DOCTORS WIVES

DOCTORS' WIVES (1971). Director: George Schaefer.

"I don't appreciate your sleeping with your wife." 

Lorrie Dellman (Dyan Cannon) announces to a group of friends, all of whom are married to doctors as she is, that she intends to sleep with all of their husbands, and has already gotten to two of them. The next day Lorrie is caught in bed with a doctor and shot to death by her husband as everyone wonders which man (who survived the shooting and is fighting for his life in the hospital) was her lover. And this is just in the first ten minutes!

WIVES: McCargo, Williams, Cannon, Rule, Roberts

Unfortunately, anyone hoping for a serious film or just a trash wallow will be disappointed, as Doctors Wives is not a very good picture and sadly isn't quite bad enough to be much fun either. Judging from this movie, doctors, nurses and interns spend almost as much of their time having affairs as they do tending to patients. The wives in the picture consist of Amy (Janice Rule of The Swimmer) who is married to Peter (Richard Crenna), who is having an affair with his head nurse Helen (Diana Sands), whose little boy has an aneurysm. Then there's Della (Rachel Roberts of When a Stranger Calls) who is married to Dave (Gene Hackman) and confesses to him that she also had sex with lusty Lorrie. Maggie (Cara Williams) is separated from Joe (Carroll O'Connor) and drinks too much, while neglected Elaine (Marian McCargo aka Marian Moses) beds an intern-stud named Mike (Anthony Costello) even as her hubby Paul (George Gaynes of One Touch of Venus) is similarly occupied elsewhere. You need a scorecard. (If this makes you want to rush out and buy the DVD, be forewarned.) 

DOCTORS: Gaynes, Hackman, Colicos, O'Connor, Crenna

Others have noted that Doctors Wives comes off more as a racy and frank nighttime TV soap opera than a theatrical movie, and having the competent but bland, strictly small-screen Crenna in the lead doesn't help. Otherwise the cast is game with Roberts, Sands, Cannon and Williams making the best impression. And John Colicos is especially notable as the very cool, near-sociopathic wife killer who  schemes to get out of police custody when he's called to operate on Helen's son, and there are also good turns from Richard Anderson as the D.A. and Ralph Bellamy as Cannon's father. Anthony Costello also scores -- literally as well as figuratively -- as the horny and busy intern. The business with a gal named Sybil recording all of her sexual episodes is stupid, however, as is much of the movie. Several plot elements go unresolved but at least there wasn't a sequel! 

Verdict: For those anxious to see close-up shots of open heart surgery only! Some good performances but otherwise not worthwhile at all. **. 

BONNIE AND CLYDE

Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway

BONNIE AND CLYDE (1967). Director: Arthur Penn. 

Bonnie and Clyde go on a crime spree robbing banks in the 1930's and become folk heroes to part of the population, but their days are numbered. This film was quite polarizing when it first came out, with some finding it slick and cinematic; others repellent and empty -- both viewpoints have validity. Warren Beatty [Splendor in the Grass] isn't bad as Clyde Barrow, the leader of a group of depression-era bank robbers, but he's never quite believable, either. The same could be said of Faye Dunaway [Mommie Dearest]  as Bonnie Parker, although she certainly demonstrates star-making vitality. The trouble with both of the leads is that they never seem quite as stupid as the people they're playing. Gene Hackman, Estelle Parsons and Michael J. Pollard as relatives and fellow gang members are perhaps more on the mark. 

Estelle Parsons and Gene Hackman

Today Bonnie and Clyde seems almost benign next to Goodfellas and similar movies. The picture doesn't really glorify these murdering robbers so much as it shows how pathetic and desperate they and their self-absorbed lives really are. But the movie can't really be considered a serious examination of these people because the characters lack dimension and the film can't seem to make up its mind whether or not to take them -- or itself, in fact -- seriously. In any case, the picture is generally entertaining and well-done, but it goes on about half an hour too long and is very Hollywood-ized to say the least. One could make a strong case that William Witney's The Bonnie Parker Story, made ten years earlier, is the better picture. 

Verdict: Okay, but maybe watch Little Caesar instead. **1/2.

SUPERMAN II: THE RICHARD DONNER CUT

Ursa and General Zod blow the hell out of Grand Central

SUPERMAN II (1980). The Richard Donner Cut.

Richard Donner, who directed the first Superman, did a lot of work on the sequel -- the two were filmed concurrently, actually -- before being fired. Some of his work was redone by the director of record, Richard Lester. This cut assembles the version as it might have looked in theaters if Donner had not been dismissed.

At the end of Superman, the Man of Steel (Christopher Reeve) stops Lex Luthor's missile from wiping out California, but he doesn't realize that the explosion of this same missile in outer space has freed three notorious and vicious Kryptonian villains from their prison, the Phantom Zone. Hulking Non (Jack O'Halloran), bitchy Ursa (Sarah Douglas), and imperious General Zod (Terence Stamp) make their way to earth where they find they have developed the same powers as Superman. Before long they have invaded the White House where the not-so-good general forces the president (E. G. Marshall) to his knees. "Oh, God," says the president. "Zod," corrects the general. Where is the man of steel? Lois Lane (Margot Kidder) has finally figured out his secret identity and the two make love in his Arctic Fortress of Solitude. Then Superman decides to quit being the Man of Steel, always off saving the world, so that he can spend his life with Lois; he uses Kryptonian technology to do this. (This begs the question: since it was Superman that Lois fell in love with and not Clark Kent, would she really want him just as an ordinary human?) Too late, he discovers what has happened in Washington D.C., and makes his way back to his fortress as an ordinary man ... what a guy -- he doesn't even wear gloves! Conveniently, he is able to get his powers back.

The centerpiece of the film in any version is the battle between the revivified Superman and the three villains in New York City (rechristened "Metropolis," of course). Beautifully shot, edited, and choreographed, this sequence remains one of the best superhuman battle scenes in any comic book movie. (Today's super-hero films often present very sloppy and poorly articulated battle sequences.) A special highlight is when the bad guys use their super breath to literally blow dozens of pedestrians -- who are after their blood after they seem to have killed the Man of Steel -- down the streets near Grand Central Station. Buses are thrown, towers are toppled, Zod and his colleagues bounce Superman around and vice versa, and the special effects throughout are still outstanding.

This version (and probably the theatrical version as well) of Superman II has its problems, mostly having to do with Gene Hackman and his cohorts, played by Ned Beatty and Valerie Perrine. The movie is "adult" enough to show Lois and Superman in bed (although this is by no means a sex scene), so why does it have such stupid humor as Perrine flushing a toilet in the Fortress of Solitude? These campy characters never fit comfortably into this or even the original movie anyway. Hackman gives a perfectly good comic portrayal, but his presence is not required. The sequences with him are tedious, and there is dialogue in the film that betrays a dated seventies sensibility. Continued from the first film, the whole business with Superman's dead father, Jor-El (Marlon Brando) somehow counseling his son, raises more questions than it answers. Anti-climactic and twenty minutes too long (even it it's shorter than the theatrical version), Superman II is nevertheless a very worthwhile comic book flick. Reeve and Kidder are fine but the picture is nearly stolen by Terence Stamp, who makes a rather sexy and very sinister General Zod -- it's a terrific performance. And he is nearly matched by Sarah Douglas as the strutting, sexy, and highly anti-social Ursa. John Williams contributes his usual effective scoring, and Geoffrey Unsworth's cinematography is first-rate. As in the first film, Superman reverses time again, so that Lois no longer knows his secret identity (this was done differently in the theatrical version, I believe), but that insures that events that no longer could have happened are referred to afterward -- confusing, as usual. Followed by Superman III.

Verdict: Worth it for the Times Square battle if nothing else. ***.

SUPERMAN IV: THE QUEST FOR PEACE

Margot Kidder and Christopher Reeve take flight

SUPERMAN IV: THE QUEST FOR PEACE (1987). Director: Sidney J. Furie. (Based on a story by Christopher Reeve).

The Daily Planet, where Clark Kent (Christopher Reeve) and Lois Lane (Margot Kidder of Black Christmas) work as reporters, becomes the casualty of a hostile takeover by a sleazy tabloid king (Sam Wanamaker) and his pretty daughter, Lacy (Mariel Hemingway of Manhattan). In a more significant development, a young boy writes to Superman that he should make the world safe by getting rid of all nuclear missiles. The Man of Steel complies, sending the missiles hurtling into the sun, but then has to face a solar-spawned nightmare in the form of Nuclear Man (Mark Pillow), created by the nefarious Lex Luthor (Gene Hackman of The Firm) and his zany nephew, Lenny (Jon Cryer). Upon its initial release, Superman IV was excoriated by fans and critics alike, but it's always been a fun, entertaining movie that truly resembles an eighties (or perhaps a seventies) Superman comic book. Hackman and Cryer dumb down the story, yes, but are not too intrusive, Kidder and Reeve are fine, as always, and Mariel Hemingway scores as Lacy, the "rich bitch" who turns out to have both a brain and a heart. Mark Pillow certainly looks menacing and turns in some highly effective pantomiming as Superman's nuclear adversary. One amusing sequence has Clark/Superman using his speed powers to date Lois and Lacey at the same time. But the highlight of the film is the protracted battle between Superman and Nuclear Man (as well as the magical sequence when Superman takes Lois for a flight). The film's special effects work came in for criticism, which I have always found perplexing, as I find the numerous process shots in the film to be seamlessly done and very striking. Superman once again reveals his true identity to Lois, and once again he hypnotizes her into forgetting it (this is a fine romance!) There are signs of post-production tampering, as the continuity is confusing, and it's never made clear exactly why Nuclear Man kidnaps Lacy at one point. John Williams' score is excellent and there is top-notch cinematography from Ernest Day, including one especially good shot when Nuclear Man spirals his way down into an active volcano. Although this, like the previous films, is supposed to take place in "Metropolis," this is clearly New York City.

Verdict: Great battle and a lot of comic book style fun. ***.

POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE

Meryl Streep and Shirley MacLaine

POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE (1990). Director: Mike Nichols.

Sent into rehab after a nearly fatal overdose, actress Suzanne Vale (Meryl Streep) is told that the insurance company will only allow her to make her next picture if she moves in her with mother, star Doris Mann (Shirley MacLaine), who is an alcoholic! Suzanne and her mother have a loving but difficult relationship with the latter wanting success for her daughter despite the occasional bout of jealousy, and the former bridling against her mother's perpetual, well-meaning "advice.".Based on a semi-autobiographical novel by Carrie Fisher, the daughter of Debbie Reynolds, this is obviously about the two actresses, although it could just as easily be about the real Shirley MacLaine and her daughter, Sachi Parker (not to suggest that Parker was ever in rehab).The two leading ladies are both excellent, perhaps making their characters more sympathetic than they might have been in real life, Dennis Quaid is notable as a man who (seemingly) gets involved with Suzanne, and there's a nice bit from Annette Bening as another of his girlfriends. It's delightful to see Mary Wickes as the grandmother, whose relationship with Doris is as problematic as Doris' with Suzanne. Michael Ontkean [Making Love] is seen all too briefly as Suzanne's co-star in the cop thriller she's making. Rob Reiner, Gene Hackman [The Firm], and Richard Dreyfuss [Piranha] are all effective in important character parts. The musical highlights of this very entertaining movie include MacLaine nailing "I'm Still Here" from Follies, and Streep doing a snappy rendition of "Heartbreak Hotel" for the finale.

Verdict: Mothers and daughters, neurotic Hollywood-style. ***.

THE FIRM

Gene Hackman and Tom Cruise

THE FIRM (1993), Director: Sydney Pollack.

Mitch McDeere (Tom Cruise) is signed up with the law firm of Bendini, Lambert and Locke at a six figure salary with lots of percs. He and his wife, Abby (Jeanne Tripplehorn), are ecstatic, but there's a serpent in paradise. Partners in the firm seem to die on a regular basis, and Mitch realizes there's something not quite kosher about the outfit. Before long he finds himself between a rock and a hard place where his employers and interested agents of the FBI are concerned. Can he manage to help the agents without getting himself killed? Years ago there used to be thrillers that lasted maybe 80 or 90 minutes, included lots of plot twists and turns, and even at times a bit of characterization. The Firm clocks in at over two and a half hours, doesn't really have enough plot to sustain it, doesn't retain a grip on the suspense, and doesn't even include that much characterization. One problem is that the vastly overrated Sydney Pollack couldn't direct a true thriller if his life depended on it, and his attempts in that area always fail. The movie starts off quite well and sets up an interesting situation, but then it just plods along its dreary course until you lose interest in the proceedings. Cruise isn't bad, although he sort of just walks through it looking "concerned." Tripplehorn is better, and Gene Hackman [The French Connection] really steals the picture as a conflicted associate of Mitch's as well as his mentor. There are also nice turns by Gary Busey [A Star is Born] as a private eye, Holly Hunter as his secretary-lover (the murder scene involving both of these characters is one of the best things in the movie); Hal Holbrook as a law partner; Ed Harris as an FBI agent; David Strathairn as Mitch's convict brother; Steven Hill as another agent; and John Beal [The Vampire] as another of the partners.

Verdict: Too many characters and detours eventually add up to tedium. **1/2.

ANOTHER WOMAN

Gena Rowlands

ANOTHER WOMAN (1988). Writer/director: Woody Allen.

"I accept your condemnation."

Marion (Gena Rowlands) takes an apartment to work on her latest book in peace but discovers she can hear conversations in the next-door psychiatrist's office through a vent. One particular patient stands out in her mind, Hope (Mia Farrow), whom she eventually meets. In the meantime she has encounters of varying kinds with her partially estranged brother, Paul (Harris Yulin); her aged father (John Houseman); an old friend-actress (Sandy Dennis of That Cold Day in the Park), who tells her their long separation was deliberate on her part; and her husband Ken (Ian Holm), who seems strangely disinterested in love-making. There are also flashbacks to her conversations with such as Larry (Gene Hackman), a friend of Ken's who fell in love with her. Another Woman is extremely well-acted, has excellent dialogue, is handsomely photographed by Sven Nykvist, and certainly holds the attention, but it may not deliver the pay-off the viewer is expecting. Perhaps the movie, which is apparently meant to look at the life of a woman who keeps her feelings too much in control, is too subtle to have major impact. Rowlands [The Skeleton Key] gives an outstanding performance, however, which is most of the film's pleasure, and there are also excellent performances by Sandy Dennis (her confrontation with Rowlands in a bar is one of the best scenes in the movie) and a wonderful John Houseman [Murder By Phone]. Betty Buckley has a well-played bit as Ken's ex-wife, who shows up in the middle of a party. and causes an understandable scene. Allen has created real characters, but that doesn't mean his characterization is always incisive, and we really don't get to know any of these people, including Marion, well enough to give a damn about any of them.

Verdict: The acting puts this over and it is certainly absorbing despite its flaws. *** out of 4.

THE SPLIT

THE SPLIT (1968). Director: Gordon Flemyng.

McClain (Jim Brown), fresh out of jail, comes to see his attractive lady friend, Ellen (Diahann Carroll). But he's even more interested in another lady named Gladys (Julie Harris) who has the set-up money for another score: McClain and five associates are going to rob a football stadium of its booty. But will any of them get to spend the money when thieves fall out? And who is that weird guy, Herb (James Whitmore) who is coming on to poor Ellen? The Split is a suspenseful and entertaining caper film with an excellent cast and some intriguing developments. Oddly, the robbery itself is sort of tossed off -- it's what happens later that matters --  but there is a very exciting scene with Brown and Jack Klugman getting into a chase involving a limo. Brown is okay, but there are fine performances from Whitman, Warren Oates, Klugman [Twilight Zone], Gene Hackman [The French Connection], Donald Sutherland, and especially Julie Harris [The Last of Mrs. Lincoln] in her tough, highly memorable portrayal of no-nonsense she-boss Gladys. The well-edited movie is based on "The Seventh," a novel by Donald Westlake ("Richard Stark") that features his amoral protagonist Parker.

Verdict: Quite absorbing and well-acted. ***.

THE FREIDKIN CONNECTION A Memoir by William Friedkin

THE FRIEDKIN CONNECTION A Memoir. William Friedkin. HarperCollins; 2013.


Back in the seventies William Friedkin was the well-known bankable director of such highly successful films as The Exorcist and The French Connection. Friedkin admits that he let it all go to his head, made many wrong choices, and often treated people terribly. “When you are immune to the feelings of others,” he asks right at the start, “ can you be a good father, a good husband, a good friend?” Well, why would anyone want to spend a couple of hours reading the memoirs of an admitted self-absorbed jerk who isn't exactly one of the Giants of Cinema despite a couple of well-known movies? Well, there are several reasons. This is a must read for aspiring directors who need to know just how Hollywood works and the business of filmmaking and how it often interferes with the art of cinema. Friedkin lived through it all, and has plenty of info and anecdotes to deliver to those seeking a career in this wonderful and crazy profession. Other readers will appreciate the inside look at Hollywood and the behind-the scenes struggles of making a couple of famous movies, whether or not they are among their personal favorites. You are taken inside the mind of a typical director, understanding his struggles and attitudes, how he agonizes over casting choices, picking just the right cinematographer, and a dozen other things that can severely affect how a movie will work out and how it will be received by critics and public. Friedkin never thought Gene Hackman was really delivering for him while filming The French Connection and relates how the actor just didn't like and couldn't relate to his character. You'll learn how a bit actor in The Exorcist became a murderer whose horrible exploits inspired, in part, Freidkin's excoriated film with Pacino [with whom he did not relate at all], Cruising. [He also directed The Boys in the Band.] Later on Friedkin became a director of operas, despite the fact he had never been to the opera! Friedkin mostly stays away from his personal life, which probably wouldn't interest most readers anyway, but is honest about his reduced standing in the industry and the affect in status of simply growing older. This is well-written and very entertaining.

Verdict: A good bet for film enthusiasts and a must-read for aspiring directors. ***1/2.

 

THE FRENCH CONNECTION

Gene Hackman in a scene with Eddie Egan, the real "Popeye"

THE FRENCH CONNECTION (1971). Director: William Friedkin.

The book "The French Connection" was a non-fiction account of New York City cops busting a big heroin racket with ties to France, focusing on two of those cops [although many were involved]: Eddie "Popeye" Egan and Sonny Grosso. In this film version of the book the names were changed and Egan was cast as his own boss (Grosso also has a small role). Gene Hackman, who doesn't seem that much like a NYPD officer, got the role of Doyle while Roy Scheider was cast as his partner, Russo. Amazingly Hackman won an Oscar, as did the film and Friedkin for direction. The main problem with the movie is that it has hardly any plot or characters. Neither Doyle nor Russo nor anyone else are that dimensional in Ernest Tidyman's screenplay, so all we're left with is action, and not enough of it. The stand-out scene is a well-executed frantic chase between a hit man on an elevated subway, which he takes control of, and Doyle careening below following him on the street in a car. The movie has no humanistic touches, nor any memorable sequences aside from the chase. It begins well, with another chase sequence, holds the attention, and looks good for the most part as we are taken to beautiful settings in Marseilles and grubby streets in Brooklyn and Manhattan. While The French Connection was never a masterpiece, there have been so many, grittier cop-and-drug themed movies and TV shows since then that whatever edge it once had has been blunted. Considering how little really hard acting is required of the part in this story, Egan -- who became a professional actor although never on the lines of, say, Edward G. Robinson -- might as well have been cast to play himself. Oh, yes, the film has a racist hero who utters the "n" word even though he works with brave black undercover agents. Fernando Rey, Tony Lo Bianco and others are fine in underdeveloped supporting roles. The story was continued in John Frankenheimer's French Connection 2.

Verdict: Popular but over-rated crime thriller. **1/2.

SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE

SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE (1978). Director: Richard Donner.

NOTE: This review is of the expanded "Richard Donner" cut.

Thirty-two years after its initial release, Superman still has its charms although it's also lost some of its lustre. The early sections of the film, meant to be stately, are so deliberately paced that they border on the tedious, and the film almost completely sinks with the introduction of the moronic trio of villains played by Gene Hackman, Valerie Perrine, and a shameful Ned Beatty. [With the rich history of the Superman character and all of his many foes, that was the best they could come up with?] At times Superman nearly sinks to the level of the sixties Batman TV show, but if it's saved by anything it's saved by those magical flying sequences when the movie itself really takes flight. Superman going out on patrol and his taking Lois Lane for a ride are probably the best sequences in the movie. The performances of Christopher Reeve [it's hard to think of his sad and ironic fate] and Margot Kidder are assets, as is the musical score by John Williams. The crystalline motif for Krypton is a little weird, as is the slightly ossified performance of Marlon Brando. The whole business with Jor-El's (Brando) ghost somehow mentoring his son doesn't really make sense, and the the time travel business at the end of the movie is too confusing. Still the movie overall is entertaining, and better than the more recent Superman Returns.

Verdict: You'll still believe a man can fly. ***.

TWILIGHT (1998)

TWILIGHT (1998). Director: Robert Benton.

Private eye Harry Ross (Paul Newman) lives with his old friend Jack Ames (Gene Hackman) and Ames' wife Catherine (Susan Sarandon). Ames asks Harry to deliver a package to a man who turns up dead. Before long Harry is embroiled in a decades-old murder case that centers on the disappearance of Catherine's first husband. Others embroiled in the business include Harry's old buddy Raymond (James Garner) and his old gal pal Verna Hollander (Stockard Channing), a police lieutenant. Twilight is basically just a reworking of one of those old Ross Macdonald Lew Archer novels (two of which were filmed with Newman playing "Lew Harper") but it holds the attention, and is well-directed and well-acted by all . Newman even gets a bedroom scene with Sarandon.

Verdict: Pleasant time passer if you don't expect too much. ***.