The great Saul Bass' poster, one of several he did for Preminger's films.
John Wayne, born Marion Robert {later Mitchell} Morrison on May 26, 1907 in Winterset, Iowa, was my Dad's favorite actor. Dad { or Pops or Pops-So, really, Pops-So }, also from Iowa, loved many of The Duke's films: The Searchers, Rio Bravo,The Quiet Man, True Grit, to name just a handful. Another of Dad's favorite's, maybe his all-time fave, was Otto Preminger's 1965 WWII epic In Harm's Way. The film's title comes from John Paul Jones' quote "I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast, for I intend to go in harm's way", and deals with several naval personnel at the outbreak of America's involvement in the war in the Pacific. In fact, the movie opens in Hawaii on the night of Dec 6, 1941 with a naval dance {featuring a hot pole dance by Barbara Bouchet} and get's off to a rousing start with the Pearl Harbor attack by the Japanese on morning of Dec 7th. In the film, Wayne plays U.S. Navy Captain Rockwell 'Rock' Torrey {Kirk Douglas' Paul Eddington refers to Wayne as "Ol' Rock of ages"}, a divorced second generation career man. Long ago Rock left his wife with whom he had an son, played by Brandon deWilde {of Shane fame, ten years prior}, that he never got to know and is now a Lieutenant, junior grade, assigned on the very same island in Hawaii as his father. Along the way, Wayne's Rock Torrey falls in love with nurse Maggie Haines {Patricia Neal}, attempts to help his friend and executive officer Paul Eddington { a vicious Kirk Douglas } who is having personal issues, and tries like hell to win WWII, all the while trying to make a connection with the son he hasn't seen for 18 years and barely knows.
Wayne and Douglas have a heart to heart after Douglas' wife was killed during the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Despite what critics at the time said, the role of Rock Torrey was a challenge to Duke Wayne. Although not an actor to shy away from a part that would show his persona in a different light, Wayne also was very much a career conscious performer. He knew what an audience would and wouldn't go for and generally didn't deviate too far from what had proven successful in the past. Interestingly, some of Duke's most memorable movies were the one's in which he did stretch his talent to it's fullest. I'm thinking of his bad-ass cattle baron in Howard Hawks' Red River, a character part in which Wayne showed he could be as obsessive and crazed as, say, Charles Laughton in Mutiny on the Bounty; his gentle, good hearted American boxer Sean Thornton in John Ford's valentine to his Irish roots in 1952's The Quiet Man; another obsessive in the form of the tough, bigoted, ex-confederate and possible-fugitive-from-justice Ethan Edwards in Ford's very great The Searchers, a film in which many feel Wayne gave his all-time-best performance. One Ford western which has a passing resemblance to In Harm's Way, is 1950's Rio Grande, which has Wayne playing Lt.Col. Kirby Yorke of the U.S. Cavalry in 1879, who years ago {much like Torrey of In Harm's Way } left his family for a life in this man's army, and is re-connected with a son he had long ago abandoned and now hardly knows, etc. Consequently, all those feelings of guilt Wayne's character had been suppressing for years takes place, front and center.
Rock Torrey {John Wayne} pays a call on Beverly McConnell {Paula Prentiss} to inform her that her husband is M.I.A.
For In Harm's Way, Wayne, looking all of his 57 years and then some, plays Torrey with a quiet grace and dignity. He knows he made past mistakes and would like to atone for them. There are some scenes from this film in which Wayne shows a remorse and loneliness like I have never seen in him before, not even in The Searchers, She Wore A Yellow Ribbon or Rio Grande. The scene where Rock Torrey goes to visit his son, whom he hasn't seen for years, is extremely touching in it's vulnerability and things left unsaid. Likewise the scene with Paula Prentiss, when Rock personally visits to tell her that her husband is M.I.A. while on assignment. Of course there are also scenes of Wayne being tough too, but scenes of tenderness and compassion are not qualities that immediately come to mind when one speaks of the cinematic image of John Wayne.
Edwards' { Wayne } compassion for his niece Debbie { Natalie Wood }, wins out over his hatred of her being captured, and spares her life in The Searchers, 1956
" Let's go home, Debbie "
But it's there in pictures like 3 Godfathers, The High and The Mighty, The Searchers {when, after years of looking, Wayne finds his niece, played by Natalie Wood, and picks her up and takes her in his arms}, and Stagecoach. New York Times film critic Bosley Crowther certainly didn't get it when he reviewed In Harm's Way on it's initial release. Starting his review, " You can't kill John Wayne. That's the message-the only message-that comes through loud and clear....." and "This is a slick and shallow picture Mr. Preminger puts forth...", giving the film a sound pen-lashing. However, I call into question if Crowther, at that time America's most respected movie scribe, even saw the same film I did. Well no matter, as he was on the way out as the N.Y. Times critic after giving 1967's Bonnie and Clyde not only a thumbs down but a scathing thumbs down, not once, not twice but three times! Being called out of step with the times in general, and with films specifically, he resigned in 1967 after 27 years on the paper. I urge you to judge for yourself. See In Harm's Way and tell me you're not affected by Wayne's moving portrait.
As John T. Chance in the incredibly entertaining Rio Bravo, 1959
My Dad, who would've been 74 this May 29, said John Wayne reminded him of his old man. Now I remember seeing my Grandfather when I was a very young boy, when he was about 85 or so years old, with only one leg and frail, so when Dad would say this it made me scratch my head in disbelief. But Dad said that Grandpa was a big man, about six foot two or three and could be kinda rough on his only son. Coming of age in the 1940's and 50's mid-West, Dad who didn't grow up in a traditional family atmosphere, was, I'm sure, given a hard time by the narrow minded people of the small town he grew up in and as an adult he carried a chip on his shoulder from those formative years. My Grandparents separated when Dad was quite young and some of his memories were of being sent by his Mom to get money out of the old man if he was late with support. Not a real jolly situation for a lad who had no other male role models, having no brothers and being raised by his Mother and two older sisters, formidable women all. So for Dad, The Duke was it; his idea of a man, pure and simple. I remember Dad taking me to see The Longest Day back in 1970, double billed with Patton, I must say I wasn't crazy about it at the time { what I wouldn't give to relive that day }. One night the whole family went to the drive-in to see True Grit, a Wayne film I did like from the first time I saw it. I use to love the drive-in as a kid. Our family had a station wagon and my sister and I would be in our pajamas with blankets and pillows and sit in the back and watch the movie with plenty soda pop and popcorn to stuff ourselves with. I think Mom, my little brother and I would drift off to sleep during the second movie, with my sis and Dad staying awake for the whole thing. First time I saw Rio Bravo was on KNXT's ' The Late Show ', with Dad, on a long ago and far away Saturday night. I loved it. He had seen it many times before and would cue me when a significant scene or line of dialogue was about to happen. He also liked to imitate the Duke when he called out to the bad guy who was holding Dean Martin hostage, " Burdette! Nathan Burdette! ", with a good " Wah-hah!" to go with it. Also remember watching The Sons of Katie Elder with Dad, another Wayne favorite of ours.
The reason I think In Harm's Way { or In Charm's Way as Pops liked to say at times, for he was forever playing around with words and names for fun } was one Dad could watch over and over again, is that it resonated for him on a personal level. As I stated earlier, one of the main thrusts of the film is the strained relationship Rock Torrey has with his son, who is named Jere. The name is short for Jeremiah, but close enough to my Dad's name, Jerry, to make it all that more meaningful. Couple that with Dad's identification of Wayne as a father figure and the subtext of the film must have been very moving for him. Dad never expressed any of this to me, so my theory may be just that. He enjoyed WWII films in general so maybe the father/son side of it didn't occur to him. But Dad was an intelligent man with an active mind. I think he made the connection, but kept that to himself.
The savage side of Ethan Edwards {John Wayne} in The Searchers, 1956.
John Wayne's place in American history is as an icon of right-wing, anti-Communist, Republicanism. There was more to the man than that, as several biographies { my favorite one being John Wayne, American by James Olson and Randy Roberts} can attest to. As an actor in the films he appeared in, Wayne was a tremendous presence and much overlooked for his ability to convey the thoughts and feelings of his characters. When I was growing up I liked some of his films too, but I never gave Wayne much credit in the acting department; that he was a one-dimensional actor, who always played himself, the good, white guy who killed Indians and saved the American West. I sold John Wayne short. One of the things maturity has brought me is a certain amount of wisdom and empathy. I see much more going on in the performances John Wayne gave, now that I am old enough to appreciate them. One has to look at the face, the eyes of Wayne to really get what is going on with him; more than just killin' Injuns, that's for sure.
As Capt. Nathan Brittles, his last day on the job, in She Wore A Yellow Ribbon, 1949
As I am about to be blessed with a Grandson in July, I think often of my Dad and how I wish he were here to see his first Great-Grandchild come into the world he left in 2009. I have grown to appreciate what he taught me about life, John Wayne and movies. I wonder who, if anyone, did that for him or if he discovered them for himself. My Dad was a complex, conflicted man who often seemed to want to be somewhere other than where he was. We had our issues; at times it wasn't easy to be with him, but I loved him and I like to think I made him proud of me. I miss him more all the time.
In the doorway of the Jorgensen's home after delivering Debbie to them, The Searchers.
'Ride away. Ride away'.
Happy Birthday, Pops. Wah-hah!
Sources : Wikipedia
John Wayne, American by James Olson & Randy Roberts
The name Douglas Fairbanks doesn't resonate the way it use to. Of the three big Hollywood stars, indeed, mega-stars from the 1920's, Mary Pickford and Charlie Chaplin are reasonably secured in the pantheon. Chaplin was awarded two Oscars in his lifetime, both honorary. Pickford, won a competitive Oscar for 1929's Coquette and was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Academy in 1976. Fairbanks, one of the original founders of the Academy, was never rewarded with the little golden guy. Chaplin's Little Tramp is known as the comic pantomime without peer, while Little Mary's legacy has been recognized by modern day critics and film historians as the first female movie star as mogul. Yet Fairbanks has somehow, however gently, been pushed aside. These three were so powerful and popular that in 1919, along with director D.W.Griffith, they formed the studio United Artists. Each had their own backlot and soundstages and would, at the beginning, personally supervise, write and/or direct each production that bore the United Artists' logo. Fairbanks' own His Majesty, the American was UA's inaugural release in 1919.Wags at the time suggested the inmates had taken hold of the asylum. So much was riding on the film's success and Fairbanks did not disappoint : His Majesty, the American was a solid box office winner, helping kick-start the fledgling company.
Fairbanks supervised every aspect of his productions. Here he is on set of The Black Pirate, 1926
Fairbanks, born May 23, 1883, was christened the first "King" of Hollywood, years before the crown was passed on to Clark Gable. He had a storybook romance and marriage to "America's Sweetheart" Mary Pickford, was the idol of boys and young men everywhere as the universal symbol of athleticism, exuberance and enthusiasm. The 1920's were his golden years, when Fairbanks, just 37 in 1920, began a series of swashbucklers and adventure yarns upon which his legend rests. Fairbanks had been in the "flickers" since 1915 and had made over 30 films when he decided to film The Mark of Zorro in 1920, with himself as Don Diego Vega aka Zorro. Released in December, Mark of Zorro was a huge hit wherever it played, changed the course of his career, and Fairbanks the action star was off and running.{Subsequent Zorro remakes were made with Tyrone Power in 1940 and Frank Langella in 1974}. In the following years, Fairbanks would embark on a series of ambitious action, adventure and fantasy films. These productions set the gold standard for swashbuckling, with romantic derring-do on a grand and lavish scale : The Three Musketeers {1921, with Doug as D'Artagnan}; Robin Hood {1922} with massive sets, the biggest yet built for a Hollywood movie; The Thief Of Bagdad {1924} a real boy's Arabian Nights fantasy, and to this day probably his best known work. 1925 brought a sequel {yes, they made them back then, too} playing the title role as Don Q, Son of Zorro. The Black Pirate, an early technicolor spectacular from 1926, has what may be Fairbanks' greatest stunt by taking his knife and plunging it into the sail of a ship and sliding down to the deck, while taking over the vessel. The YouTube clip below, was the only one I could successfully access. Unfortunately, it's in B & W, not the original color. The stunt comes in at about the 2:10 mark.
1927 brought The Gaucho, a darker, more somber Fairbanks film in which he plays, you guessed it, The Gaucho, who according to IMDB, is a "charismatic leader of a band of outlaws, who save an Argentine town from an evil and sadistic General". This is one of my favorite Fairbanks films, though much different in tone from his other classics, with it's sexually charged tango scene with the lusty Lupe Velez in her first starring role and Doug's Gaucho, which has an ambivalent quality that's quite unlike his previous heroes. Fairbanks, chain-smoking his way through the part, had never allowed this steamy quality of his personality to surface; in fact, his Gaucho is practically image-shattering. In addition, the film has a somewhat schizo quality, {possibly due to Fairbanks', whose astrological sign is Gemini, split within his own nature}, with it's very reverent tone, such as when the Gaucho sees a vision of the Virgin Mary, {tellingly played by none other than wife Pickford}, and has a religious conversion. Because of this mixed bag of themes and persona's, many critics rank it lower in the Fairbanks canon of classics, yet these are the very qualities I find fascinating.
Dancing the seductive tango with Lupe Velez in The Gaucho, 1927.
Premiering on November 7, 1927 at Grauman's Chinese theater in Hollywood {which Doug and Mary had put their hand and footprints in the previous April}, The Gaucho was a bit of an anachronism by the time of it's release, in that, just a month before, Warner Brothers had unleashed The Jazz Singer on an unsuspecting world and turned the movies on it's head with the innovation of synchronized sound. Fairbanks, Chaplin, Pickford and others suddenly found their persona and entire careers in jeopardy. Unlike some of his contemporaries, Fairbanks had spent years on the Broadway stage {as did Pickford} before he went into films in 1915, so speaking on film wasn't much of an issue or concern to him. Consequently Fairbanks did not fear sound pictures, but he did dread the change it brought to the silver screen and the influence it brought to making of the kind of films he loved to create. With sound, the motion picture camera went into a stagnant phase that would last a good 2 to 3 years. Suddenly movies stopped moving and the actors all stood around reciting dialog to each other. Today a lot of ignorant folk hate silent films because the films are just that, silent. That's ironic, because the silent film by 1926/27 had reached the pinnacle of artistry and sophistication with movies like 1925's Ben-Hur and King Vidor's WWI epic The Big Parade and his 1928 production of everyday life with The Crowd; Von Stroheim's 1925 exercise in decadence, The Merry Widow; Chaplin's The Gold Rush; John Ford's The Iron Horse; F.W. Murnau's picturesque Sunrise, and many more, show how far the art of film had come since D.W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation in 1915. Without a doubt, by 1927 the silent film had become a universal art form of the highest order. If one wants to see the truly worst period for Hollywood films, view the early talkies made from 1928 to 1930. Most are awful. There are exceptions, of course : Lubitsch's The Love Parade, Josef Von Sternberg's The Blue Angel and Morocco; Lewis Milestone's All Quiet on the Western Front and a handful more, but most are deadly affairs. Fairbanks anticipated this change in cinema and also, with sound, there would have to be a shift to more realistic stories and plots. As Doug said to his art director Laurence Irving in 1928, while touring a new soundstage at the UA studio for his next production The Iron Mask, " the romance of motion picture making ends here."
The Iron Mask, as D'Artagnan, 20 years after The Three Musketeers.
The Iron Mask, from 1929, picks up 20 years after The Three Musketeers. D'Artagnan and his fellow cohorts are older, but no less committed to their King. The film, like the previous The Gaucho, was different from Fairbanks' earlier efforts. First off, Doug would be playing a character for whom age is an issue, much as it was becoming for him in real life. Fairbanks realized he could not go on playing the light, bouncy, exuberant and youthful go-getter he had played since in began making pictures. The change is evident in the film as Fairbanks is no longer front and center. Though obviously the star, The Iron Mask, more than other Fairbanks films, is a more ensemble piece with a slower pace than most of Doug's other work. And the film has a distinction that sets it apart; at film's end, D'Artagnan dies. A somber ending for a Fairbanks film is unheard of, but Doug was crafting a farewell film to the genre he had created almost single-handedly. The Iron Mask, which has two talking sequences, is a loving and moving tribute to that genre and one of my favorite Fairbanks extravaganzas.
D'Artagnan with Athos, Porthos and Aramis. All for one and one for all, one more time. The Iron Mask, 1929
February 1929 brought the premiere of The Iron Mask to glowing reviews and stellar box office, though because of it's high budget of $1 million dollars the film is often cast aside as a failure. In view of Fairbanks' classic 20's sagas, The Iron Mask usually, and unfairly, comes up on the short end. 1929 also brought Doug and Mary together professionally for the first time {if one discounts her Gaucho cameo} for an all-talking version of William Shakespeare's The Taming Of The Shrew. Since their marriage in 1920, the public had been clamoring for the world's most famous couple to unite on celluloid. The original Brangelina or LizandDick of their generation, Doug and Mary helped give Hollywood a much needed boost of respectability when the town and the film industry really needed it as it was on the verge of self-destruction due to several scandals that brought every moral organization in the country out to denounce Hollywood as a modern Gomorrah. A dinner's invitation to Pickfair, their regal home in Beverly Hills, was tantamount to a Royal Command Performance and an offer one couldn't refuse. But by 1929, when Taming Of The Shrew a co-produced, co-financed and co-starring vehicle,was being lensed, the Fairbanks/Pickford alliance was starting to fray and burst at the seems. By most accounts, the filming of Shrew was fraught with difficulties mostly from Fairbanks' behavior, not only towards Mary, but also toward the director Sam Taylor. According to Jeffrey Vance's book Douglas Fairbanks, the swashbuckler was "moody, willful and defiant", that "sound film turned his natural exuberance into petulance." For Doug, for whom creating pictures was everything, this behavior was entirely out of character. Assistant director H. Bruce "Lucky" Humberstone recalled relations between Doug and Mary as frosty at best. About the only time they spoke to each other on set was when Fairbanks would criticise or question Mary's judgement. Mary Pickford, in her autobiography, states that "I saw a completely new Douglas, a Douglas who no longer cared apparently about me or my feelings". At times Fairbanks would show up on set late, unprepared, not knowing his lines and having them written on chalkboards, out of camera range. Of course the strange thing is that by all reviews, contemporary and otherwise, Fairbanks' Petruchio walks off with the the film, while Mary's Kate appears rather shrill and weak of voice in comparison. The film opened at the Rivoli Theatre in New York City on November 29, 1929 {just one month after Black Tuesday which signified the stock market crash of 1929 therefore ushering in the Great Depression} to tepid reviews and a lackluster box office. For Fairbanks the Depression of 1929 also had him questioning his philosophy of "pluck, luck and hard work", which would lead to one's success.
Doug as Petruchio, stealing the show from wife Mary, in the infamous 1929 version of Shakespeare's The Taming Of The Shrew.
By 1930 with his marriage in trouble and his career at a low point Fairbanks, always restless, was encountering a midlife crisis and began to travel as a means of staying active and avoiding his strained relationship with Mary. In fact, he was running away from himself and his problems. As far back as 1925 Mary sensed a "restlessness and nervous impatience...nothing satisfied him." He continued to make movies and he still took an active interest in United Artists, but overall Fairbanks was a vagabond, wandering from port to port, country to country. There would be a few more movies: Reaching for the Moon in 1930, Mr. Robinson Crusoe from 1932 and his last film, Private Lives of Don Juan in 1934. After that, silence. Fairbanks did make great strides in his relationship with his son, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. Theirs had always been an uneasy alliance. Senior always had to appear youthful and exuberance personified. Junior was always a reminder that Senior wasn't getting any younger and that he had failed his first wife by running away from marriage #1 when it was in crisis. Yet in the final 10 years of his life Fairbanks, Senior and Junior, came to a kind of understanding, one that they could both accept. Doug Junior would go on to have a nice career in movies, even emulating his father in such films as Sinbad, the Sailor {1947}; Prisoner of Zenda {1937}; The Corsican Brothers {1941} and probably his best remembered movie, Gunga Din {1939}. A respectable career, not quite as spectacular as Senior's, but not bad on it's own terms.
A rare night on the town with son, Doug, Jr.
So far as marriage to Pickford was concerned, it was essentially over. Mary's drinking and her affair with Charles "Buddy" Rogers, was more than Fairbanks could or would tolerate. Mary filed for divorce in December 1933 and earlier that year Doug turned 50, a dangerous age for any man. About this time Doug told his son that he had "done everything twice, was bored with life and prepared to die". If he had to go, he wanted to go quickly and not linger. While in England to film The Private Life of Don Juan, his final film, Fairbanks met and was smitten with Lady Sylvia Ashley. Sylvia's husband Lord Ashley, filed for divorce, naming Fairbanks as corespondent. Pickford could tolerate Doug's infidelities if kept private, but this public acknowledgement was more than she could bear. On January 10, 1936 their divorce was final, with Mary assuming all control of Pickfair where she would reside for the rest of her days. Later that year Sylvia Ashley became the third Mrs. Douglas Fairbanks. What went wrong in the marriage between Doug and Mary is anyone's guess. Mine would be Doug's mid-life crisis, Mary's alcoholism and the downturn of both careers, due to talkies. Fairbanks, a life long teetotaler, hated to witness Pickford's condition when under the influence. Fairbanks' mid-life issues are inextricably linked to his career problems now that he had reached his late 40's and couldn't do all the athletic feats he was famous for. Fairbanks, a man in constant motion, was facing his own mortality. As for The Private Lives of Don Juan, it received a cool reception from critics and moviegoers alike. It was to be the last film Doug would make. As he told director Raoul Walsh, "There's nothing as humiliating as being a has been". Time was running out. By the late 30's Fairbanks, only in his mid-fifties, nonetheless felt as if he were an old man. Depression, always close at hand, began to consume him. The years of nicotine addiction was catching up with him and he was weary of traveling so much. However his new bride was a social animal with many friends in Europe, so Doug and Sylvia trotted round the Continent in search of the next party. September 1939 put an end to such frivolous behavior with the outbreak of WWII. Finally, the Fairbanks' were forced to settle down and decided to set up residence at 705 Ocean Front Boulevard {now the Pacific Coast Highway}. Back on the west coast of California, Fairbanks toyed with the idea of producing vehicles for his son. The Adventures of Marco Polo was one such project, but Fairbanks, bored by the project, sold it to UA's newest partner Samuel Goldwyn who made it in 1938 with Gary Cooper. Another film in development was called The Californian, but it failed to get beyond the initial planning phase.
A still from his last starring role. The Private Life of Don Juan, 1934.
Early in December 1939 Doug suffered a mild heart attack. The doctors expected a full recovery with complete bed rest for six months, but the years of tobacco and Doug's constant restlessness had left his lungs shot and his spirit weary. Upon hearing the doctors prognosis, according to his son, he had lost the will to live. Fairbanks suffered a massive heart attack on December 12, 1939 and died, aged 56. Only ten years previous he had been on top of the world, the greatest swashbuckler the movies had ever seen. I believe Fairbanks died of a broken heart. He still loved Mary, despite them both being married to others and one of his last words were about her, that, plus the loss of his metier of making movies, killed him. He had achieved so much in such a short time; actor, producer, mogul, millionaire, idol to millions of boys, not to mention father, husband and friend, that I don't think he absorbed it, took it all in, in it's proper perspective and failed to appreciated it. Certainly, it was a sad end to one of the most exorbitant careers in the history of Hollywood.
Doug and Mary. Love never dies. My favorite picture of the two of them.
References:
Wikipedia
Douglas Fairbanks by Jeffrey Vance
Mary Pickford, America's Sweetheart by Scott Eyeman
The films of Douglas Fairbanks
One would never accuse Baz Luhrmann of having too much good taste. From Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge!,we know the director loves to film his subjects with a larger than life, frenetic, all-or-nothing style, full of excess. His characters live their lives on the edge of a precipice, willing to do anything for love. It should therefore come as no surprise that his latest film, The Great Gatsby, has much the same energy as his previous outings. F. Scott Fitzgerald may be rolling over in his grave, but Luhrmann's interpretation of a nearly 90 year old novel gives the story a vibrance and immediacy that helps keep it fresh for 21st Century cinema audiences.
Daisy and Gatsby, with the eyes of Dr. T. J. Eckleburg watching over them like God.
The book was published in 1925 and there have been many previously filmed versions of the Fitzgerald book, which some claim is The Great American Novel. In 1926 a silent Gatsby was filmed with Warner Baxter, Lois Wilson and William Powell. This appears to be a ' lost ' film. In 1949, Paramount Pictures turned Gatsby into a noir drama with Alan Ladd {Shane} as the mysterious man, Betty Field as his love Daisy, Macdonald Carey {of daytime soap opera Days of Our Lives fame} as Gatsby's only true friend Nick Carraway, Ruth Hussey as Jordan Baker , Barry Sullivan as Daisy's husband Tom and Shelley Winters as the ill-fated Myrtle, Tom's lower class mistress. This version was kept out of circulation for decades, presumably because Paramount wanted movie lovers to only see their 1974 version with Robert Redford and Mia Farrow. The 1949 version has turned up recently on YouTube in a truly awful print. That pretty much left the field open for the Redford/Farrow version, made amid plenty of media pomp and circumstance, but which left most viewers cold. The ' 74 version, which I have seen plenty of times, has it's pleasures; the period detail, costumes, sets and music, are all first rate, it also contained several quality performances; specifically from Bruce Dern, Karen Black, Sam Waterston and Scott Wilson. Redford's Gatsby and Farrow's Daisy were okay, but the supporting cast was impeccable.
Poster for the 1949 Alan Ladd noir-ish version
This new, hip-hopped, 3D'ed version gets alot of the feel of the Roaring 20's -bootleg gin and flappers- right. I was doubtful going in if the music would fit the milieu, however Luhrmann has chosen wisely to keep most of the modern music to the party scenes, which are spectacular. The use of Rhapsody in Blue, though historically inaccurate { the movie is set in 1922, Gershwin's masterpiece wasn't written and performed until 1924}, it fits well into the picture, coming as it does with the first intro of DiCaprio's Gatsby. Luhrmann's trademark rapid-fire editing and camerawork is also more subdued here and the images of New York City are, at times, truly breathtaking. Surely one cannot fault the physical production.
The performances range from good to fair to poor. On the good side there is Leonardo DiCaprio as millionaire Jay Gatsby. DiCaprio brings a initial hesitancy to Gatsby that feels right; this is a man for whom making a positive impression is everything, due to his dirt poor upbringing. DiCaprio's use of the term "old sport ", is delivered with just the right amount of uncertainess; it doesn't sound quite right coming out of his mouth and it shouldn't. The out of control, violent side of Gatsby's nature is also frighteningly brought to life. Leo makes a fine Jay Gatsby, for who repeating the past is essential. I would go further and say Gatsby is not so much about repeating the past, but about erasing the bad parts of that past; substituting one's own version of it. Carey Mulligan brings a more down to earth quality than I had seen in previous incarnations. Not flighty, Mulligan brings a melancholy to Daisy I had not anticipated. Her Daisy, through a good hour or so, has one of the saddest expression on her face I have ever witnessed. Tobey Maguire's Nick Carraway was, at first, hard for me to take, but the actor seemed to get more comfortable with the part as the movie progressed. An interesting thing I noticed was Maguire's resembles to the book's author, Fitzgerald. Opening the film in an asylum {which is not in the book}, from which Nick narrates the entire movie, brings a touch of Fitzgerald, who spent time in the 1930's in such places brought on by his alcoholism, to the proceedings.
Nick and Jordan party hardy, 20's-style
Newcomer Elizabeth Debicki brings the right amount of sexy, slinky, sassy elegance to the part of golf pro Jordan Baker, Nick's part-time girlfriend and good friend of Daisy's. One of the weakest parts of this new version are the characters of Tom Buchanan, Daisy's brutish husband, and his mistress Myrtle. Isla Fisher brings a jazz baby vivacity to Myrtle, what with her Brooklyn accented, Clara Bow-look and her low-life {in today's parlance, trailer trash} sister and their friends. Unfortunately, Ms. Fisher has just a scant amount of screen time, with no interaction with her garage-owning husband, who she appears to loathe, but since Luhrmann doesn't give us any of Myrtle's story, and if one hasn't read the book, one can only assume.
Party girl, Myrtle
Joel Edgerton's Tom is a different problem altogether. If I were to point to one glaring weakness in both the movie and it's actors it would be Edgerton, for he shows us only one side of Tom; the racist, misogynistic, privileged, to-the-manor-born white man. It is true Tom is such a man, but as Bruce Dern aptly showed us in the 1974 version, there was much more to Tom than control and money and oppression. Edgerton's Tom is all bluster with no subtlety or shading. Edgerton misses Buchanan's smug arrogance; consequently, Tom becomes more of a bore than a threat to Gatsby and Daisy's chance for happiness. What Daisy saw in him and why she married him in the first place is hard to fathom.
Director Lurhmann get's Isla Fisher in his sights
Baz Luhrmann's films are stylized, operatic, over-the-top affairs. Like a box of over-stuffed chocolates, one is never quite sure what to expect until that first bite is taken and I admit I went to this movie expecting to love it or hate it, for Luhrmann's films, unlike most filmmakers, leaves room no middle ground. He doesn't play it safe. He is the Ken Russell of the 21st Century; a mad dreamer, who has a strong visual sense with a unique, some might say outrageous, view. Luhmann is also the cinema's current romantic. In this age of hip cynicism, where most people have seen it all or done it all { or feel that they have, which amounts to the same thing }, Luhrmann dares to give us romantics who cannot be separated, yet also cannot be together, except in death; his Romeo and Juliet surrounded by gang warfare and the peer pressure of doing what that crowd expects; Sabine and Christian, the ill-fated lovers torn apart by bad luck and circumstance in Moulin Rouge!, and now Gatsby. I recommend that you go and see this Gatsby, in a theater and in 3D. It may not please everyone {it has the critics divided right down the middle}, but it will not bore you.Like it's maker, Gatsby the movieand Gatsby the man is a risk taker and that alone has it's rewards.
Sources: Wikipedia;
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald; Crazy Sundays : F, Scott Fitzgerald in Hollywood by Aaron Latham; The Great Gatsby - 1974
Her best known movie. Breakfast at Tiffany's, 1961. Audrey may not have been author Truman Capote's Holly Golightly but she sure was director Blake Edwards'. Audrey gave a classic performance in one of the great romantic comedies of all-time.
Today would have been Audrey Hepburn's 84th birthday, but she passed way too soon, 20 years ago at age 63. An icon of style, grace and elegance, the incredibly thin Hepburn was an unusual sex symbol, especially in the boob conscious 50's and 60's America. Audrey once said, she was too skinny, her feet were too big, her legs and neck were too long. Like all of us, she only saw her imperfections. Born in Belgium on May 4th, 1929, Audrey Kathleen Ruston was caught up in the horrors of World War II like so many in Europe, in fact her father was a Nazi sympathizer. In the mid-1930's Audrey's mother caught her father in a rather compromising position with the family nanny and he swiftly left the family. Hepburn's experiences during WW II and it's human suffering led to her later involvement with UNICEF.
As Billy Wilder's Sabrina. Back from Paris looking so chic her old crush, David Larrabee, won't recognize her.
1953's Roman Holiday, her first starring role, made Hepburn a star and won her an Oscar for Best Actress. When she won the Oscar she was in New York appearing in the play Ondine. She would go on to win a Tony Award for that performance making her one of 3 actresses to win both Oscars and Tonys the same year. In 1954 came Sabrina with Bogie and William Holden {a love affair ensued between Holden and Audrey}, War and Peace in 1956 opposite Henry Fonda and new hubby Mel Ferrer, while both Funny Face, dancing with the peerless Fred Astaire and Love in the Afternoon with an aging Gary Cooper were released in 1957 and Fred Zinnemann's The Nun's Story in 1959 and on and on into the 60's.
Love this pic. Beautiful, even with rings under her eyes and getting her hair styled
Men were intrigued with her gamine quality but women absolutely adored her. I suppose the first time I saw her was in her comeback film after 9 years away from the screen, 1976's Robin And Marian with Sean Connery. I like the movie a lot but I don't think Hepburn made much of an impression on my 17 year old mind. In 1979 Hepburn top lined the big budget box office disaster Sidney Sheldon's Bloodline, another movie I caught at my local cinema {in those days of youth I saw everything. Usually with my friends or my sister and niece, but often on my own too}. Audrey looked great, clothed by Enrico Sabbatini, but the movie, directed by Terence Young {Dr.No, From Russia With Love, Wait Until Dark}, was a dog with fleas.
In 1983 Audrey joined John Ritter, Ben Gazzara, Colleen Camp and a group of talented unknowns for Peter Bogdanovich's They All Laughed, a thoroughly delightful romantic ensemble comedy that I saw with my sis and niece at the old Granada theater in Santa Barbara, back in the day when it was the best movie palace in town and the only one with a balcony that never was closed off. I loved this movie from day one {in fact, it would make a good post of an Underrated Gem}, but again, Audrey left me with a feeling of less than I had hoped or been led to believe. My first glimpse of Audrey in her movie prime was, I think, 1954's Sabrina. I really love this movie, even with a miscast Humphrey Bogart as eldest brother Linus Larrabee; it does feature a spot-on William Holden as playboy/younger brother, David. A Cinderella story, Sabrina was directed by the great Billy Wilder, caught in a Lubtisch mood, just as he would be 3 years later when he would direct Audrey and Gary Cooper in Love in the Afternoon. This second pairing of Wilder and Hepburn may not be everyone's cup of tea; for one thing Coop, though excellent in the part, looks too old for her. Wilder had wanted Cary Grant, but the great comic actor said no. The YouTube clip, above, is recommended for those who have seen the movie, as it is a spoiler. But it contains what may be my favorite ending to a movie, ever. Certainly the most romantic ending I have ever scene.
Audrey in the mid-50's, having tea with hubby Mel Ferrer. The marriage didn't last. But I love this photo, they look so happy.
My other favorite Hepburn's are Funny Face, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Charade {with Cary Grant, finally!}, My Fair Lady and Two For The Road. Curiously, throughout her career, Hepburn was paired up with much older leading men: Bogart was 54 to Audrey's 24 in Sabrina, Fonda in War and Peace was about 50, Astaire and Cooper were over 55 when she worked with them, ditto Rex Harrison in My Fair Lady. Even in that splendid pairing of Audrey and Cary in 1963's Charade, one cannot deny that fact that Grant is much older than she {though I for one have to say he doesn't look nearly 60}
Had no idea they knew each other! On the Sabrina set, 1953.
Audrey died in January 1993 of appendiceal cancer. Her last movie appearance was in Steven Spielberg's Always, as Hap, the angel who helps Richard Dreyfuss' character after his plane has crashed. Hepburn continues to live on after her death as an icon of fashion, sophistication and glamor. To the under 40 crowd, she may be best known for that, rather than for her work in films, although I like to think a lot of girls still travel through the Hepburn filmography of Tiffany's, Sabrina, Roman Holiday and My Fair Lady; etc. A lot of guys could benefit from that visit too.
With the fawn, named Ip, she helped to raise from it's infancy for the movie Green Mansions, a 1959 dud directed by husband Ferrer.
Audrey's cowgirl look, unusual for her, is fetching. On set of Huston's The Unforgiven, 1960
Miss Hepburn checks out.
Sources : Wikipedia
Audrey Hepburn by Barry Paris
Images: Fuck Yeah, Audrey Hepburn
And the movies of Audrey Hepburn
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