself, rather than bringing in any other writers. But even though writing is important, this film also stands or falls based on its art and Juliette Binoche, doing her own painting, brought a sense of legitimacy by creating terrific paintings and drawings all her own.

Of course, there is no real battle between art and literature. They are two completely different and equally valid arts. On the surface, they would appear to be complete opposites, but, as with all creation, the goal should be the same: to touch the human heart. This movie does that, in part, due to the organic nature of the writing and the painting that fills it. When I say that a work of art is organic, I mean that it grows naturally out of its components. The story in Words and Pictures has more to do with Jack’s own frailty and his dependence on alcohol. It is that dependence that brings his life into complete disarray, despite his other endearing qualities, and it is his control of that weakness that allows him to become a complete person again. The same is true of Delsanto’s art. Like, Jack, she has floundered for many years, not because of a lack of inspiration, but because her own degenerating body has had her full attention. She needed something to wake her up and Jack’s challenge is what brings her back to life creatively. Her art grows beyond her own injured body to become something beyond what she had been capable of.

Writing an organic script that is completely natural is not an easy process, but DiPego has created a real beauty here.

Clive Owen drives the film with his performance. The center of the film, he is realistic in every way as an American teacher. His control of the language, his phrasing, and his maniacal love of good writing is infectious and he seems to be a terrific teacher. Likewise, Juliette Binoche gives a wonderful performance as Delsanto, nuanced, layered, and impressive.

This film has a strange, emotional power that elevates in the same way that Stand and Deliver moves one to aspire. Immensely satisfying! I highly recommend this movie!