Directed by Hal Ashby and written by Charles Eastman, Second-Hand Hearts is the story of a widow who marries a loner as they try to recover the former’s children for an unusual road trip to California. The film is a love story of sorts with a road movie where two very troubled individuals try to form a new family in an offbeat journey. Starring Barbara Harris, Robert Blake, and Bert Remsen. Second-Hand Hearts is a quirky but very messy film from Hal Ashby.
The film follows a couple who recently got married as they embark on a road trip from Texas and all the way to California where they stop to retrieve the woman’s three kids while her husband copes with the new role of being their stepfather. It’s a film with a simple story as this lonely drifter who has never had a lot of luck in his life marries this widow who is also down on her luck as her husband had died some time ago with her children living at her in-laws. Though the two got married during a drunken bender, they’re eager to make it work despite their own flaws and fears where they hope to go to California in a beaten-up station wagon and create a new life. Charles Eastman’s screenplay has a lot invested in the story but it has no center in what it wants to be. While it’s mainly a road movie, it tries to cram a lot where it’s a family film of sorts but also a romantic-comedy as it never has a center. Plus, the character of Loyal Muke (Robert Blake) is a total loser that is often afraid of things or reluctant to do something though his development is well-written. It’s just that he is played as a comedic figure rather than someone totally sympathetic.
Despite the beauty of the many locations in and around Texas and the American Southwest, Hal Ashby’s direction definitely suffers from the film’s screenplay due to its lack of a central identity. While Ashby’s wide shots for many of the scenes set on the road are very beautiful as it is expected in a road movie. Ashby is more concerned with the dynamic between Loyal and his new wife Dinette Dusty (Barbara Harris) where they had just gotten married and aren’t sure if this marriage will be successful. Ashby’s usage of close-ups and medium shots in and around some of the locations including the station wagon are unique but there are moments when the attempts at comedy feel very forced. Even in moments where it tries to be serious but ends up being very silly where Ashby’s attempt in offbeat humor also doesn’t work despite some of the earnest moments involving Loyal, Dinette, and Dinette’s children late in the film. Overall, Ashby creates a compelling but very uneven film about a newlywed couple taking their rag-tag family on a road trip to California for a new life.
Cinematographer Haskell Wexler does brilliant work with the film’s cinematography from the gorgeous scenery of the sprawling American Southwest locations to some of the shots at night including a scene where the car runs out of gas as well as the early scenes at a club where Dinette is singing at. Editor Amy Holden Jones does nice work with the editing as it is mostly straightforward with few jump cuts as it relies more on something simple and to the point. Production designer Peter Wooley, with set decorator Robert R. Benton and art director Rick Carter, does fantastic work with the look of the station wagon as well as the bar where Dinette sings at and the pool hall where her father-in-law manages.
Costume designer Ann Roth does terrific work with the costumes from the lavish and colorful clothing that Dinette wears to the more ragged look of Loyal. Sound mixer Art Rochester does superb work with the sound to play into the atmosphere of some of the locations as well as some of the funny sounds in the station wagon. The film’s music by Willis Alan Ramsey is alright as it mainly a country-based music soundtrack with some contributions from Willie Nelson, Freddy Fender, and other country artists.
The casting by Lyn Stalmaster is brilliant despite the substandard material the actors had to work with as it include some notable small roles from Joe Wilson as a one-armed snake rustler, James Steven Beverly as a young man who would help Dinette and her children when they’re stranded on the road, Woody Chambliss as a deaf gas attendant, Bert Remsen and Sondra Blake as Dinette’s in-laws, and Shirley Stoler in a wonderful small role as Maxy as a woman who would give Dinette and her children shelter while Loyal tries to find them. In the role of Dinette’s children, there’s the duo of Jessica and Erica Stansbury as the toddler Sandra Dee, Amber Rose Gold as the talkative middle child Iota, and Collin Boone as the eldest but mute kid Human.
Robert Blake is alright as Loyal Muke as a bum who is able to do a lot of things but doesn’t have a lot of confidence where Blake feels misdirected whenever he tries to be funny in his breakdowns or to try and con someone. Barbara Harris is amazing as Dinette Dusty as this woman that has endured a lot of bad luck but is eager to start a new life with Loyal despite his shortcomings as it’s a performance filled with charisma and humility where Harris does also bring in the best of Blake when he is restrained.
Second-Hand Hearts is an OK but very uneven film from Hal Ashby despite a winning performance from Barbara Harris and the great cinematography from Haskell Wexler. It’s a film that fans of Ashby would want to seek out although it doesn’t bear a lot of the elements that he is known for as it’s just a very lackluster film that is rarely shown on television and is considered to be very hard to find. In the end, Second-Hand Hearts is just a messy and disappointing film from Hal Ashby.
Hal Ashby Films: The Landlord - Harold and Maude - The Last Detail - Shampoo - Bound for Glory - Coming Home - Being There - (Lookin’ to Get Out) - (Let’s Spend the Night Together) - (Solo Trans) - (The Slugger’s Wife) - 8 Million Ways to Die
© thevoid99 2017
Based on the novel by Lawrence Block, 8 Million Ways to Die is the story of a guilt-reddened sheriff who tries to save a hooker from a drug dealer who killed one of her friends. Directed by Hal Ashby and screenplay by Oliver Stone and Robert Towne (in his David Henry Lee pseudonym), the film is a detective thriller that explores the world of high-stakes drug-dealing while a detective deals with his alcoholism and other issues. Starring Jeff Bridges, Rosanna Arquette, Alexandra Paul, Randy Brooks, and Andy Garcia. 8 Million Ways to Die is a gripping though somewhat very conventional film from Hal Ashby.
The film is an exploration of a troubled sheriff who struggles with alcoholism following a botched raid as he goes to a party with a hooker who asks for his protection from a drug dealer only for things to go wrong as he asks one of her friends to help him. In some aspects, the film is about a man trying to find redemption as well as do the right thing where he wants to take down a drug lord’s empire. The film’s screenplay by Oliver Stone and Robert Towne does take its time to explore the struggles of its protagonist Matthew Scudder (Jeff Bridges) as he deals with his sins as the mistakes he makes would cause him to drink as he already lost his family and his job as a sheriff in Los Angeles. Upon going into a blind date with a hooker named Sunny (Alexandra Paul), Scudder gets himself into trouble where he learns that Sunny is being targeted by the drug dealer Angel Moldonado (Andy Garcia) who is dating Sunny’s friend Sarah (Rosanna Arquette) who would later help Scudder to bring down Moldonado whose ambition would eventually cause trouble.
Hal Ashby’s direction does have a lot of interesting compositions which includes a lot of wide shots and medium compositions as well as some interesting angle to play into the film’s suspense and drama. Yet, it lacks the quirky sense of humor and realistic drama that Ashby is known for though he does manage to create some very interesting scenes such as Scudder and Moldonado talking trash to each other outside of Dodgers Stadium. Some of the action is quite intense as well as the way Ashby plays into Scudder’s struggles where he would black out from his drinking. The film would have some unique climax where even though it does play to the convention of crime dramas and suspense films, they do manage to keep things engaging. Especially with the script’s attempts to make things more gripping though it ends on a very conventional note despite the fact that it does play into Scudder’s desire for redemption. Overall, Ashby creates a good though somewhat pedestrian film about a former sheriff trying to take down a drug lord.
Cinematographer Stephen H. Burum does excellent work with the film‘s cinematography with some grainy film stock to play into the film‘s grimy look with some unique lighting schemes for some of the interior/exterior scenes at night. Editors Robert Lawrence and Stuart H. Pappe does nice work with the editing where it plays into some of the rhythm of the film‘s suspense and action along with its dramatic moments. Production designer Michael D. Haller, with art director Mark W. Mansbridge and set decorators Barbara Kreiger and John T. Walker, does terrific work with the set pieces from the Gaudi-inspired home that Moldonado live in to more drab home of Scudder. Costume designer Gloria Gersham does fantastic work with the costumes from the dresses the women wear to the suits that Moldonado wears. Sound editor Samuel C. Crutcher does superb work with the sound from some of the voice montages that plays into Scudder‘s head as well as some of the effects that play into the film‘s climatic showdown scenes. The film’s music by James Newton Howard is brilliant for its electronic-heavy score to play into the film’s suspense and drama as
The casting by Lynn Stalmaster is amazing as it features some notable small roles from Lisa Sloan and Christa Denton in their respective roles as Scudder’s ex-wife and daughter, Wilfredo Hernandez as a drug dealer Scudder would kill early in the film to his own regret, James Avery as a deputy D.A., Vance Valencia as Moldonado’s right-hand man, Vyto Ruginis as Scudder’s former partner, and Tommy “Tiny” Lister as the right-hand man of club owner Chance. Randy Brooks is terrific as a criminal turned gambling club owner/pimp Chance who is trying to become legitimate despite Scudder’s presence as he would later team up with him once he learns what Moldonado wants from him. Alexandra Paul is okay as Sunny as this young hooker who finds herself the target of Moldonado over what she discovers as it’s a character that is often flighty as she would also try to seduce Scudder.
Andy Garcia is brilliant as Angel Moldonado as this very fiery and ambitious drug lord who wants to make it to the top as Garcia manages to do more with a character that could’ve been very conventional yet has a lot of charisma to make him into a very slimy yet cool antagonist. Rosanna Arquette is wonderful as Sarah as this hooker who is also Moldonado’s girlfriend as she struggles with her own vices while helping Scudder take down Moldonado. Finally, there’s Jeff Bridges in an excellent performance as Matt Scudder as this troubled ex-sheriff trying to redeem himself for his actions and fuck-ups by helping a hooker only to find himself in a dangerous world where he has to save some good people and face off against someone like Moldonado.
8 Million Ways to Die is a pretty good film from Hal Ashby thanks in part to the performances of Jeff Bridges, Rosanna Arquette, and Andy Garcia. While it may not have been the way Ashby would’ve ended his feature-film career, it is at least an engaging crime film despite a lot of its conventional elements due to the post-production tinkering of studio executives. In the end, 8 Million Ways to Die is a solid and enjoyable film from Hal Ashby.
Hal Ashby Films: The Landlord - Harold & Maude - The Last Detail - Shampoo - Bound for Glory - Coming Home - Being There - Second-Hand Hearts - (Lookin’ to Get Out) - (Let’s Spend the Night Together) - (Solo Trans) - (The Slugger’s Wife)
© thevoid99 2014
Directed by Hal Ashby and written by Warren Beatty and Robert Towne, Shampoo is the story of a hairdresser who deals with his own issues on commitment while seducing many of his female clients in Los Angeles. Set in the span of 24 hours during Election Day in 1968, the film is an exploration into a man dealing with his own identity while his world is starting to change in the course of an entire day as it‘s loosely based on the life of a renowned hairdresser Jay Sebring who would be one of the victims of the infamous Tate-LaBianca murders by the Manson Family. Starring Warren Beatty, Julie Christie, Goldie Hawn, Lee Grant, Tony Bill, Carrie Fisher, and Jack Warden. Shampoo is an exhilarating and chaotic film from Hal Ashby.
Set in the day of the life of hairdresser George Roundy (Warren Beatty) on what is a very crucial day in American history that is Election Day 1968. The film plays into a world where a man’s often carefree life of doing women’s hair and fucking them starts to finally blow up as he faces his own identity as well as the fears in growing up and being committed to someone. Especially as he has a girlfriend in aspiring actress Jill (Goldie Hawn) while sleeping with a rich woman in Felicia (Lee Grant) whose husband Lester Karpf (Jack Warden) is having an affair with one of George’s former lovers in Jackie Shaw (Julie Christie) who still has feelings for George. In the day, George is working on Felicia and Jackie’s hair while trying to get a loan so he can start his own hair salon as he feels unappreciated by his boss Norman (Jay Robinson). Yet, it all comes to ahead through a couple of parties later in the night as it’s not just Roundy’s life that starts to fall apart but also the reality that is to come upon Richard Nixon in becoming the President of the United States of America.
The film’s screenplay by Warren Beatty and Robert Towne doesn’t just explore a man’s life starting to fall apart in a day where things are about to come to an end. It’s a film where a man is trying to grow up but he often succumbs to his own trappings in sleeping with women throughout the course of an entire day. Upon George’s own turbulent journey in juggling his affairs and work, there’s a lot that is happening as Jill just got a job offer that could help her as she befriends producer Johnny Pope (Tony Bill). While George deals with Felicia and Jackie, he would also have an encounter with Lester and Felicia’s 19-year old daughter Lorna (Carrie Fisher) who hates her mother. All of which plays into his own failings as a man and it would eventually start to blow up in a crazy night where he is invited by Lester to a dinner that Jackie, Felicia, and Jill attend with Pope as Jill’s date.
The screenplay also features some racy dialogue such as Jackie’s own drunken desires at the dinner while the script features this sense of foreboding as the world of free love and drugs is starting to come to a dark end. Especially as Lester is a conservative who has a lot of connections to the Nixon campaign though he is aware of politics’ fallacies while he would also encounter a party with hippies as he realizes that they’re not so bad. Yet, it’s an encounter that would also reveal more about George’s own issues with commitment as his own world starts to fall apart. After that climatic party, George not only faces himself but also the realities that are lurking as it becomes clear how distracted he is in his own bullshit and not knowing about the other people in his life. Even as he also deals with the world of women as it becomes clear that he still has a lot to learn about them.
Hal Ashby’s direction is very compelling for the way he creates a world where the characters are unaware of what is about to happen on Election Night and what is to come in the coming years. It plays into this sense of dramatic irony as the audience know what is coming as it would play into a sense that an end of an era is happening for George Roundy. Much of the film is set in Los Angeles where it plays into a world where the rich and established collide with the more idealistic youth culture as Ashby does create something where the two different cultures seem to try and get to know each other during Lester’s encounter with hippies as he decides to loosen up a bit and not worry about his reputation. Ashby infuses a lot of offbeat humor into these situations as well as the dinner-party scene where it is about a celebration of what is to come but it features a moment that showcases how absurd it is.
The direction also has Ashby use some very inventive framing devices in the way he puts his actors into a frame. Some which involve an actor in the background while the other is shot in a near close-up where the actor in the background is obviously listening or wanting to do something. There’s also moments in the framing where there’s these intricate crowd scenes as it’s shot in a wide frame where the main characters are in the background or in the middle of the frame in a medium shot to play into the sense of chaos they’re in. All of which plays into Roundy’s own messy life as its ending is him trying to come to terms with his life and what he wants to do. Especially in who he wants to be with where it’s an ending full of irony where even though he says that he wants to grow up and live a normal life. It is clear that he is more likely to screw things up and live the same life that he knows. Overall, Ashby creates a very witty yet tender film about a man’s life falling apart in the span of an entire day.
Cinematographer Laszlo Kovacs does excellent work with the film‘s cinematography with the colorful look of its daytime interior/exterior scenes to the use of lights for some of the scenes at night as well as the psychedelic party that many of the characters go to. Editor Robert C. Jones does brilliant work with the editing with its seamless approach to rhythms for some of the film‘s humorous scenes along with some unique cutting for some of the dramatic reactions in the film. Production designer Richard Sylbert, with set decorator George Gaines and art director W. Stewart Campbell, does fantastic work with the many homes of the characters to play into their personalities as well as the psychedelic party where most of the characters go to. Costume designer Anthea Sylbert does amazing work with the costume in the design of the late 60s clothing that many of the characters wear to play into their personalities.
Hair stylist Jan Van Uchelen and hairdresser Kathryn Blondell do terrific work with the design of the hair styles and cuts some of the women characters would sport to play with what George is creating Sound editor Frank E. Warren does superb work with the sound in the way some of the music is presented as well as the radio and television as it would play into the sense of foreboding in the film‘s political climate. The film’s music by Paul Simon is wonderful as it’s a very low-key piece that is only used sparingly to play into George’s melancholia with its simple folk-based sound. The film’s music soundtrack includes pieces by the Beatles, the Beach Boys, the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Buffalo Springfield, the Monkees, Herb Alpert, Jefferson Airplane, and the Cookies as it’s all played on location to capture that period in time.
The casting by Jane Feinberg and Mike Fenton is incredible as it features a few cameo appearances from Michelle Phillips of the Mamas & Papas, co-writer Robert Towne, and Howard Hesseman as partygoers in the psychedelic party, Jay Robinson as George’s worrisome boss Norman, Ann Weldon as a salon co-worker, and in her film debut, Carrie Fisher as Lester and Felicia’s daughter Lorna who would have a few tricks up her sleeve as a way to react her hostilities towards her mother. Tony Bill is terrific as the producer Johnny Pope who tries to help Jill with her career while being a very good guy though he is mistaken by Lester as George’s boyfriend. Jack Warden is excellent as Lester Karpf as this rich businessman with all sorts of connections who offers George the chance to run his own salon while dealing with his own marriage to Felicia as well as his affair with Jackie as it’s role that is a bit comical but also a bit serious.
Lee Grant is amazing as Lester’s wife Felicia as she is one of George’s many lovers as she is very demanding while becoming tired in her marriage where her discovery about the things in her life starts to show her acting out. Goldie Hawn is brilliant as George’s girlfriend Jill as this insecure and neurotic aspiring actress who is unsure about the part she is to get as she also starts to question about the state of her relationship with George until she makes her own discoveries. Julie Christie is fantastic as Jackie Shaw as this very posh woman who is torn in her devotion for Lester and her feelings for George as she starts to unravel about the decisions she’s making. Finally, there’s Warren Beatty in a phenomenal performance as George Roundy as this very immature man who is good at his job but the years of sleeping around with women and such has made him lose sight of things as he wants to become a responsible adult but has so many issues that prevents him from doing what is right as it’s Beatty at his most vulnerable.
Shampoo is a remarkable film from Hal Ashby that features great performances from Warren Beatty, Julie Christie, Goldie Hawn, Lee Grant, and Jack Warden. Along with a great script from Beatty and Robert Towne as well as witty commentary on a world that is changing through a sex-obsessed hairdresser. The film is definitely of Ashby’s finest films as well as showcasing a period in time where many of the behaviors and attitudes of the 1960s would start to fall apart in a much bleaker decade. In the end, Shampoo is a spectacular film from Hal Ashby.
Hal Ashby Films: The Landlord - Harold & Maude - The Last Detail - Bound for Glory - Coming Home - Being There - Second-Hand Hearts - (Lookin’ to Get Out) - (Let’s Spend the Night Together) - (Solo Trans) - (The Slugger’s Wife) - 8 Million Ways to Die
© thevoid99 2014
Directed by Hal Ashby, Bound for Glory is the story about the folk singer Woody Guthrie and how he came to prominence during the Great Depression as a voice for the people suffering from the Great Depression. Loosely based on Guthrie’s autobiography and adapted into script by Robert Getchell, the film explores the evolution of Guthrie’s music just as he tries to help out a group of Dust Bowl refugees in California during the Great Depression as Guthrie is played by David Carradine. Also starring Melinda Dillon, Ronny Cox, Gail Strickland, and Randy Quaid. Bound for Glory is an extraordinary film from Hal Ashby.
It‘s 1936 in Pamba, Texas as Woody Guthrie seeks to find work and money for his family while dealing with the Dust Bowl. With no jobs available, Guthrie leaves his family to go to California where he would meet all sorts of characters during his journey as he eventually reaches California by train and car where he meets a group of Dust Bowl refugees. Upon meeting folk singer Ozark Bule (Ronny Cox), Guthrie would eventually find an outlet for what he sees through folk music and eventually become a hero of the people through the radio. Yet, when radio sponsors want Guthrie to not sing controversial material and be compromised. Guthrie would make a drastic decision that would make him a hero to the world of American culture.
While most bio-pics often showcase how a person became famous and such, what makes this film different is that it only places to a certain part of the life of Woody Guthrie. Largely in how he would become a folk hero to many during the Great Depression and spread his voice to the people while having to deal with the responsibility of taking care of his family and being there for them. At the same time, he has to deal with what people want him to sing and in places where he has to sing to those who have no idea or any care about what he’s singing about.
While a lot of the events of the screenplay are fictional in order to tell the story of a man trying to fight the system as he has to deal with all sorts of forces and authority. It also shows a man who is flawed since he is neglectful towards his family at times though he doesn’t mean to. It’s a story that allows Woody Guthrie to be humanized rather than make him into a bigger icon as he’s just a man that wants to help people out and not ask for much in return. While the people he meets in his journey would definitely shape his outlook into the world, some would be helpful while others would just steer him into a direction that would have him rebel.
Hal Ashby’s direction is definitely stylish as well as engaging for the way he re-creates late 1930s America during the Great Depression. Notably as he sets the film in California as parts of Texas and the American Southwest where it’s a world that is wide open where people are moving all over the country looking for work. Ashby’s direction is often ever-moving where he uses all sorts of hand-held cameras to capture the crowd moving around including the first-ever use of the Steadicam for some of those scenes. There is something freeing and loose in those scenes along with the scenes where Guthrie hops on the train where he’s left to his own devices and deals with whatever he has to face. By the time he’s in California, it’s a place where there’s opportunities but also hard-ship as he realizes what is going on and is able to do something about it.
When he sings songs on the radio and for shows in places where he is extremely out of place, the direction shows a sense of claustrophobia where it feels like a different film of sorts. Even as the confines of the environment of where Guthrie has to do this and that has him acting out. Notably late in the film where he brings his family from Texas to California only to abandon them again where it shows that he is definitely lost and unsure of what to do. The film’s ending is poignant for not just the decision Guthrie makes in this very beautiful environment that he doesn’t belong. It’s where Guthrie goes afterwards as with the songs he sings where each song is served as a device to tell a story. Overall, Ashby creates a very fascinating and uncompromising portrait one of American music’s great figures.
Cinematographer Haskell Wexler does exquisite work with the film‘s very beautiful cinematography to complement the landscape of the American Southwest while utilizing soft lenses to play up its beauty. Editors Robert C. Jones and Pembroke J. Herring does wonderful work with the editing to use montages for a few scenes of Woody‘s road trips as well as more straightforward cuts for the rest of the film. Production designer Michael Haller, along with set decorator James Berkley and art directors James Spencer and William Sully, does brilliant work with the set pieces from the look of the camps to the homes and places that Woody encounters.
Costume designer William Theiss does nice work with the costumes to play up the look of late 1930s period where the men wear ragged clothes and the women wear something that‘s classy but also ragged. Sound mixer Don Parker does terrific work with the sound to capture the raucous nature of the impromptu concerts and atmosphere of the camps. Music supervisor Leonard Rosenman creates a unique soundtrack filled with a lot of the folk music of the times as well as many of the songs by Woody Guthrie that is performed by David Carradine along with some additional orchestral pieces to play up orchestral versions of Guthrie’s songs.
The casting by Lynn Stalmaster is excellent as it features some memorable appearances from James Hong as a diner owner, Brion James as a pick-up truck driver at the border, M. Emmet Walsh as a driver whose wife was offended by a comment Woody makes, Bernie Kopell as Woody’s agent who tries to get him big gigs, Ji-Tu Cumbuka as a hobo that Woody meets on the train, John Lehne as the radio station manager who tries to get Woody to play it safe, Elizabeth Macey as the wife of a young migrant worker, and Randy Quaid as the young migrant worker who befriends Woody in California. Gail Strickland is terrific as Pauline who befriends Woody in California as she would become someone who would confuse Woody in his own journey.
Melinda Dillon is great in two different roles as the folk singer Memphis Sue whom Woody would duet for songs on the radio and as Woody’s first wife Mary who tries to deal with Woody’s new role and his abandonment. Ronny Cox is amazing as folk singer Ozark Bule who gets Woody to spread his music all over California through the radio only to deal with the troubles Woody has to deal with as he tries to help him to compromise. Finally, there’s David Carradine in a magnificent performance as Woody Guthrie where Carradine displays a great sense of charm and wit to the man while proving to be a very engaging singer that can bring a lot of the attitude that Guthrie is known for.
Bound for Glory is an outstanding film from Hal Ashby that features a superb performance from David Carradine as Woody Guthrie. The film is definitely one of the most compelling music bio-pics for deviating from convention and tell the story of how Guthrie became a voice for the people. It’s also a film that revels into the world of Guthrie’s music and how is still manages to connect many years since they were made. In the end, Bound for Glory is a remarkable film from Hal Ashby.
Hal Ashby Films: The Landlord - Harold and Maude - The Last Detail - Shampoo - Coming Home - Being There - Second-Hand Hearts - (Lookin’ to Get Out) - (Let’s Spend the Night Together) - (Solo Trans) - (The Slugger’s Wife) - 8 Million Ways to Die
© thevoid99 2012
Based on the novel by George Davis, Coming Home is the story about a the wife of a Marine captain who falls for a paralyzed soldier while her husband away fighting at the Vietnam War. Directed by Hal Ashby and screenplay by Robert C. Jones and Waldo Salt, with additional work by Rudy Wurlitzer, from a screen story by Nancy Dowd, the film explores the world of life at home as a woman deals with the Vietnam War as she meets a paraplegic soldier who is still scarred by the events of the war itself. Starring Jane Fonda, Jon Voight, Bruce Dern, Penelope Milford, and Robert Carradine. Coming Home is a powerful yet captivating drama from Hal Ashby.
Sally Hyde (Jane Fonda) is the wife of Marine Captain Bob Hyde (Bruce Dern) as he is set to leave for service in Vietnam which he believes will help things despite some of the events that happened including the Tet Offensive. After Bob’s departure, Sally deals with her loneliness as she befriends the bohemian Vi Hudson (Penelope Milford) who helps her get an apartment off the base and near the beach. Sally decides to volunteer at a nearby military hospital where she meets various soldiers who have been injured or paralyzed by the war including a man named Luke Martin (Jon Voight) who had been an old classmate of hers years ago. Luke has become paraplegic as he’s angry over what happened to him as Sally tries to figure out what to do with him.
The two become friends where they slowly open up to each other just as the events of 1968 were happening. With Luke finally in a wheelchair and starting to leave the hospital to be on his own, their friendship blossoms as Luke also tries to help out Vi’s troubled younger brother Billy (Robert Carradine) who is suffering from the traumas of the war. Sally’s life starts to change as she gets a letter from Bob to visit her in Hong Kong for a week as she arrives to find Bob becoming detached. Upon returning home, Sally learns some devastating news that has Luke chaining himself to a Marines recruiting building in order to not have young men being sent to war. Sally bails him out as the two begin to fall in love though the two try to figure out how to tell Bob about their relationship once he returns home. Bob eventually returns home with a wounded leg as he starts to become more unhinged as he learn about Sally’s affair with Luke.
Films about the Vietnam War is often about the horror that happens in combat as well as a lot of the political issues that occur. With this film, it is about war from the perspective of three different people as it’s set outside of the battlefield in 1968 where a lot is happening. Yet, it’s more about a woman dealing with her husband going out in war while meeting a paraplegic soldier who had been to war. She starts out as an officer’s wife that has only known that kind of life. When she’s alone, she figures out what to do as she only knows that military life and the only way to be close to that world is to volunteer at a military hospital. Once she volunteers and meets this paraplegic man, her outlook in life changes as does her lifestyle.
The screenplay by Robert C. Jones and Waldo Salt definitely does a lot of work into exploring the dynamics of its three central protagonists without trying to involve any kind of political rhetoric about the Vietnam War. Instead, it is about these three people caught up in the chaos of war as they deal with war and its aftermath. For Sally, she starts to learn a lot of what Luke went through in the war as well as other veterans as she eventually asks for other officer wives to help out but they’re more concerned about doing other things. She eventually does things herself with help from Vi as she becomes someone the veterans at the hospital love to have around including Luke.
Luke starts out as this very disillusioned man who felt angry over what happened to him as he isn’t treated well at the hospital and upset at what is happening in the war. Once he meets Sally and the two get reacquainted after not seeing each other for years, Luke becomes a much friendlier person as he starts to rebuild his own life and find meaning again. The two eventually have a romance where Sally would experience things she didn’t have with her husband yet becomes conflicted about her loyalty to Bob. Luke understands this as he doesn’t want to cause anymore trouble yet they would be unveiled by something outside of them. Bob is a man that starts out as someone with a sense of idealism about his role as an officer but he starts to slowly unravel due to his experience of the war and comes home a wounded man not just in a literal sense but also emotional.
What Luke and Sally do to Bob isn’t the worst thing as they both wanted to be honest but it is what has already happened to Bob that just adds to what he is going through. Whereas Luke had started off as a man paralyzed by war and ends up regaining the will to live as he doesn’t let his paralysis affect him. Bob becomes a man that is paralyzed where he doesn’t know what or who to believe as he ends up being lost. For Sally, she is caught in the middle as she is in love with Luke but also loves Bob as she doesn’t want to cause more trouble though she is not the same woman that she was in the beginning of the film.
Hal Ashby’s direction is very engaging for the way he explores the after effects of war and how people try to change themselves in the wake of these events. Particularly as he opens the film with men playing pool as they talk about the war where it is established that this won’t be a typical film about war but rather the aftermath as everyone in that room is outspoken. Then it cuts to an opening credits scene where it shows Bob running around a military base to establish who this man is. Ashby’s direction is filled with a lot of imagery that revolves around war that is prevalent on the televisions and radio that also tells a world that is coming undone. Yet, he is more interested in the human drama that occurs where Ashby uses the camera to capture the chaos of the hospital that slowly becomes more peaceful.
The direction becomes more playful and much more open as it’s shot largely nearby San Diego and some bits in Hong Kong where it shows a lot of contrast to the world that Sally encounters with the two different men in her life. In Hong Kong, things are tense and chaotic where it’s also very crowded. In California, things are much freer as Ashby’s direction does contain an element of intense drama but also looseness in the scenes between Sally and Luke. Ashby also creates some compositions and moments where it is about the drama as it the film intensifies to some huge climaxes. Particularly when it involves the three protagonists as it’s followed by an ending that reveals how far these three individuals have gone to in the beginning. The ending does have a message but it’s not a heavy-handed one as Ashby tells it with a lot of simplicity and that is it. Overall, Ashby creates a truly mesmerizing and heartfelt drama about the after effects of war.
Cinematographer Haskell Wexler does brilliant work with the film‘s photography from the colorful yet lush look of the daytime exteriors to the more stylish approach to lighting for some of the interiors including the clubs that Sally go to. Editor Don Zimmerman does amazing work with the editing to play out the drama as well as some parallel montages to contrast the lives of the characters. Production designer Michael D. Haller and set decorator George Gaines do wonderful work with the sets from the look of Sally‘s home to the more chaotic look of the military hospital.
Costume designer Ann Roth does nice work with the costumes to play up the period from the more ragged look of Luke to the stylish clothes that Sally and Vi wear. Makeup artist Bernadine M. Anderson and hair stylist Lola “Skip” McNalley do terrific work for the look of Sally from her hairdo and makeup to showcase her transformation. Sound editor Frank E. Warner does superb work with the sound from the atmosphere of the clubs to the more quieter moments in the scenes between Luke and Sally. The film’s soundtrack is truly a delight to hear as it features effective use of music from the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Buffalo Springfield, Simon & Garfunkel, Aretha Franklin, Tim Buckley, Bob Dylan, the Chambers Brothers, Steppenwolf, Richie Havens, Big Brother Holding Company with Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, and the Jimi Hendrix Experience.
The casting by Lynn Stalmaster is definitely a major highlight of the film as it features some notable small roles from Robert Ginty as Vi’s sometimes lover Sgt. Mobley and Robert Carradine as Vi’s troubled Vietnam veteran brother Billy. Penelope Milford is great as Vi who helps Sally deal with her loneliness while dealing with her own issues as she becomes a friend for Sally and Luke. Bruce Dern is brilliant as Captain Bob Hyde who is a man that has this idea of war is only to face the realities of what he’s facing as he becomes undone by these realities as he finds himself out of sorts with the world including his wife.
Finally, there’s the duo of Jane Fonda and Jon Voight as the two give very incredible performances in their respective roles as Sally and Luke. Voight displays a complexity to his character as a man wracked with the horror of war and feeling mistreated as he later finds a reason to live where he starts to take control of his own life and finally give his own perspective on war in a great finale. Fonda is radiant as this woman lost in her role as an officer’s wife as she tries to find a way to fill her time only to go through changes by what she encounters and deal with the harsh reality of war. Fonda and Voight have amazing chemistry together in the way they deal with each as well as the fact that neither character wants to cause more pain to Bob in the film’s third act.
Coming Home is an extraordinary film from Hal Ashby that features outstanding performances from Jane Fonda, Jon Voight, and Bruce Dern. The film is definitely one of the best films about the Vietnam War in terms of the troubling aftermath soldiers faces as well as what wives deal with as they’re at home wondering what will happen to their husbands. It’s also an engrossing drama that explores the world of loneliness as well as trying to find an identity in the wake of loneliness. In the end, Coming Home is a remarkable film from Hal Ashby.
Hal Ashby Films: The Landlord - Harold and Maude - The Last Detail - Shampoo - Bound for Glory - Being There - Second-Hand Hearts - (Lookin’ to Get Out) - (Let’s Spend the Night Together) - (Solo Trans) - (The Slugger’s Wife) - 8 Million Ways to Die
© thevoid99 2012
Based on the novel by Kristin Hunter, The Landlord is the story about a young rich white man who decides to buy an inner-city tenement where he would befriend the tenants and begins to find meaning in his life. Directed by Hal Ashby and screenplay by Bill Gunn, the film marks an exploration into the life of a naïve young man who finds himself in a new world as it would play into the themes Ashby would explore with the rest of his films in the 1970s. Starring Beau Bridges, Lee Grant, Marki Bey, Diana Sands, Pearl Bailey, and Louis Gossett Jr. The Landlord is a remarkable debut film from Hal Ashby.
Elgar Enders (Beau Bridges) is a 29-year old man from a rich white family who is eager to start his own life as he decides to buy an inner-city tenement in the hopes to get rid of its tenants and create a place all for himself. Upon arriving to Brooklyn at the building he just bought, he realized that he is in a place that is very different from the world he’s been living in as he befriends a middle-aged woman named Marge (Pearl Bailey) and later a woman named Fanny (Diana Sands) who is also a tenant. Elgar decides to become the landlord as he tries to get to know everyone while meeting another young woman named Lanie (Marki Bey) who is a dancer at a club. While Elgar’s family is shocked by Elgar’s sudden news, Elgar decides to defy them in the hopes to start something new for him.
While Elgar’s mother (Lee Grant) reluctantly decides to help him out as she briefly befriends Marge, Elgar’s relationship with Lanie goes well though a party at Fanny’s apartment leads to something as she laments her troubled relationship with her boyfriend Copee (Louis Gossett Jr.). After taking Lanie to a party where Elgar’s whole family is there, things go wrong where Elgar leaves very abruptly as he is later confronted by his mother over his actions. Things get worse when Elgar receives news that would change his life as it also gets him into bigger trouble. In the aftermath of everything he’s been through, Elgar makes a decision that would become a major turning point in his young life.
What happens when a young rich and privileged white man decides to buy an inner-city tenement in Brooklyn in the hopes to create something of his own and later become part of a strange community? That is simply the idea of the film as it is really about a naïve man who tries to interject his own place into a world that is foreign to him only to become part of this new world where he eventually becomes embraced though he still has a lot to learn. Yet, it would baffle his very rich family that lives this very sheltered and privileged life as they have a hard time accepting his new decisions as it would escalate into bigger problems.
Bill Gunn’s screenplay is very engaging for the way it explores the big difference between the world of rich white folks and urban blacks from the perspective of this young and rich white man. In the course of the film, Elgar would not only have a realization about the building he owns but also the people whom he would grow to care for as he would slowly but carefully do whatever it takes to help them. In the women he meets such as the tenant Fanny and the mix-skinned dancer Lanie, Elgar would get not just a unique perspective about women but also the idea that skin-color doesn’t make a difference. Still, Elgar is flawed and he knows that as he is still a child at heart while finding himself more at odds with his parents old ways. When he starts to be more on his own away from his family and more into the inner-city community that he’s begun to embrace, trouble does brew due to his time with Fanny. Notably in an aftermath where Elgar begins to do something in his life that would finally have take a major step into adulthood.
Hal Ashby’s direction is very stylish in the way he portrays the differing worlds of white and black culture. Notably in how very staged and precise Ashby frames the world of white culture from the car show they attend as well as a scene where Elgar is playing croquet with his family as they’re all dressed in white and positioned in some way. For the scenes in Brooklyn, things are much looser and more lively as there’s this great mix of comedy but also some light drama as well as more entrancing compositions in some of the love scenes. Ashby also employs a lot of humorous moments including a scene between Elgar’s mother and Marge that shows the similarities between the two women as well as strange fantasy sequences about a life where things get mixed up. Overall, Ashby creates a very captivating yet witty film about a young man growing up in a new world that is different from everything he had lived before.
Cinematographer Gordon Willis does excellent work with the film‘s very colorful and stylish cinematography from the way many of the interior scenes look as well as the contrast in visual palettes that differentiate the world of white rich places and the ghetto. Editors William A. Sawyer and Edward Warschilka do brilliant work with the editing as it plays to a lot of editing styles from jump-cuts and dazzling montages to play out some of the film‘s humor. Production designer Robert F. Boyle and set decorator John Godfrey do terrific work with the sets from the look of the posh home that Elgar‘s family lives in to the world of Brooklyn that he starts to embrace.
Costume designer Domingo A. Rodriguez does nice work with the costumes from the clothes many of the African-American characters wear to the more posh clothes that Elgar‘s mother wears. Sound editors Marvin I. Kosberg and James Richard do wonderful work with the sound from the chaos in some of the big group scenes to the more intimate moments that occur between characters. The film’s music by Al Kooper features a wonderful mixture of folk, soul, and rock to play up the energy and dramatic elements of the film as the soundtrack itself features music from Lorraine Ellison and the Staple Singers who collaborate with Kooper in the opening song.
The casting by Lynn Stalmaster is incredible for the ensemble that is created as it features some noteworthy small roles from Susan Anspach as Elgar’s very liberal sister Susan, Will Mackenzie as Elgar’s buttoned-up older brother, Walter Brooke as Elgar’s more conservative father, Douglas Grant as Fanny’s son Walter Gee, Stanley Greene as the Enders family butler Heywood, and Mel Stewart as the Afro-centric Professor Dubois. Louis Gossett Jr. is wonderful as the conflicted activist Copee who thinks he’s also a Native American as he becomes more unhinged. Marki Bey is very good as the light-skinned, mixed-race young dancer Lanie who dates Elgar as she deals with his immaturity. Diana Sands is terrific as Fanny who has a tryst with Elgar while dealing with her own issues in her tumultuous family life.
Pearl Bailey is great as the middle-aged Marge who shows Elgar around the building and almost become a mother of sorts for him as she also meets Elgar’s mother in a superb scene. Lee Grant is amazing as Elgar’s mother Joyce who tries to deal with her son’s new life as well as the world he’s in as it’s a very complex role to a woman who really doesn’t understand the world of the ghetto while trying to make sense of what her son is doing. Finally, there’s Beau Bridges in a marvelous performance as Elgar Enders as a young man eager to start a life of his own as he later deals with his new surroundings while getting a big understanding on what he has to do to become an adult as well as embrace his new life.
The Landlord is an excellent debut film from Hal Ashby that features a terrific Beau Bridges in the lead role. Along with superb supporting performances from Lee Grant and Pearl Bailey, the film is an engaging future about a young man entering a new world and embracing his new surroundings while rebelling against the privileged lifestyle he once lived in. For those new to Ashby, this film is a good start though his subsequent films in the 70s are better introductions. In the end, The Landlord is a brilliant film from Hal Ashby.
Hal Ashby Films: Harold and Maude - The Last Detail - Shampoo - Bound for Glory - Coming Home - Being There - Second-Hand Hearts - (Lookin’ to Get Out) - (Let’s Spend the Night Together) - (Solo Trans) - (The Slugger’s Wife) - 8 Million Ways to Die
© thevoid99 2012
Originally Written and Posted at Epinions.com on 6/8/05 w/ Additional Edits & Revisions.
Based on the novel by Jerzy Kosinski, Being There is the story about a simpleton gardener with no background and no past as he encounters the wife of a political figure as his colleagues mistake him for someone who could be a political adviser. Directed by Hal Ashby and screenplay by Kosinski and Robert C. Jones, the film is a continuation of Ashby's themes of naive men who step into a world they don't know about only to be confused as the focus is on a middle-aged gardener named Chance played by Peter Sellers. Also starring Shirley MacLaine, Jack Warden, Melvyn Douglas, Richard Dysart, and Richard Basehart. Being There is a witty yet captivating film from Hal Ashby.
For all of his life, Chance is just a simple-minded gardener whose only knowledge of the outside world was through radio and later television as he works for a rich benefactor while always being in the care of a maid named Louise (Ruth Attaway). When the benefactor dies and Louise leaves, Chance is suddenly forced out of his home by two real estate agents in Sally Hayes (Fran Brill) and Thomas Franklin (David Clennon) where he takes a step into the outside world for the very first time with a suitcase, an umbrella, and a remote control. While walking around Washington D.C. where he stops at a TV shop, he is accidentally hit by a car owned by the wife of a millionaire in Eve Rand (Shirley MacLaine). She takes Chance to her home where she misinterprets his name as Chauncey Gardiner where she takes him to Dr. Robert Allenby (Richard Dysart) to look over Chance as he's is the caretaker for the ailing millionaire Benjamin Rand (Melvyn Douglas).
With Chance at the home of the Rands to recover from his injury, he meets Benjamin where the two have a conversation where Ben mistakes Chance's simple ideas about gardening as political rhetoric that intrigues the millionaire who also has political connections. Chance becomes an inspiration for Ben while Eve is also in awe of Chance though he does nothing but watch TV as Ben later introduces Chance to President (Jack Warden) who is impressed by Chance's words as the President also mistakes it for political rhetoric. With Chance becoming a political messiah of sorts as he becomes a celebrity of sorts though only a few know who he really is. With Ben nearing death, Eve accompanies Chance to a party where a Soviet ambassador (Richard Basehart) believes that Chance's statements are influenced by Russian literature. With Eve falling for Chance as political figures try to make their move as the President's approval rating is in decline. Dr. Allenby makes a discovery of who Chance really is as no one is aware about everything Chance had been saying all along.
While the film has a softness that a more hardline audience will find to be overly sentimental, Ashby delivers a solid direction in finding the humor and idiocy of politics and the media itself. Ashby is a master of satire but here, he chooses a simple protagonist whose lighthearted innocence and mild-mannered intelligence who looks into the world of our eyes. Yet, it's the kind of protagonist that most films would expect since he is a childlike man who doesn't know very much. In many ways, Ashby is Chance because he likes to watch. It's probably the most personal film of Ashby's career, especially since it's about a decade that he has watched all of these years fall into decline. It's really a film about a man watching a time, idealism, and a nation going into decline with the world itself not getting any better with no power or mind to do anything.
The strength of the film also goes to its script by its novelist Jerry Kosinski who brings in a mix of humor and melancholia. The film also attacks the cynicism of the 1970s after the fallout of Vietnam and Watergate with a hope for optimism. Yet the film's surreal and memorable ending shows a lot of things including the end of an American innocence to be replaced by something worse as a major character dies with the film's final line of "Life is a state of mind". In many ways, this story is years ahead of its time. Especially since the state of the nation that we live in is led by not just a soulless idiot but one who doesn’t have the honesty or heart that Chance the Gardner possesses. The script isn't just satire but an attack of everything that the 70s represented in the course of its behavior and political rhetoric which made the 80s to be a decade of mindless decadence. There, Ashby and Kosinski capture the future just before it was about to happen.
Helping Ashby in bringing is quirky yet melancholic vision is cinematographer Caleb Deschanel who brings a richness and elegance to many of the film's interior scenes that captures the world of upper-class society and its alien-like tone to the eyes of Chance. Production designer Michael Haller and art director James Schoppe help capture the film’s dark-colored look of wooden furniture and look that shows the upper class world with the wood being the only thing that Chance seems to know. Even the elegant costumes by May Routh shows that richness, notably on how well-dressed that Chance is since he's the only who seems to be comfortable in those close. The film's music score by Johnny Mandel has a sad, melancholia since it conveys the innocence of Chance but also the doom he is about to face when he is about to become something he's unaware of.
The casting in the film is awe inspiring with some nice performances from Fran Brill and David Clennon as the baffled estates people who are dumbfounded by a simpleton with Richard Basehart bringing in a slightly, humorous performance as the Russian premier. Ruth Attaway stands out as the maid Louise with her maternal presence for Chance and as she sees him, she displays the cynicism of how the media and culture acts towards Chance as a messiah. Richard Dysart is excellent in the role of Ben Rand’s ever-suspecting doctor who wants to know the truth but doesn’t want to harm anyone in a masterfully executed performance. Jack Warden brings humor to his role as the President in a performance that is expertly handled as a man of power with a lot of flaws that is handled realistically. Melvyn Douglas gives a fascinating performance as a dying man who finds hope in Chance while realizing about his own fate and regrets.
Shirley MacLaine gives an understated and elegant performance as a woman who is about to become a widow while finding new hope in a man like Chance. MacLaine brings a sweetness to her performance while channeling one of her most hilarious moments in one of the film's funniest scenes. Then there's Peter Sellers in what is probably one of the best performances ever assembled on the screen. Sellers brings a restrained, subtle performance as a simpleton who isn't very smart but isn't a bad man either. He brings a childlike innocence and a well-mannered tone to a man who doesn't have much to offer or say anything profound but his kindness is so enchanting, you can't help but fall for a man like Chance. Sellers could've gone for slapstick for this role but instead, he shows a soul that is filled with sadness and heartbreak in each frame. Even in the film's final moments as he becomes unaware of what is laying ahead for him. It's one of the most spellbinding performances of the decade.
Being There is a sensational and extraordinary film from Hal Ashby that features a mesmerizing performance from Peter Sellers. Along with great supporting work from Shirley MacLaine, Melvyn Douglas, Richard Dysart, and Jack Warden. It's definitely a very witty yet touching film that is both satirical but also heartwarming in its subject matter and characters. In the end, Being There is a wonderful and entertaining film from Hal Ashby.
Hal Ashby Films: The Landlord - Harold and Maude - The Last Detail - Shampoo - Bound for Glory - Coming Home - Second-Hand Hearts - (Lookin’ to Get Out) - (Let’s Spend the Night Together) - (Solo Trans) - (The Slugger’s Wife) - 8 Million Ways to Die
© thevoid99 2012
Directed by Hal Ashby and written by Colin Higgins, Harold and Maude is the story of a 20-year old death-obsessed young man who meets a 79-year old lively woman as they forge a unique relationship. The film is an exploration into love as a young man deals with his own posh surroundings as he falls for this old woman who has lived a full life. Starring Bud Cort, Ruth Gordon, and Vivian Pickles. Harold and Maude is a joyful and heartwarming film from Hal Ashby.
Harold Chasen (Bud Cort) is a 20-year old rich kid with an obsession for death as he tries to create fake suicides and drives a hearse much to the chagrin of his mother (Vivian Pickles). Harold also attends funerals for fun where he notices an upbeat and lively 79-year old woman named Maude (Ruth Gordon) attending these funerals and do all sorts of things like stealing cars and such. Harold’s mother decides that Harold should get married as she tries to get different women to meet Harold where the results have Harold do all sorts of strange things. Harold spends a lot of time with Maude as he is amazed by her energy and enthusiasm as she helps Harold out with his issues while having him to learn how to play the banjo. When Harold tells his mother his intentions to marry Maude, all sorts of trouble occur as everyone in Harold’s family wonder about this strange relationship.
The film is essentially an unconventional love story between a 20-year old young man with an obsession for death and a very lively 79-year old woman who lives a very bohemian lifestyle. It’s a strange premise for a love story but what makes it work is the fact that these two people are very unique individuals who like to attend funerals for people they don’t know and do all sorts of strange things. For Harold, it’s to rebel against his mother by staging fake suicides and drive a hearse as a way to get her attention. Particularly as he doesn’t feel like his mother really cares about what he wants rather what she thinks he should do with his life. In Maude, Harold finds someone to connect with as she is someone who has lived a long life as well as presenting something that could give Harold meaning in his life.
Colin Higgins’ screenplay isn’t just a film about these people trying to defy the conventions of the world but also try to live their life without compromise and be happy. For the young Harold, he always has to answer to his mother, his psychiatrist, and his one-armed uncle who is a general in the army. Harold’s mother isn’t a complete heartless woman but someone who really doesn’t understand her son at all. In Maude, Harold can find someone to talk to as she is this very vivacious woman who is very eccentric in terms of what she does as well as the fact that she’s lived a very long life and with a very unique point of view on things. Higgins’ script doesn’t have much of a traditional structure though the scenes where Harold meets his three dates do contain a lot of humor as the moments become more outrageous in what Harold tries to do.
Hal Ashby’s direction is very engaging for the way he presents the film as it’s set entirely near the Bay Area in California where it’s at the center of a world still coming out of the 1960s counterculture and its social movements. Ashby creates some amazing compositions and wide shots to display this world that is filled with imagery that has references to death. Some of which includes this large shot of a cemetery where Harold and Maude are just walking around or more intimate shots at a funeral at a cemetery or in a church. Ashby creates something where death is quite prevalent to establish the mood that Harold is in as well as the fact that he drives a hearse and later a Jaguar that he re-modeled into a hearse.
Things get much looser as the film progresses where Harold starts to become more lively as Ashby let things play out more naturally including the humor. The humor is a key part of the film that makes it so interesting from the scenes where Harold creates these elaborate suicide attempts. The way Ashby frames them are very interesting as it indicates not just how outrageous his attempts are but also how inattentive his mother is. Towards the end of the film where Harold and Maude become a couple and the people in Harold’s life are very baffled by this but it is followed by a very poignant ending that would eventually have Harold make a big decision with his life. Overall, Ashby creates a truly splendid and majestic film about love and life.
Cinematographer John Alonzo does lovely work with the film‘s colorful cinematography from the lush look of the locations to the low-key lighting schemes for some of the interiors including the opening scene of the film. Editors William A. Sawyer and Edward Warschilka do great work with the editing to play up with the rhythm of the humor as well as some nice montages to exude the feel-good vibe of the film as well as some of its drama. Production designer Michael Haller does wonderful work with the look of the posh home Harold lives as well as the more bohemian world that Maude lives in.
Costume designer William Theiss does nice work with the costumes from the suits that Harold wears to the more stylish clothing of Maude and Harold‘s mother. The sound work of William Randall is terrific for the atmosphere it creates in some scenes such as the carnival that Harold and Maude go to as well as the junkyard where they have a picnic. The film’s soundtrack largely consists of music by Cat Stevens that plays to not just Harold’s state of mind but also the joy he later feels with Maude as it features an array of great songs like Don’t Be Shy, If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out, Trouble, and several others as the soundtrack also includes a few classical pieces as it’s a very outstanding soundtrack.
The casting by Anne Brebner is brilliant for the ensemble that is created as it features some notable small roles from Tom Skerritt as a motorcycle cop, Eric Christmas as a baffled priest, G. Wood as Harold’s psychiatrist, Cyril Cusack as a sculptor friend of Maude’s, and Charles Tyner as Harold’s one-armed uncle General Victor Ball who is truly a hoot to watch. In the roles of the three women Harold’s mother offers to Harold, Candy Gulf and Shari Summers are very good as the first two dates who are freaked out by Harold’s antics while Ellen Geer is superb as the third date who does her own take on death. Vivian Pickles is great as Harold’s mother who doesn’t really understand her son as Pickles has some funny moments that showcases the sense of neglect she has for her son.
Finally there’s the duo of Bud Cort and Ruth Gordon in their respective roles as Harold and Maude. Cort brings a very captivating performance as a young man lost in the world as he is unable to find some kind of happiness as he finds himself drawn to death as a way to deal with his mother’s lack of affection towards him. Gordon brings a lot of excitement to her role as Maude as this woman who has the energy of someone in her 20 or 30s as she is so full of life and is also very charming in the way she deals with situations. Cort and Gordon are the heart and souls of the film as they definitely have great chemistry together and bring a lot to the film that makes it so much fun to watch.
The 2012 Region 1 DVD/Blu-Ray release from the Criterion Collection presents the film in its original 1:85:1 aspect ratio with 5.1 Surround Sound in optional stereo and mono. With a new pristine transfer, the film looks as gorgeous than ever as it is supported by amazing packaging and menus that add to the film’s quirky tone.
The first special feature is a commentary track on the film from Hal Ashby biographer Nick Dawson and producer Charles B. Mulvehill. Through separate commentaries, the two do discuss the film and its importance to 1970s American cinema. Dawson discusses a lot about Ashby’s work and how this film would be a springboard for the films he would do throughout the 70s as it all explored men living in a world where they’re naïve and out of sorts with things. Dawson also reveals about Ashby’s relationship with director Norman Jewison who Ashby had worked for as his editor for a few years and Jewison was his mentor. Mulvehill reveals a lot about the production as well as the film’s writer/producer Colin Higgins who wanted to direct the film but Paramount wasn’t sure as Ashby was called in to direct. Ashby was the reason Higgins became a producer for the film that Higgins can see things.
Mulvehill revealed that Ashby originally wanted Elton John to play the role of Harold as well as do the music but John wasn’t interested as Ashby later went for Bud Cort. Mulvehill reveals that the producers wanted a European actress to play Maude but ended up going with Ruth Gordon who ended up being the right person for the role though she never knew how to drive a car. Mulvehill also expresses how disappointed the film was received upon its release and wondered where were the people who ended up liking the movie as he felt he needed them so it would’ve done well in the box office. The overall commentary tracks are informative but also quite entertaining for what is revealed.
The next two special features are two 13-minute audio excerpts from American Film Institute seminars from Hal Ashby and screenwriter/producer Colin Higgins that features several photographs on set and such to accompany the audio. Ashby’s audio excerpt from January of 1972 where Ashby talks about his early career into the world of film and the film itself as he discusses about his approach to filmmaking, working with actors, and the importance of collaborators. Ashby also talks about the use of Cat Stevens’ music as well as into why it didn’t do well initially when it first came out. Higgins’ audio piece from January of 1979 has the writer talking about the creation of the story and how it got sold. He also reveals a lot about the production and the subsequent play versions of the film that he was involved in as he thinks it’s one of his best works.
The 11-minute interview with Yusuf/Cat Stevens has the famed singer-songwriter discussing about his background in music and the intentions he had as a singer-songwriter during the 1970s. Yusuf also reveals how he got involved in the film as he read the script and decided to have some of his songs used though he had reservations at first. The two songs he recorded in Don’t Be Shy and If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out were actually demos of songs he had hoped to properly recorded but the demos were used for the film as admitted to be upset about it at first. It’s a very engaging interview to see the man formerly known as Cat Stevens discuss his music and the film as he always felt his music should be in more films.
The DVD set also includes a booklet that features a lot of text material that relates to the film. The first is an essay from film critic Matt Zoller Seitz entitled Life and How to Live It where Seitz discusses about the film’s influence on the works of filmmakers like Wes Anderson and the early films of Paul Thomas Anderson as well as the fact that the film imbued a lot of the 60s idealism into the film was seemingly lost in the early 70s. Seitz also reveals what made the film so different from the other films of the New Hollywood era that was emerging and how it would fit into many of the films that Hal Ashby would make in the 1970s from The Landlord to Being There.
The next piece text is a 1971 New York Times article called A Boy of Twenty and a Woman of Eighty by Leticia Kent about actress Ruth Gordon who talks about her acting career as well as her unique take on life where she believes age is just a number as it’s definitely a great read to a woman who is truly full of life. The next piece of text is a 1997 conversation between actor Bud Cort, cinematographer John Alonzo, and James Rogers of the Colin Higgins Trust where Cort and Alonzo talk about their memories of the films as well as various tidbits about Ruth Gordon and Hal Ashby as it’s definitely a fun conversation to read.
The last piece of text in the booklet is an excerpt of a 2001 interview with executive producer Mildred Lewis, her husband Edward, and their daughter Susan about screenwriter Colin Higgins for a documentary about Higgins. Lewis and her family talk about how they met Higgins and how his script got into her hands where Edward Lewis took the script to the then-heads of Paramount in Robert Evans and Peter Bart who were intrigued by the script and had it green-lit. It’s a fun, short little piece that explores a lot about the late Higgins who would helm such films as Foul Play, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, and 9 to 5.
Harold and Maude is a sensational film from Hal Ashby that features a superb script by Colin Higgins and exhilarating performances from Ruth Gordon and Bud Cort. Along with a spectacular music soundtrack from Cat Stevens, the film is definitely one of the great romantic films of the genre as well as a film that isn’t afraid to be quirky and off-the-wall. In the end, Harold and Maude is a triumphant film from Hal Ashby.
Hal Ashby Films: The Landlord - The Last Detail - Shampoo - Bound for Glory - Coming Home - Being There - Second-Hand Hearts - (Lookin’ to Get Out) - (Let’s Spend the Night Together) - (Solo Trans) - (The Slugger’s Wife) - 8 Million Ways to Die
© thevoid99 2012
