From Columbia Pictures
Directed by Paul Mazursky
Starring
John Cassavetes
Gena Rowlands
Susan Sarandon
Molly Ringwald
Raul Julia
Vittorio Gassman
Sam Robards
Paul Stewart
Ah, one of those that never ceases to warm my heart. It has long been one of my go-to films when I want a comfort movie.
While we're at it, its lovely cast is headed by my all-time favorite married acting couple. Additionally, it shines a light on a few subjects that have been near and dear to me. The story is told through drama and comedy and a delightful splash of fantasy. It's also, as the title might suggest to some, an homage to Shakespeare's The Tempest. Oh and there are two other costars... Manhattan and the southern Greek peninsula of Mani (which becomes an island in the story).
Before Paul Mazursky was a director or writer, he was an actor. Perhaps his most famous role was as Emmanuel Stoker in 1955's Blackboard Jungle. Cassavetes, who knew Mazursky only casually, recommended that he try out for the part. Hmmm, did Cassavetes think Mazursky looked like a teen thug?
Mazursky would become known in time as a writer who liked to adapt his own modern versions of famous works. As he and a partner, Leon Capetanos, began tinkering with updating the bard's comedy, he immediately saw Cassavetes in the title role. And the more he did so, he began writing the protagonist, Phillip Dimitrius, to include a number of Cassavetes' personal traits. Furthermore, there would be a substantial part as the wife for Mrs. Cassavetes, the lovely Gena Rowlands. She would be part of the lure to convince her often-testy husband to accept the role. The truth was, however, he was always looking for an acting role in someone else's pictures to get a salary substantial enough to finance his own forthcoming indie production.
Mazursky also loved social dramas and comedies, something which spoke to the human condition. Phillip is a wealthy Manhattan architect who, as he says himself, is in the middle of a nervous breakdown. (Hmmm, no wonder Mazursky thought of Cassavetes.) Phillip no longer enjoys his job or his marriage to an actress, Antonia, who has just decided to return to work as Philip decides not to. His boss, the equally wealthy builder, Alonzo (Gassman), tries to talk some sense into Phillip despite Alonzo's obvious infatuation with Antonia.
Both Phillip and Antonia love their feisty teen daughter, Miranda (Ringwald), but when Phillip decides he is moving to a Greek island, Miranda insists she wants to move with him. (She doesn't like the obvious attraction Alonzo has for her mother and she holds it against Antonia.) The couple agrees Miranda can go to Greece for the summer only.
While in Athens they meet Aretha (Sarandon), a free-spirited, lusty lounge singer, and her terrier, Nino. Aretha quickly falls for Phillip because he seems to share her ways. She likes his passion for life and decides she, too, wants to move to the island. She also likes his kid and Nino likes everyone.
Among the film's beautiful shots and landscapes is the trio's arrival on their Greek island aboard a fishing boat that is cluttered with their goods. They look up and see a smattering of stone houses on the mountainside overlooking the sea of Crete and feel they have landed in paradise where Phillip hopes to put some meaning into his life. Bravo to Don McAlpine and some superb cinematography.
Problems arise when Aretha discovers that Phillip intends to lead a celibate life. Equally troublesome is when Kalibanos (Julia), an older, music-loving, goat-herding hermit, thus far having the island to himself, takes a liking to the teenage daughter. Apart from that, Phillip thinks he has found what he's looking for. He finds joy and laughter, simplicity and peace. He laughs more, dances more, jokes around and has rid himself of his terrible nightmares. He loves his daughter although they argue a lot. He doesn't love Aretha but treats her like his partner and knows that it's a special relationship because she's sharing his dream.
Still, he thinks he is king of the island and the women are his servants. But these are two strong women who can give back just as much as they take and they have one another's back. Aretha and Miranda sing a delightful Why Do Fools Fall in Love while washing a rug in the sea and looking up the mountain to Phillip on his terrace. My heart feels that warming a little more.
And more still during a charming scene when Julia, doing his court jester, Kalibanos, hops around his grounds, playing his clarinet, while goats (lotsa goats) are dancing and jumping like Rockettes to Liza Minnelli's New York, New York. Some critics carped about this fantasy-like sequence (one of two or three) popping up just as we're dealing with some drama but I liked the blending of genres, finding it to be just the right break... especially from a nervous breakdown. Maybe I'm a little more forgiving than some of these naysayers.
Forgiveness is what Phillip needs to learn... his final piece of the puzzle. He's been making a puzzle of the peace for too long and we know he's going to learn it after Antonia (and Alonzo and several more) lands on the island. They're cruising the area on Alonzo's yacht, not knowing that Phillip was nearby. They take a launch to the island but on the way Phillip spots them via his telescope and creates a storm (just a little more fantasy) which capsizes them.
It was a horrible thing to do and luckily no one died but his act made him realize he was still not forgiving. He learned a great lesson as well... that we need to learn to forgive ourselves. It wasn't long before the cast is dancing on the beach, partnering up (Aretha with Alonzo and Miranda with Alonzo's son, played by Robards) and Phillip and Antonia get back together.
I thought this last part of the film was weak (too rushed), especially with the main pair reuniting. We knew that they would and it seemed right that they would. We also knew they still loved one another and would adjust better than before but I felt a little more on how that happened was needed... one more scene, maybe two.
We get one more great song... the great Dinah Washington singing the fabulous I'll Take Manhattan... over the final shot of Phillip, Antonia and Miranda helicoptering into the city with some of the best skyline shots you're likely to see. And yes, this is one of those films featuring the twin towers of the World Trade Center.
I very much liked how the story was laid out... it opens on the island. We first meet Phillip and Miranda and Aretha there. And then it goes back 18 months to Manhattan and we meet Antonia, Alonzo and the New York crowd. (Director Mazursky appears in two scenes as, what else, a director.) This was some bewitching flip-flopping, time and again as we get to see the two Phillips, his two women and two exciting locations, but ones that couldn't be more different. Finally, the back story catches up with the current one and the blending was seamless and fun. Great editing by Donn Camberg, with Mazursky no doubt hovering about.
I loved what this film had to say about mid-life crisis, a fractured family, love, friendship and the choices we make. It always spoke to me. I love stories of folks who have given up the comfy life for (usually) some place exotic because I did it once myself. On my own island I lasted longer than Phillip did on his. Unlike Phillip, who returned to Manhattan, I did not return to L.A.
This is a cast whose roles fit them to a tee. Cassavetes and Rowlands, making their third and final film together that he did not direct, are simply exceptional and it feels like a glimpse into their real marriage. Sarandon, at the height of her sexiness, is oh so watchable as a most understanding fill-in girlfriend. Ringwald, in her screen debut, handled her chores like a pro. If she had a case of nerves around these pros, it didn't show. Most of the comedy comes from Julia who looked and acted as though filming was done on his own personal island. Gassman, too, is good as the formidable builder and another temporary lover, although he's not given as much to do as the others.
Over the years I have heard the film referred to as a flawed masterpiece. I don't agree. Only the last scenes on the island could have been better but I hesitate to use the word flawed at all. It is also not a masterpiece. It is a film with something to say and it says it well and entertains while doing so. Its use of fantasy I found to be a fun diversion. There's also not a scene, not a moment, of boredom.
Bravo to Mazursky for directing, co-writing, producing and acting in this fine film. It is relentlessly entertaining.
There is a delightful Shakespearean ending when the entire cast, one at a time, comes out of a doorway of the Greek house and takes a bow.
Next posting:
Remakes
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