Chasing Down A Runaway Harrison Ford

Some links before we get to today's matters. Yesterday having had been a Sunday, we had a Snippet Sunday post at our joint blog. Eve had doodles at her blog. Cheryl had bananas at her page. Shelly asked if Facebook eats socks. Lena had character interviews for her book. And Lorelei wrote about knitting away the blues.

Today I have another movie review.

"Are you suggesting that I killed my wife? Are you saying that I crushed her skull and that I shot her? How dare you! When I came home there was a man in my house! I fought with this man! He had a mechanical arm! You find this man! You find this man." ~ Richard Kimble 

"So he showed up not dead yet. Let that be a lesson to you, boys and girls. Don't ever argue with the big dog, because the big dog is always right." ~ Sam Gerard

There has been for many years a tendency to remake old television shows into movies (and vice versa). Mostly the end result has been a failure critically, and when successful at the box office, is only that way because of the nostalgia factor for the audience. Such was not the case in 1993 with The Fugitive, the action thriller from director Andrew Davis. It was based on the classic television series of the same name about a wrongfully convicted doctor, a mysterious killer, and a persistent lawman. The movie was both a box office success and beloved by critics, even earning Oscar nominations and a win for Best Supporting Actor.

The story starts in flashback form, on the night of a murder. Chicago surgeon Doctor Richard Kimble (Harrison Ford) is trying to process the murder of his wife Helen (Sela Ward) in their home while detectives work. We see flashes of the murder at the hands of an intruder, momentary memories by Richard of attending a party with her earlier in the evening. Soon Richard finds himself accused of the murder, charged, convicted, and sentenced to death.

His death sentence goes awry, however, when his prison bus transport is involved in a crash, and Richard finds himself on the run in the night, trying to keep ahead of the police and a team of federal marshals led by a very cranky Samuel Gerard (Tommy Lee Jones). While trying to stay alive and out of custody, Richard realizes he must find the truth about his wife's murder and uncover who was behind it.

The screenplay by Jeb Stuart and David Towhy takes the themes and elements of the series- the innocent man on the run, the antagonist in the form of a tenacious lawman, the wild card in the form of the killer- and weaves it all into a movie. It's part action thriller, part character study, and part conspiracy tale. Director Davis, who had worked on films like Under Siege and The Package (both featuring Jones in the cast), took the story and gave the film a tense, tightly wound, taut feel, very suspenseful. The result is a chase film, with more than one chase being carried out. It's cat and mouse, moving along at a brisk pace, with two adversaries who are not quite enemies, two actors playing roles they were perfectly suited for.

Davis filmed much of the action on location, in Chicago and the Carolinas (though the story itself is set in Illinois exclusively). His style actually brings the locations into the story, making them characters in the tale. That might be the dark, moody tunnels of a hydro dam, the back alleys of Chicago, the lavish skyscraper where a confrontation must take place, or the rivers and woods of the back country where a hunt is underway. The locations seem to take on a life of their own in his direction.

Davis has a great touch with action, and it particularly shows itself in set pieces like the train wreck. The sequence was done in one take... and it was real. The wreck is today something of a tourist attraction, in fact. Davis extended his expertise into scenes set in the county jail, where chases down a staircase or through a lobby have as much tension and suspense as a conventional gunfight would have. The same applies to the climactic ending within a skyscraper as multiple characters search for each other. He even shot an improvised, unscripted sequence through a St. Patrick's Parade in Chicago, where Ford and Jones mingle with parade marchers... some of whom had to be wondering what Harrison Ford was doing in the crowd.

The film was nominated for seven Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, Best Sound Editing, And Best Original Score. One of my favourite composers, James Newton Howard (Batman Begins, Wyatt Earp, Dying Young) composed the score, a tense score that highlights the danger, gives momentary respite in quiet times, and perfectly accompanies the film. It's a different sound for Howard, but just right for the film itself.

The casting is brilliant. Andreas Katsulas is the sort of actor you can't imagine playing a sympathetic character (he probably could, but he just has the looks of someone you can't possibly trust). He plays the One Armed Man, Frederick Sykes, a former policeman and a thoroughly dangerous killer. There's a ruthless, malevolent energy to the man, and Katsulas brings that across whenever he's on screen. His counterpart is Charles Nichols, played by Jeroen Krabbe. The part was originally meant for Richard Jordan, who filmed early scenes opposite Ford but fell ill and died (his final role was a fitting one in the film Gettysburg). Krabbe was cast in the role, a man who is first seen as Richard's friend, entirely loyal and believing in his innocence. And yet there's something more to the character, and Krabbe has to play both aspects of that character in a completely believable way, which of course he pulls off. 

Sela Ward appears only in flashbacks and brief echoes as Helen, but her ghost haunts the entire film, driving her wrongfully convicted husband forward. There's a soft intimacy between she and Ford in their scenes together; they make for a believable couple, entirely happy together, which makes the murder all the more tragic. The film also gave movie goers an early look at Julianne Moore, who has a cameo appearance as a doctor at a hospital where Richard is trying to access information. They cross paths a couple of times; we see her as a capable doctor in brief glimpses. She's not afraid to speak her mind, calling him out for not belonging there, and yet not entirely unsympathetic to him, in terms of what she says in her later conversation with Gerard.

The marshals are a motley lot of lawmen who bicker and argue with each other, but at the same time feel like a family, and in each case they were well cast. Joe Pantoliano, Daniel Roebuck, L. Scott Caldwell, Tom Wood, and Johnny Lee Davenport play key roles among their numbers, and to one degree or another their characters gripe, they complain, they yell... and yet each one comes across as you might expect a federal marshal to be: serious about the job, dedicated to what they do. They respect their boss, and he might growl at them, but he's intensely protective of them, even telling a lawyer of a fugitive he's gunned down that he didn't have a choice, "he was going to kill one of my kids."

Tommy Lee Jones won the Oscar for Supporting Actor, and it's well deserved. Though one might say the character's not supporting, but one of two leads in the film. His Gerard is a masterful performance, a relentless hunter who's good at what he does, hunting escaped felons. While he is an antagonist, trying to bring down our hero, he's also a protagonist, as the story moves along, moving in competition with, but not really opposition to, Kimble's goals. They're both after the same thing- justice. Jones gives the character a rich and strong personality. He's dedicated and professional, and leads with authority, while at the same time he's something of a smart aleck. Gerard is also a man who notices everything, who reads people, and who never gives up. He might say on more than one occasion that he doesn't care... and yet in the end, he shows us something different. In another way, Gerard is a character who comes across as a force of nature, the last person you want to cross. As much as Richard has been through trial and danger, it seems that even a train crash and a jump off a dam pale in comparison to the terror of spotting Gerard coming down a staircase after him in Chicago. 

Harrison Ford of course is the other leading man in the film, and we're automatically sympathetic to him straight off the start. We know he's been wrongfully convicted, that he's suffered a horrendous loss that's shattered his life. We can feel for him at this point in his life, and that reaction is triggered by Ford's performance. He's haunted by grief, agonized by what's happened, and desperately on the run to elude capture. Ford plays that haunted and hunted aspect of the character, but also stresses the intelligence of the man, who's on equal footing with his pursuers. The good doctor might be ahead of them in the chase, but just barely, and both sides are capable. Ford's Richard Kimble might be a man on the run, but he's also one who improvises and figures things out quickly; one of the character's best moments is slowing down the pursuing Gerard by telling police officers that there's a man waving a gun around and yelling. It's an audacious gambit, but one demonstrative of the character's ability to adapt and rise to the occasion.

The Fugitive disproved the rule that a television remake will become a toxic waste dump of mediocrity at the box office. Or perhaps it's the exception to the rule. Davis gave us a film mixing together devious villainy, a sinister conspiracy, and two outstanding protagonists at odds with each other in a running chase. In exploring both protagonists and getting inside their heads, he elevated the action thriller into a well deserved Oscar nomination for Best Picture. It was so good that in another year, perhaps, it could have even won. The film is smart, moving along at breakneck speed, well paced, and is a well crafted, suspensful, heart stopping classic that never wears out its welcome. It's one of the best action thrillers in film history.

The Five Hoods: A Devilish Saxon Scoundrel

Some links before we get things started. Yesterday having had been a Sunday, our joint blog had a Snippet Sunday post. Krisztina had tips for caramel tipped apples and Hallowe'en party food. Shelly had lost chapters to deal with. Lorelei wrote about witches. And the Whisk had this to say about unusual angel food cake.

And now for the last of my series of reviews on Robin Hood...

“Yes, of course we could do as you suggest. But the poacher will still have his eyes, so he can poach again.” ~ Sir Miles Folcanet

“You’re so handsome when you’re angry.” ~ Marian

“Let’s settle this on a coin toss. Heads I win, tails Harry loses.” ~ Robin Hood

Every once in awhile, two movies come out within a few months of each other with similar themes or subjects. Such was the case in 1991, when two movies about Robin Hood were released. Prince of Thieves got the lion’s share of the attention, while a British film simply called Robin Hood got overlooked. Its cinematic release was confined to Europe and other overseas locations. And yet it’s the better of the two, with my personal favourite interpretation of the title character. John Irvin, who had already directed the BBC version of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, came on board as director in a story that emphasized the tensions between Saxons and Normans and presented an actor who brought the right measure of a charming scoundrel to the role.

The film opens in an England after the Crusades. Richard the Lionheart is absent from the lands, and his brother John (Edward Fox) is trying to consolidate power. We first meet a poacher named Much (Danny Webb) being run down by soldiers. He is saved by a local Saxon earl, Sir Robert Hode (Patrick Bergin) and his friend Will Scarlett (Owen Teale). Robert tells the pursuing party that he has no objection to Much hunting his deer on his land, and releases him. The leader of the party, a cruel Norman named Sir Miles Folcanet (Jurgen Prochnow), demands that he apologize in person at the court of his Norman feudal lord, Baron Roger Daguerre (Jeroen Krabbe).

Robert and Daguerre are friends, and Daguerre is pragmatic, suggesting that Robert just swallow his pride, apologize to Folcanet, and that will be the end of it. Robert also happens to have something of a spark with Marian, Daguerre’s niece, played by Uma Thurman; she’s engaged to marry Folcanet. Robert’s apology goes awry when Folcanet pushes it further though, and Robert quickly finds himself insulting his Norman hosts, declared an outlaw, and must fight his way out of the castle with the help of Will. It doesn’t take long after that before the two fall in with the outlaws of Sherwood, including Little John (David Morrissey), Friar Tuck (Jeff Nuttall), the treacherous Harry (Alex Norton), and Much, who doesn’t bat an eye when Robert is introduced as Robin Hood. And so the band of outlaws find themselves taking up arms to resist the Normans.

Irvin adapted the screenplay by Sam Resnick and John McGrath, which places stronger emphasis on the differences between Saxons and Normans in the era than other films had. The classic The Adventures Of Robin Hood had looked at that theme to some degree, but not too much, and Prince Of Thieves avoided it. In this case, it’s very much front and center, with Normans being still seen as the invading conquerors, disliked by the local Saxons, who resent being second class in their own homelands. The outlaws aren’t entirely altruistic in their motivations as to giving money to the poor; it’s more done in a realistic understanding that doing so is the best way to prevent people from giving them up to the authorities. The story also weaves in themes like justice, strained friendships, romance, pride, arrogance, nobility and the common man, and equal treatment under the law. It’s a grittier world, darker and more medieval, a reminder that the time could be a dangerous one, and Irvin shoots the film in that manner.

Much of the filming was done on location in England and Wales, and the countryside looks very British. Irvin also deliberately went for a washed out, almost black and white look through most of the film; colours are muted, and there’s a sense of bleakness and foreboding to the way the film is shot. It comes as refreshing, then, in the closing moments of the film that the sun finally comes out, and colours come into themselves, a wise touch by the director. Irvin also has a good handle on filming action, managing larger crowds of fighting adversaries and the one on one action of duels. He particularly gets creative in how those duels get staged.

The costuming and props look as medieval as the settings. You see that both in the clothing of common folk and the rich linens and attire of the wealthy. It comes across in the armour and the technology of the era, so even though the crew was not working with the larger budget of Prince Of Thieves, it still feels very much of its time, lending authenticity to the production.

The cast is largely of British or Irish origins, though there’s a bit of a continental influence in certain characters. Edward Fox gets a cameo as Prince John, touring the lands to raise taxes. He plays the part as other actors have done before and since: a vain, self absorbed, sneering man who holds others in contempt. Alex Norton turns up as Harry, a member of the band who is particularly hostile to Robin and Will from the start. He snarls and bites at every opportunity, playing the role as a greedy, backstabbing traitor who thinks nothing of betraying those around him.

David Morrissey is an interesting choice as Little John. He’s softer spoken than most actors who have taken on the role, more thoughtful in what he has to say. He’s done a lot of stage, television, and film work as an actor; American television audiences might know him best as The Governor in The Walking Dead series. The writer, actor, and activist Jeff Nuttall plays Friar Tuck as many have before: a priest given to drink, boisterous in character, but also with a very clear sense of right and wrong. There’s a darkly funny moment late in the film when he and a number of the outlaws confront a dying adversary, and he proclaims: “welcome to hell.” Considering the way the outlaws look at that moment, it’s entirely appropriate. Owen Teale is a good choice for Will Scarlett, who in this case is the archer’s best friend and gets caught up in his friend’s misadventures. He plays Will as loyal to a fault, courageous, and a man who still believes in his country and wants it back.

The film changes things around with the traditional adversaries; instead of a Sheriff of Nottingham and a Sir Guy of Gisbourne, we get original creations with different relationships to the outlaws. One of them is sympathetic, the other is not. Jurgen Prochnow is unsympathetic as the Sir Guy influenced character Sir Miles Folcanet. He’s played various villains, antagonists, and complicated characters in films like Air Force One, The Da Vinci Code, and Das Boot. His character is vindictive, arrogant, and petty, a man easily enraged who takes every perceived slight personally (it doesn't help that Robin re-opens the same wound, literally). Folcanet is supremely self absorbed, and tends to behave like you might expect a rattlesnake to act. Prochnow brings all of these qualities to his performance, and the end result is a very good villain.

Baron Daguerre is more complicated, taking the traditional role of the tax collecting sheriff, but the story gives him more depth as a man torn between two people. He’s more sympathetic, pragmatic in nature. Early on we see that he and Robert are old friends, and Daguerre seems genuinely eager to see both Saxon and Norman get along with each other and move forward as one people. He’s placed into a position where he must hunt old friends, where he finds himself on the opposing side. Jeroen Krabbe, who was so good in films like Immortal Beloved and The Fugitive, plays this sense of division and sympathy in the character in just the right way.

Uma Thurman was a very good choice for Marian. When we first meet her, she’s a bit distant; Robin must get to know her first, and the audience with him, even if we already know where things will end up. She plays the role as a woman with strong opinions, giving her a courageous, impulsive streak. Her Marian is radiant, bold, even aggressive, and very much a feminist in her thinking. She takes her fate into her own hands, makes decisions for herself, and even engages in her own fisticuffs. Perhaps no blow strikes harder though, than her words at a pivotal moment in the film, words that have the effect, almost, of castration on Folcanet. They’re humiliating words.... and they leave the audience smiling. It also helps that she has great chemistry with her leading man as they share the screen.

Patrick Bergin comes from Irish stock, and his work at this period included the monstrous ex-husband of Julia Roberts’ character in Sleeping With The Enemy and the leader of the Irish terrorists making Harrison Ford’s life hell in Patriot Games. More of his work since has been done in the British isles, though international audiences might recall him more recently from Ella Enchanted, in which he played Sir Peter. He’s ideally cast as Robert/ Robin, playing the part as a man of principle and pride, giving the character the right balance of the devilish scoundrel and charming outlaw. There's a glint of the rascal in his eyes and an amused smile from time to time, just as you'd expect of the character. Robin finds himself cast out more because he doesn’t want to swallow his pride, but it’s not a pride that crosses over into arrogance; it’s a firm pride in himself and his people as Saxons. Yet even cast out, he comes into his own, believing in justice and in hopes for a better land. He emerges as a natural leader, handy in a fight, and the sort of man who uses psychology as a weapon just as easily as he does a sword and a quiver of arrows. Bergin’s take on the character still stands as my favourite interpretation of the legendary outlaw. He’s a rogue, but such a compelling rogue.

Robin Hood might not have gotten the notice that its counterpart got in 1991, but it is the much better of the two films, taking itself more seriously, feeling more authentic as it takes on themes in a full way that have never really been explored before in a Robin Hood film. It has a particularly nasty villain, a sympathetic antagonist, and a supporting cast that inhabit their roles in the best of ways. And it has a leading pair of actors playing their characters as two people who genuinely like each other even as they’re falling for each other. 

The Maestro's Muse

First things first, go on over to Norma's blog for her look at autumn in St. Louis. In the same vein, over at her blog, Auden is looking at fall colours in Brooklyn. And if you peek over at AngryParsnip's blog, Hamish is in Scrooge mode. While over at the Real Maple Syrup Mob, Fleur, a higher form of life, is finding new uses for an item of clothing. Now then, it's going to be a bit of a busy week, and I'll be adjusting my blog accordingly. I will be posting again on Friday instead of Wednesday, and a week from today is Remembrance Day, so I'll be posting something on Sunday with that in mind. Today I've decided to turn my attention to another film review, something that I saw again recently after a long time.

"While still in bed my thoughts turn towards you, my Immortal Beloved, now and then happy, then sad again, waiting whether fate might answer us- I can only live either wholly with you or not at all." ~ Ludwig von Beethoven

After the death of Ludwig von Beethoven, a letter was found among his effects by his secretary, Anton Schindler, an unsent love letter to an unknown woman whose identity has fascinated scholars ever since. There are several candidates for this mystery woman, but we might well never know. The director Bernard Rose speculated on it in his 1994 film Immortal Beloved, and while his theory and the way he tends to play around with history annoyed scholars (to say the least), it's the film itself that I'm addressing today.

The story starts with the death and funeral of Beethoven (Gary Oldman), and the discovery by Schindler (Jeroen Krabbe) of the letter in the aftermath, which points to this mystery woman as his heir. The film then follows Schindler as he searches for the identity of the woman and where she might be. His journey takes the viewer through flashbacks of the composer's life, his triumphs and tragedies, the dark stormy personality and history of the man, and the musical genius of the composer. Beethoven's life plays out before the sweep of history, and we get to understand this enigmatic man. We meet some of the women Beethoven knew, particularly Giulietta (Valeria Golino), a woman he once tutored and courted, Anna Marie (Isabella Rossellini), the countess who shared his life for a time, and Johanna von Beethoven (Johanna Ter Steege), his brother's wife, with whom there was bad blood. For Schindler, it's a deeply personal mission to uncover the truth; he feels he failed the maestro in life, and peace can only be found in the truth.

The music is the core and heart of the film, as in this case it must be. The late conductor Sir Georg Solti was brought in early as the music director, and the music of Beethoven fills the entire film, both the exquisitely beautiful music and the stormy darkness the composer was capable of. Where the usual tendency by a film composer is to adapt the music to the edited work, in this case, the film was edited to compliment the music. Oldman himself, in preparing for the role, was told that to know Beethoven, one must listen to the music, because everything about him went into that music: passion, love, rage, heartbreak- it was all there. Rose is judicious in where he makes use of the music as well. He wisely refrains from using elements of the maestro's masterpiece, the Ninth Symphony, until near the end, a sequence with an elderly Beethoven at the symphony's premiere, remembering the distant past. The sequence takes on a transfigurative quality with the music as the old man remembers a night from his boyhood, and is one of the key scenes in the entire film. The placement of the music and the scene at that moment in the film is crucial, and it pays off.

Rose assembled an exceptional crew for the film, taking on location shooting in Europe, in places both grand and ordinary, but certainly feeling like they were straddling the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. There's a tremendous amount of attention to detail paid in costuming, sets, and props, and that shows itself throughout the film. The story itself- while no doubt messing around with fact- nonetheless serves its purpose. It shows us a genius, both the good and the bad of him, the dark stormy personality, and ultimately a man who finds peace of a sort in his greatest work, late in life. In fact, the film's final act, while heartbreaking (particularly an almost dialogue free scene between two people involving writing on the margins of sheet music) is also uplifting.

The assembled cast is impressive, to say the least. Valeria Golino has done most of her work in Europe, and here plays an impulsive woman, a composite sort of character who is first repulsed by the maestro's rudeness, and then drawn to him. There is tragedy in her story as she relates it to Schindler, things hinted at that we see later. And she learns the hard way about Beethoven's increasing deafness, a lesson that leads them to a parting of ways. It's an interesting performance, particularly in her looking back after the fact and giving the audience hints of her story.

Johanna ter Steege is a Dutch actress, and the pivotal role of Beethoven's sister-in-law is hers. She must convey different aspects of this character, the tensions and unspoken words tainting much of her scenes with Oldman. It's a complex and riveting portrayal of a woman through years of her life, a woman who suffers tremendous losses, and the audience has to accept her in the role- and to feel sympathy as well. She succeeds in conveying that in her performance.

Isabella Rossellini is well cast as Anna Marie. Schindler tracks her down in a quiet country inn, back among her people, and there's a great warmth in the character. We find that she's suffered terrible losses of her own, and for a time, she and Beethoven were happy in each other's company, until his volatile personality sent him down a path of destruction. Still, she misses him, shares memories with Schindler, and both in the past and the present as she recounts her story, the audience is given a look at a woman with depth and personal strength. She's long been a personal favourite actress where I'm concerned, and this is one of her best performances.

Jeroen Krabbe is a Dutch actor for the most part; international audiences might well know him best as the friend turned villainous doctor in The Fugitive. The narrative follows him, so we have to see things through his eyes. Schindler might well be the only character who can put up with Beethoven at his stormiest- and he does take a good deal of abuse from the composer. Still, he's determined to uncover the identity of this mystery woman, and Krabbe has the gravity as an actor to convey that seriousness, as well as giving the character an aura of calm, an important quality for someone spending time around a tumultuous man like Beethoven. There are even moments of humour in the performance, and we get to like him.

It is Gary Oldman's take on Beethoven that is astonishing. Oldman is one of the best actors around, a chameleon who vanishes into the role, inhabits it and lives it. This serves him well playing the greatest composer of music in history. We see him in flashback, through the eyes of others, and yet in his performance we also see the genius of the man. We see his passions as a young man, his frustration as his deafness takes hold as the years go on. This is a proud man, a detriment at times, but a proud man nonetheless. And we see a stubborn, angry man at his low points, a stormy soul raging at the world. It's a tremendously complicated role, with contradictions aplenty- he's capable of gentleness and cruelty alike, but it makes Oldman's performance so compelling. We understand his pain, what drives him, and despite those moments when his rage is all he has left, we feel sympathy for him nonetheless. There is tenderness, anguish, and even madness in that performance... and ultimately redemption.

Rose's suggestion for the Immortal Beloved Beethoven wrote the letter to is doubtless conjecture. It's been dismissed by many scholars. And yet the film itself works. It gives us tour de force performances by actors who are at the top of their profession, particularly the lead. It takes us back in time, giving us a story that brings us through the highs and lows of a life. It is a passionate story, one rich with detail, and it is infinitely complex. And for good measure, it includes a variety of music from a man who created the closest thing anyone has ever come close to perfection.