They don't make 'em like they used to. I know, I know; that's a hoary old cliché. But it's also true.
This is a movie about disaffected relationships and the deceits employed to sustain them. Newman is at his disaffected best and I think you can see where the inspiration for 'Cool Hand Luke' derived. Each opens with the antics of a drunken misfit who goes on to denounce every expectation levied upon him. Taylor is at the height of both her physical and acting prowess, securing her second Oscar as his wife Maggie. But Burl Ives almost upstages the pair with a demonstration of pompous vulnerability that is mesmerizing to see. Jack Carson is the weak, obedient and slightly less believable elder brother, whilst Madeleine Sherwood plays the in-law from hell.
For just over 100mins, these stricken characters hold the viewers' attention rigid as the deep-seated psychological and emotional issues that have brought there relationships to such a pass are gradually laid bare. Every second of conflict is a micro-drama in itself. Towards the end, I found all the reconciliating a reconciliation too far. I've never seen anything worked out quite so completely in real life. Yet it provides a comfortable conclusion and the cast still endue them with a sense of fidelity.
If anybody wonders why I no longer bother with most modern movies and their two-dimensional acting in 3D, propped-up by a shed-load of boring pyrotechnics and seen-them-all-before special effects. Here's as good a reason as any. Colours are still vibrant, sets on the money, no technical issue gave the game away.
I'll back one hour of this against ten hours of Hobbits, Dark Knights or whatever other fantastical tosh any time. Story is something that happens to people we can care about, and I cared about all these characters by the end.
This is a movie about disaffected relationships and the deceits employed to sustain them. Newman is at his disaffected best and I think you can see where the inspiration for 'Cool Hand Luke' derived. Each opens with the antics of a drunken misfit who goes on to denounce every expectation levied upon him. Taylor is at the height of both her physical and acting prowess, securing her second Oscar as his wife Maggie. But Burl Ives almost upstages the pair with a demonstration of pompous vulnerability that is mesmerizing to see. Jack Carson is the weak, obedient and slightly less believable elder brother, whilst Madeleine Sherwood plays the in-law from hell.
For just over 100mins, these stricken characters hold the viewers' attention rigid as the deep-seated psychological and emotional issues that have brought there relationships to such a pass are gradually laid bare. Every second of conflict is a micro-drama in itself. Towards the end, I found all the reconciliating a reconciliation too far. I've never seen anything worked out quite so completely in real life. Yet it provides a comfortable conclusion and the cast still endue them with a sense of fidelity.
If anybody wonders why I no longer bother with most modern movies and their two-dimensional acting in 3D, propped-up by a shed-load of boring pyrotechnics and seen-them-all-before special effects. Here's as good a reason as any. Colours are still vibrant, sets on the money, no technical issue gave the game away.
I'll back one hour of this against ten hours of Hobbits, Dark Knights or whatever other fantastical tosh any time. Story is something that happens to people we can care about, and I cared about all these characters by the end.