Sydney Pollack Week: They Shoot Horses, Don't They?

Hi there and hello folks and have we a climax for your Sydney Pollack Week.  For all you ladies that were forcing yourselves to sweat to whatever Fonda Workout tape, you may delight watching her in this gruel struggle to get uphill.   So practice that soft shoe, bend at the knees and stay in until the bell rings.  This is They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?

So about that Barbarella costume...

Spoilers have it pretty good compared to us…

Robert Syverton (Michael Sarrazin of Eye of the Cat, The Pursuit of Happiness, Harry in Your Pocket, For Pete’s Sake and Arrival II) once dreamed of being a film director recalls the events leading to a crime.  As a boy he saw a horse break its leg, after which it was shot and put out of its memory.   Flash forward to years later via 1932, he simply wanders off the Santa Monica pier and wanders into a rundown La Monica Ballroom.  The Master of Ceremonies Rocky (Gig Young of Navy Blues, Air Force, The Tanks Are Coming, The Gay Sisters, Air Force and Lust for Gold) as a substitute partner for the very cynical miscreant oddly named Gloria (Jane Fonda of Barefoot in the Park, Tall Story, The Chase, The Game Is Over, Any Wednesday, Fun With Dick and Jane and The Electric Horseman) a Jean Harlow lookalike Alice (Susannah York of Battle of Britain, Jane Eyre, Images, Gold, Sky Riders, The Shout, The Silent Partner and Superman) Sailor (Red Buttons of The Longest Day, The Sunshine Boys, Viva Knievel!, The Users, Movie Movie and 18 Again!) a nicknamed swabby.  Following these happy fun seekers is an out of work farmer (Bruce Dern of Hang “em High, Support Your Local Sheriff, Number One, Bloody Mama, The Cowboys, Silent Running, Black Sunday and The Burbs) and his pregnant wife Ruby (Bonnie Bedelia of The Gypsy Moths, Lover and Other Strangers, In Pursuit of Treasure, Salem’s Lot, Fighting Back, Die Hard and Die Hard 2)

Bruce Dern: Poster boy for sanity

These poor people are sweltering to death in a hot box of an arena for this event, barely managing to get along with their partners, petty thefts occur, a fatal heart attack struck a man down and in short a grand old time.   As a viewing of desperation it is indeed a learning lesson and breaks are almost null and void at the grand prize of $1500.  The couples are exhausted to the breaking point, nerves are frayed, medical conditions worsen chances to winning all for the paying spectators’ joy and glee.    Weeks go into the marathon in order to keep the viewers’ attention, Rocky stages various derbies of races with of course they contestants are garbed in track suits being paraded around in a circle like canter horses for the paying customer. 

Each contestant has their own hopes, dreams and despair as the story works its way.  No one appreciates a winner as much as they revel in the downfall of the loser.   Robert starts to question the integrity of the contest and starts to poke holes into this jam jar of lies.   Gloria loses faith in herself and life itself while longing for death’s release.

Feh, this is nothing compared to my workout sessions.

The cinematography is once again dolly track and a lot of elevated 360 spins to capture the hopeless expressions as well as the delight of the crowd.   Well this film was formatted for black & white but much to my disgust is shown in Technicolor.   Not a big fan as you may have guessed.  Panavision strikes again to capture every single nuance with its anamorphic.  A heart wrenching series of events unfold to the emptiness of being.  Pollack tells this tale with such passion it boggled my mind.  

Before They Were Stars: Something Wild

Back again youngins!  We dabble back into Before They Were Stars week with Ray Liotta’s first film.  What happens when a yuppie encounters a free spirit and goes on a wild ride?   Headaches, heartache and a potential relationship is most likely.  Grab some Jiffy Pop, snag a MexiCoke and plop it on the couch.   This is Something Wild.

Spoilers channel rebellion into the mainstream….

Screenwriter E. Max Frye (Amos & Andrew, Palmetto, Where the Money Is and Second Nature) and director Jonathan Demme , a former exploitation and Roger Corman protégé(Caged Heat, Crazy Mama, Last Embrace, Philadelphia, and Silence of the Lambs) captures the imagination with this screwball comedy throwing two completely different people in to a bizarre series of adventures.  This is loosely referred as part of Demme’s small-town trilogy of which started with the 1977 Handle With Care (starring Paul Le Mat, Candy Clark and Bruce McGill) and Melvin & Howard (starring again Paul Le Mat, Jason Robards and Mary Steenburgen)

 Anal retentive straight laced Wall Street tax accountant Charlie Driggs (Jeff Daniels of Checking Out, Arachnophobia, The Butcher’s Wife, Timescape, Speed and Dumb & Dumber) gets a ride to work from her only to be abducted by a freewheeling, adventure seeking girl Lulu a.k.a. Audrey Hankel (Melanie Griffith of Working Girl, Cherry 2000, In the Spirit, The Bonfire of the Vanities, Mulholland Falls and Another Day in Paradise)   Charlie was protests at this crazy ride due to his new promotion, his meetings he must attend, the reports to write and various calls to return. 

Lulu is dragging him off from his tried and true everyday life and asks him to pretend to be her husband for her mom’s sake and her 10^th year high school reunion.  Lulu robs a liquor store for some scotch and whatever was in the till, drags Charlie to a motel, cuffing him to the bed and well…you kinda have to see the scene.     As this road trip is under way Ray Sinclair (Ray Liotta of Field of Dreams, Goodfellas, Unlawful Entry, No Escape, Corrina, Corrina and Unforgettable) Lulu’s ex-con, ex-husband is tracking her down.  He’s pinning to get back together but really unable to confer his full ration of emotions leads to fight scenes, screaming matches and sheer insanity.  You don’t see just an abusive thug in Liotta’s portrayal but a man at the end of his rope one minute and then a level headed cat the next. 

A lot of this movie feels like it is pointing out facets of 1980’s America from the love and worship of pop culture to how the other halves live.  While three protagonists are all white, the background of this road trip has an absorbent amount of black actors playing church members, musicians, waiters, gas attendants and hitchhikers.  I guess the main theme is to point out how the Reagan years were not the best for everyone and these are some of the folk that simply got the short end of the stick.  You get the feeling the influences of David Lynch’s Blue Velvet or perhaps Martin Scorsese’s After Hours.  The whole Yuppie Angst angle that was very popular in both TV and movie.  Yeah ,30 Something didn’t make much sense to me even then.  It is a dark comedy, a romantic comedy and worth of the road trips of Bob Hope and Bing Crosby.