|
Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with today’s installment of A Movie A Day.
[For those now joining us, A Movie A Day is my attempt at filling in gaps in my film knowledge. My DVD collection is thousands strong, many of them films I haven’t seen yet, but picked up as I scoured used DVD stores. Each day I’ll pull a previously unseen film from my collection or from my DVR and discuss it here. Each movie will have some sort of connection to the one before it, be it cast or crew member.]
Welcome to today’s AMAD, the third of three films in our mini-Mike Nichols-a-thon.
Is it horrible if I start this off for saying godbless this film for its gratuitous Ann-Margret nudity? Does it make me a horrible person? I hope not, because I have already committed to starting off that way.
I don’t know what it is with Mike Nichols and dysfunctional relationships, but the dude seems to love to make films about people in love or lust being absolutely rotten to each other. I think if I watched CARNAL KNOWLEDGE, WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? and CLOSER all in a row I’d swear off relationships and join some sort of celibate priesthood.
Not that I’m any expert on crazy sexcapades or anything. I’ve never had a one night stand and have only had two serious relationships in my life. Sure, I’ve dated a bit, but the two serious ones… well, one ended badly and the other one, a four year long relationship, just ended period.
But that doesn’t stop me from being a hopeless romantic. I love the idea of finding my soul mate. I’ve known people in my life that found exactly that. It’s possible. So, I honestly do prefer the Richard Curtis brand of films focusing on the joy of romance, but damn do I like good cynical, gritty movie like this one every once in a while.
Especially this one… I don’t think it’s high on the rewatch factor… it’s a bit too tough of a movie, a bit too harsh to subject myself to routinely. When this started off I had no idea how epic this would be. I thought it was strange to see Jack Nicholson playing a college kid in the early ‘70s, but it didn’t strike me that this film was going to explore 30 years of horrible, desperate, hate-filled relationships.
In fact, they tricked me into thinking it was a love triangle movie, when in the giant scheme of things all the relationship signifies is how just horribly sexual relationships start with our two leads.
I say two leads, but it really is Jack Nicholson’s movie. Art Garfunkel (yeah, that Art Garfunkel) plays Sandy, Nicholson’s best friend and the first act is his. The focus is on Garfunkel’s relationship with Candice Bergen’s Susan while in college. Art and Jack made a pact to finally get laid (over the opening credits, no less) and you can tell Jack doesn’t think Sandy has it in him.
Nicholson’s Jonathan Fuerst doesn’t show any interest in Bergen at first. Even when Garfunkel hits it off with her. Nicholson actually gives him advice, which we see is horrible, but Garfunkel coasts by on his nervous innocence. Bergen finds him to be her intellectual equal and she does love him, in her own way.
She loves him, but isn’t excited by him. It’s an odd relationship… it’s clearly more than friendship, but she doesn’t seem to want him sexually. When Nicholson hears that she gave Garfunkel a handjob, suddenly he’s very interested and tries to date her behind Garfunkel’s back.
What is lacking in animal magnetism between Garfunkel and Bergen is there in spades with her and Nicholson. She fucks him, while holding out on the one she actually loves. Mike Nichols has a great visual representation of this triangle in a dance montage where we see her on dates with both Garfunkel and Nicholson, dancing in the same bar. With Garfunkel there’s no energy, no passion, but with Nicholson it’s a rush. They’re swinging, laughing… but it feels frivolous.
In fact, there’s one brilliant scene where it’s just a long, long take of the camera focused on Bergen sitting at a table. We can’t see them, but both Garfunkel and Nicholson are there, on either side, off camera and Bergen is laughing so hard at their conversation that she can hardly catch a breath. This take is maybe 2 or 3 minutes long, the camera not cutting or moving, featuring only Bergen and her hysterical laughter as the conversation goes on. If you need any evidence that Mike Nichols is one of the screen’s greatest directors just watch the first act of this movie, culminating in this scene, and marvel at just how much he says visually in his shot selection and length of takes.
I took it to mean that her perfect mate would be if you could splice Nicholson and Garfunkel together. Each on their own doesn’t give her everything she needs, but in this one scene she is the most at ease and natural that we ever see her in the movie. Maybe that perfect person is out there for Susan, but I don’t know what her fate is.
We know that she marries Garfunkel and they disappear for most of the second act… Nichols plays with time passage here. There’s a cut and suddenly Garfunkel and Nicholson are hanging out in Manhattan, both prominent in their business fields, years out of college. Garfunkel is married and Nicholson a walking boner.
This is when we focus almost completely on Nicholson meeting Ann-Margret, bedding Ann-Margret and her doing her damndest to nail him down. What’s really tragic about Nicholson is you can see a part of him is fighting his desire to be a permanent, life-long bachelor, some side of him that wants to settle down and be happy with one woman. I truly believe that he was hurt when Bergen chose Garfunkel over him and that she could have been his only chance at salvation… however, even that would have been some pretty long odds.
It just seems Jonathan Fuerst is wired to be a womanizer. He gets bored, he gets demanding. He’s a bit of a chauvinist prick. But Ann-Margret falls for him.
Garfunkel pops up a little bit, telling us that he’s bored as shit in his relationship with Bergen and wants to have an affair. Nicholson sets that up, but by this time the focus has completely shifted over to Nicholson. Even this subplot only serves to drive another wedge between Ann-Margret and Nicholson.
There are a lot of themes and recurring moments at play here. I won’t pretend I’ve figured them all out after having just watched the movie, but the most obvious I see is Nicholson’s constant desire to shower. It feels like he showers every 10 minutes in this movie. After sex, after arguing… it makes you wonder just what he’s trying to wash away.
Nicholson turns in a strong, strong performance, taking a character that should be impossible to sympathize with and making him relatable on some level. This movie falls in-between FIVE EASY PIECES and CHINATOWN for him, the very beginning of his big upswing in fame post-EASY RIDER. He’s hitting his stride as a performer here, a few years from one of my all-time favorite films and a damn near career best performance in ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST.
Garfunkel is surprisingly strong in his role of best friend to Nicholson. He isn’t given nearly as much to do as Jack, but he has some pretty meaty stuff at the beginning of the film and he handles it well.
The girls are all great in their parts. Bergen is absolutely gorgeous here… I’ve seen other films around this era from her, but growing up in the ‘80s it’s hard to shake Murphy Brown, who always felt like a mom and not a sex fantasy, so it’s always a bit shocking for me to see her early stuff. Her character is very complex and I think if her character had survived past the first act in more than just a mention from Garfunkel she would have been nominated for this performance.
Rita Moreno and Cynthia O’Neal are also good in their much, much smaller roles (O’Neal playing Garfunkel’s affair and Moreno a prostitute that closes the movie), but if there’s an MVP of the movie it’s Ann-Margret.
What a mini-powerhouse she is in this movie. Her character is both needy and independent. She both hates and loves Nicholson. She wants to escape, but she asks for more of the same. In short, her character, Bobbie, is a walking conflict. I don’t know why she sets her heart on Nicholson and that’s the point. I don’t think she does either. And Nicholson certainly has no fucking clue.
It’s a great role and one she was nominated for, losing out to Cloris Leachman for THE LAST PICTURE SHOW.
Final Thoughts: There’s little hope to be found here. If you believed all relationships happen like they do in this movie then the human race would end because no one would ever want to meet another living soul. But somehow by showing us the worst of people, the worst at love and lust, we somehow end up thinking it might be possible to find what you truly desire. I think Nicholson finds it at the end and while I believe what he finds is completely hollow, it’s a perfect match for his character. Great performances, masterful visual storytelling by Nichols and a great script by Jules Feiffer make this an easy recommend, just don’t watch it on a date.
Here’s what we have lined up for the next week:
Thursday, December 4th: THE CINCINNATI KID (1965)
Friday, December 5th: POCKETFUL OF MIRACLES (1961)
Saturday, December 6th: MIKEY & NICKY (1976)
Sunday, December 7th: TWO MINUTE WARNING (1976)
Monday, December 8th: THE SENTINEL (1976)
Tuesday, December 9th: HOW TO STEAL A MILLION (1966)
Wednesday, December 10th: WHAT’S NEW PUSSYCAT? (1965)
Tomorrow we follow the beautiful Ann-Margret over to the Steve McQueen poker flick THE CINCINNATI KID! See you folks then!
-Quint
quint@aintitcool.com
Previous Movies:
June 2nd: Harper
June 3rd: The Drowning Pool
June 4th: Papillon
June 5th: Gun Crazy
June 6th: Never So Few
June 7th: A Hole In The Head
June 8th: Some Came Running
June 9th: Rio Bravo
June 10th: Point Blank
June 11th: Pocket Money
June 12th: Cool Hand Luke
June 13th: The Asphalt Jungle
June 14th: Clash By Night
June 15th: Scarlet Street
June 16th: Killer Bait (aka Too Late For Tears)
June 17th: Robinson Crusoe On Mars
June 18th: City For Conquest
June 19th: San Quentin
June 20th: 42nd Street
June 21st: Dames
June 22nd: Gold Diggers of 1935
June 23rd: Murder, My Sweet
June 24th: Born To Kill
June 25th: The Sound of Music
June 26th: Torn Curtain
June 27th: The Left Handed Gun
June 28th: Caligula
June 29th: The Elephant Man
June 30th: The Good Father
July 1st: Shock Treatment
July 2nd: Flashback
July 3rd: Klute
July 4th: On Golden Pond
July 5th: The Cowboys
July 6th: The Alamo
July 7th: Sands of Iwo Jima
July 8th: Wake of the Red Witch
July 9th: D.O.A.
July 10th: Shadow of A Doubt
July 11th: The Matchmaker
July 12th: The Black Hole
July 13th: Vengeance Is Mine
July 14th: Strange Invaders
July 15th: Sleuth
July 16th: Frenzy
July 17th: Kingdom of Heaven: The Director’s Cut
July 18th: Cadillac Man
July 19th: The Sure Thing
July 20th: Moving Violations
July 21st: Meatballs
July 22nd: Cast a Giant Shadow
July 23rd: Out of the Past
July 24th: The Big Steal
July 25th: Where Danger Lives
July 26th: Crossfire
July 27th: Ricco, The Mean Machine
July 28th: In Harm’s Way
July 29th: Firecreek
July 30th: The Cheyenne Social Club
July 31st: The Man Who Knew Too Much
August 1st: The Spirit of St. Louis
August 2nd: Von Ryan’s Express
August 3rd: Can-Can
August 4th: Desperate Characters
August 5th: The Possession of Joel Delaney
August 6th: Quackser Fortune Has A Cousin In The Bronx
August 7th: Start the Revolution Without Me
August 8th: Hell Is A City
August 9th: The Pied Piper
August 10th: Partners
August 11th: Barry Lyndon
August 12th: The Skull
August 13th: The Hellfire Club
August 14th: Blood of the Vampire
August 15th: Terror of the Tongs
August 16th: Pirates of Blood River
August 17th: The Devil-Ship Pirates
August 18th: Jess Franco’s Count Dracula
August 19th: Dracula A.D. 1972
August 20th: The Stranglers of Bombay
August 21st: Man, Woman & Child
August 22nd: The Little Girl Who Lives Down The Lane
August 23rd: The Young Philadelphians
August 24th: The Rack
August 25th: Until They Sail
August 26th: Somebody Up There Likes Me
August 27th: The Set-Up
August 28th: The Devil & Daniel Webster
August 29th: Cat People
August 30th: The Curse of the Cat People
August 31st: The 7th Victim
September 1st: The Ghost Ship
September 2nd: Isle of the Dead
September 3rd: Bedlam
September 4th: Black Sabbath
September 5th: Black Sunday
September 6th: Twitch of the Death Nerve
September 7th: Tragic Ceremony
September 8th: Lisa & The Devil
September 9th: Baron Blood
September 10th: A Shot In The Dark
September 11th: The Pink Panther
September 12th: The Return of the Pink Panther
September 13th: The Pink Panther Strikes Again
September 14th: Revenge of the Pink Panther
September 15th: Trail of the Pink Panther
September 16th: The Real Glory
September 17th: The Winning of Barbara Worth
September 18th: The Cowboy and the Lady
September 19th: Dakota
September 20th: Red River
September 21st: Terminal Station
September 22nd: The Search
September 23rd: Act of Violence
September 24th: Houdini
September 25th: Money From Home
September 26th: Papa’s Delicate Condition
September 27th: Dillinger
September 28th: Battle of the Bulge
September 29th: Daisy Kenyon
September 30th: Laura
October 1st: The Dunwich Horror
October 2nd: Experiment In Terror
October 3rd: The Devil’s Rain
October 4th: Race With The Devil
October 5th: Salo, Or The 120 Days of Sodom
October 6th: Bad Dreams
October 7th: The House Where Evil Dwells
October 8th: Memories of Murder
October 9th: The Hunger
October 10th: I Saw What You Did
October 11th: I Spit On Your Grave
October 12th: Naked You Die
October 13th: The Wraith
October 14th: Silent Night, Bloody Night
October 15th: I Bury The Living
October 16th: The Beast Must Die
October 17th: Hellgate
October 18th: He Knows You’re Alone
October 19th: The Thing From Another World
October 20th: The Fall of the House of Usher
October 21st: Audrey Rose
October 22nd: Who Slew Auntie Roo?
October 23rd: Wait Until Dark
October 24th: Dead & Buried
October 25th: A Bucket of Blood
October 26th: The Bloodstained Shadow
October 27th: I, Madman
October 28th: Return to Horror High
October 29th: Die, Monster, Die
October 30th: Epidemic
October 31st: Student Bodies
November 1st: Black Widow
November 2nd: The Ghost & Mrs. Muir
November 3rd: Flying Tigers
November 4th: Executive Action
November 5th: The Busy Body
November 6th: It’s A Mad Mad Mad Mad World
November 7th: Libeled Lady
November 8th: Up The River
November 9th: Doctor Bull
November 10th: Judge Priest
November 11th: Ten Little Indians
November 12th: Murder On The Orient Express
November 13th: Daniel
November 14th: El Dorado
November 15th: The Gambler
November 16th: Once Upon A Time In America
November 17th: Salvador
November 18th: Best Seller
November 19th: The Holcroft Covenant
November 20th: Birdman of Alcatraz
November 21st: The Train
November 22nd: Gunfight At The O.K. Corral
November 23rd: Mystery Street
November 24th: Border Incident
November 25th: The Tin Star
November 26th: On The Beach
November 27th: Twelve O’Clock High
November 28th: Gentleman’s Agreement
November 29th: Panic In The Streets
November 30th: The Hot Rock
December 1st: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
December 2nd: The Day of the Dolphin
| 
