After all the gushing, I am not saying all their movies were great. Most were not. I dearly loved four of them, four were fine and a couple were fairly awful. What is not in dispute is that I dearly loved seeing them act together. Let's get to the films.
The Long, Hot Summer (1958) more than fulfilled my taste for those steamy southern themes. Based on William Faulkner's lusty novel, Newman stars as a drifter, con man and suspected barn burner who ingratiates himself with the dysfunctional Varner family, especially one daughter, played by Woodward. Orson Welles heads the family; Tony Franciosa is his weak son and Lee Remick is Franciosa's wife. Angela Lansbury plays Welles' girlfriend.
What arguably keeps the film from being better was Welles. He thought he was the star, was hot and sweaty in the Louisiana heat, was overweight and generally disagreeable. I count myself among those who found his acting hammy and yet it didn't get in the way of my enjoyment of the film. I found all six stars dazzling.
This is the only Newman-Woodward film that found them single in real life. They would marry a month after production wrapped. Their chemistry was palpable. Lansbury said they seemed to have such a total understanding of one another that they were able to work in scenes where they were at each other's throats or falling under each other's spell.
Rally Round the Flag, Boys (1958) gave the Newmans a rare shot at comedy and they succeeded admirably. Too bad he didn't do more comedy because he certainly had a knack for it. Despite the praise, I found the story too over-the-top. They play a Connecticut couple (something they would become in real life) who are at odds with one another over a secret army missile base that's being set up in their small town. He has gone to work promoting the project while she vehemently opposes it.
There are other plot points as well, the most enjoyable involving Joan Collins as a sex-starved nextdoor neighbor who makes a play for Newman. Jack Carson (who had just played Newman's brother in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof), Tuesday Weld and Dwayne Hickman costar. The finale is sheer lunacy, reminiscent of Keystone Cops flicks.
From the Terrace (1960) is based on John (BUtterfield 8) O'Hara's popular novel about ambition v.s. personal happiness. Newman is trapped in a loveless marriage to Woodward (never more glamorous) and working for a wealthy financier who promises Newman the world if he plays ball.
Newman, however, falls in love with a younger woman (Ina Balin) who at first resists him because he's married but eventually is unable to resist his blue-eyed charms (hey Ina, I get it). When he finally decides to divorce Woodward, his boss tells him he doesn't want divorced employees because it stains their reputations. Ah, what to do?
Myrna Loy and Leon Ames are superb as Newman's alcoholic mother and cold, thoughtless father and George Grizzard shines as Newman's equally ambitious friend. Sometimes chided for its soap opera qualities, this film is a good choice for the Newmans and their sparring is great fun.
Paris Blues (1961) is a helluva lot better than some critics gave it credit for. In fact, they annoyed me with their senseless carping. At its heart it's a buddy film with Newman and Sidney Poitier as American expatriate jazz musicians trying to make a go of it in The City of Light. Woodward and Diahann Carroll play American tourists who become their girlfriends.
The men enjoy their carefree lifestyles in bohemian Paris but get sidetracked by their love of the women who plan to return home. Most people don't have to choose between love and a place to live and I was fascinated by how that is laid out in the film.
The director is Martin Ritt who also steered the Newmans in The Long, Hot Summer. Each would work with Ritt in other projects as well. I always found it poignant that not only were Newman and Woodward a couple but so were Carroll and Poitier at the time. That fact made this movie all the more touching.
A New Kind of Love (1963)
If this is a new kind of love, everyone associated with this misfire needed to go back to an old kind of love. The Newmans must have stayed in Paris because it's the locale for a story of a newspaperman who mistakes a mannish fashion designer for a call girl. I'd love to know what induced the couple to embark on this turkey. Even the great Thelma Ritter and the amusing Eva Gabor couldn't help.
Winning (1969) was a vanity project for Newman because he'd become enamored of car racing. It took the Newmans six years to make another film together after the shellacking them took for A New Kind of Love.
They again have a troubled marriage because he ignores her in favor of spending all his time at the track. Not only does she have an affair with his main competitor (Robert Wagner) but Newman actually catches them. They separate but he remains attached to her teenage son (Richard Thomas). The last quarter of the film is about him trying to win her back but will he? Will he give up racing for the woman he loves?
It was a far happier experience for all off screen than on. They were all great pals. Wagner pushed Woodward off the top of a building in 1956's A Kiss Before Dying and appeared with Newman in 1966 in Harper. The two men would star in The Towering Inferno in 1974. Thomas was also thrilled to be in the company of such lofty actors. For all that fun, they were rewarded with a film that was just a moderate success with critics.
WUSA (1970) I have seen twice. Once was when it first came out and I hated it so much. Often when I feel this way about a movie, I try to see it years later to see if I might change my mind. And I did. It went from hate to just dislike.
Newman plays a drifter (again) who wonders into a right-wing New Orleans radio station and gets an on-air job espousing all the beliefs of the owner (Pat Hingle) while privately not agreeing at all. Woodward plays one of many oddballs Newman encounters. There is a hidden, insidious purpose behind the station and a white supremacist hate rally is fleshed out before the end credits.
For me it was too cynical, disagreeable, downbeat and oh so ponderous but it does have sizzling acting from those mentioned and also Tony Perkins, Laurence Harvey, Don Gordon, Cloris Leachman, Moses Gunn, Michael Anderson Jr. and Wayne Rogers. Newman once called the film the most significant one I've ever made and the best. Lordy, he must have had some bad spaghetti sauce.
The Drowning Pool (1975)
Speaking of Harper (as we were earlier), this is a followup of sorts. At least Newman plays the same character, private eye Lew Harper, who is in New Orleans (still) and goes through all kinds of hell trying to help an ex-flame (Woodward) discover why her rich family's chauffeur is blackmailing her.
The film has a great look but appears lackadaisically directed by Stuart Rosenberg, who also helmed WUSA. Hmmm. The story, nowhere close to being as good as Harper, just seems to wither on the vine as it goes on. Luckily, again, there is a good supporting cast featuring a young Melanie Griffith, Tony Franciosa, Richard Jaeckel, Coral Browne and Murray Hamilton.
Harry and Son (1984)
I recall liking this film although I remember it as being unfocused. I haven't seen it for years and would like to give it another try. Newman also directed and co-wrote the screenplay.
He plays Harry, a widowed construction worker in Florida who has issues with his teenage son (Robby Benson) who wants to be a writer but whom Harry considers a lazy, ne'er-do-well. Woodward plays a neighbor and friend of Harry's late wife and she has been in love with him for years. Her daughter, Ellen Barkin, used to date the son until he ended it because he thought she was promiscuous.
One could certainly say the movie is about resolving these issues but unfortunately it throws in so many side stories, a number of which are never resolved. Newman's acting is good but the writing and direction are not. Too bad.
Mr. and Mrs. Bridge (1990)
Ah, my favorite of the 10 Newman-Woodward films we're chatting up. Directed by the wonderful James Ivory, it has all the care and polish that he put into all of his productions. I'm guessing it was not particularly popular with Newman's fans because he plays a man much older than himself and the usual sexiness and cockiness is not in evidence.
Set in Kansas City during WWII, it is a small film that concerns a five-member family dealing with growing pains. Newman is a lawyer with very conservative ideas and who has heretofore run a tight ship when he's around. The home is run by his wife, Woodward, whose Pollyanna-ish ideas run counter to his. She, in turn, harbors a long-time grudge over his ignoring her. At the center are their three newly-adult children who want to strike out and live a more modern life, much to Papa's dismay.
The kids are ably played by Kyra Sedgwick, Robert Sean Leonard and Margaret Welsh. Woodward was nominated for best actress from the Oscar folks and a number of others as well. This is the kind of family film that I cherish. Bravo to both Newmans for their glorious performances.
So there are the 10 theatrical films in which the Newmans both acted. But we're not quite done.
Newman met Woodward in 1953 when he was acting in the William Inge play, Picnic, and Woodward understudied Janice Rule. They met again in 1957 when both were signed for The Long, Hot Summer.
Other than directing her in Harry and Son in which he starred, he also directed her in three theatrical films in which he didn't act. They were Rachel, Rachel (1968), for which she was Oscar-nominated, The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (1972) and The Glass Menagerie (1987). For television in 1980, he directed her in The Shadow Box.
In 2005, he and Woodward would both have roles in the acclaimed television miniseries, Empire Falls (they would have no scenes together), and it would turn out to be the last film for either of them (not counting voice-only roles).
To me, it was a sad day indeed when those blue eyes closed for good. Woodward, 90 years old next February, is a very private person who neither works nor seems to appear in public. Both were such glorious actors.
Next posting:
From the 1960's
No comments:
Post a Comment