Review: A Face in the Crowd (1957)

* * * *
Director: Elia Kazan
Starring: Andy Griffith, Patricia Neal, Walter Matthau

Sometimes films need to be seen from a distance in order to be properly appreciated. Though it seems to be accepted as a masterpiece now (as it should be; it's one of Elia Kazan's best films and Elia Kazan was no stranger to greatness), A Face in the Crowd was tepidly received on its initial release in 1957. How that could be, how critics could dismiss this film as anything less than a major work, seems like a mystery now, but maybe it was just too far ahead of its time, too caustic, too hard edged. Watching it I was reminded very much of Network, a somewhat similarly themed film but one which had the good fortune to be released at exactly the right time to be seen for what it is: a work of absolute brilliance. A Face in the Crowd is like a precursor to that film, both stories in which a nation becomes captivated by men with a certain amount of madness and then watch as he's destroyed by the very medium that made him.

Oscarstravaganza: Breakfast At Tiffany's

* * *

Winner: Best Original Song, 1961
Director: Blake Edwards
Starring: Audrey Hepburn, George Peppard, Patricia Neal

Isn't it strange when a movie inspires as much love in you as it does loathing? For example, I love Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast At Tiffany's and there are many things about the film itself I find admirable but I can't ignore the flat out racist presence of Mickey Rooney as Holly Golightly's upstairs neighbor. It's an ugly, ugly aspect of the film and seriously hinders my ability to watch and enjoy it. I know that it was a different time and everything but damn.

Hepburn stars as Holly Golightly, a party girl looking for her golden ticket in the form of a rich man who will see to her needs and set her up in the lap of luxury. She has several contenders for the role but has yet to land one perhaps because, deep down, she's not really that kind of girl after all. She gains a kindred spirit when Paul Varjak (George Peppard) moves into her apartment building. He's a writer with one novel under his belt who is being kept by the wealthy Mrs. Failenson (the always great Patricia Neal), a fact which essentially puts him and Holly in the same social position. Their unique understanding of each other's lifestyle, and their natural attraction to each other, prompts them to develop a friendship that inevitably progresses to love.

In many ways Holly and Paul are perfect for each other. They're both young and beautiful and have learned to make the most of the value that others have placed on their youth and beauty, and they genuinely enjoy each other's company. The problem comes down to economics: they can't afford each other. Paul is willing to give up the meal ticket he has in Mrs. Failenson, but Holly continues trying to secure herself a wealthy husband and sets her sights on Jose da Silva Pereira (Jose Luis de Villalonga). Her decision naturally causes a rift in her relationship with Paul and the two go their separate ways but, since this is ultimately a love story, they will of course eventually find their way back to each other after a few trials and tribulations.

Loosely based on the novella by Truman Capote, who reportedly disliked the adaptation and especially Hepburn's portrayal of Holly, the film is by turns frothy and quite serious. Holly parties a lot and her lifestyle occasionally seems frivolous but it's all really a mask for her insecurities. Afraid that she herself isn't good enough, she has invented herself as Holly Golightly and puts on a show for her friends, acquaintances and lovers, playing the part of the carefree girl who flits from room to room and relationship to relationship, a shimmering mirage that disappears as soon as you reach out for it. The truth is that she's struggling inside, torn between her desire to stay in one place and be real and her fear that if she does the real her will be rejected. I'm a big fan of Hepburn's in general but I particularly like this performance because it allows her to display a bit of edge and take on a character who is more complex than the characters she had played up until this point in her career. Always an engaging screen presence, she seems especially so as Holly, who is so flawed and tries so hard to mask it. I'm less keen on Peppard's performance, as I find him a bit dull, but between them Hepburn and Neal, who tackles her role with a relaxed feistiness, save the day as far as the acting goes.

While I like Breakfast At Tiffany's quite a bit, I have to admit that it hasn't aged quite so well. Parts of it play like a time capsule capturing a social scene that may only ever have existed in fiction - a forgiveable sin offset by the less forgiveable presence of Mickey Rooney's Mr. Yunioshi, Holly's excitable upstairs neighbor. Despite the fact that Hollywood often likes to crow about how much farther ahead of the times it is than the rest of the world, this sort of thing isn't terribly unusual in older films. Katherine Hepburn played a Chinese woman in Dragon Seed, Paul Muni and Luise Rainer played Chinese characters in The Good Earth, Marlon Brando played a Japanese character in Teahouse of the August Moon - long after blackface became outmoded and acknowledged as offensive it was still considered just fine for white actors to play at being Asian. That's bad enough but the portrayal of Mr. Yunioshi stands out as worse than some of the examples I just gave because it is so mean spiritted. The makeup in films like Dragon Seed and The Good Earth might be offensive, but the characters are still defined as being noble and heroic. Contrast that with the buck-toothed, "me so solly" Mr. Yunioshi who exists solely for race based mockery. It takes me right out of the movie every time it shows up and it's a major drag on a film that is otherwise pretty enjoyable and well put together.

Review: Hud (1963)

* * * 1/2
Director: Martin Ritt
Starring: Paul Newman, Patricia Neal, Melvyn Douglas, Brandon De Wilde

Hud Bannon is “the man with the barbed wire soul,” a man without principle, a man who never met a person he would think twice about being mean to. He also – inexplicably as far as his portrayer, Paul Newman, was concerned – became a figure of worship in popular culture, a man that younger men wanted to become (in Midnight Cowboy Joe Buck has the famed poster of Hud on his wall). This isn’t the absolute best movie Newman ever made (for me that would be Cool Hand Luke), but of all his performances, this one is my favourite.

Hud is a ne’er do well whose sole interests are women, drinking and fighting, and not always in that order. He lives on a cattle ranch with his father (Melvyn Douglas), his nephew Lon (Brandon De Wilde), and their housekeeper, Alma (Patricia Neal), with whom he enjoys a charged rapport. Hud and his father have a fractured relationship which seems to inform the way that he relates to all other people: fearing rejection, he keeps everyone at a distance, though he longs desperately for companionship.

Problems between Hud and his father reach a crescendo as Hud begins spending more time with Lon, passing on his bad habits, and after a cow dies under mysterious circumstances. The fear is that the cow has succumbed to foot and mouth disease and that the rest of the heard will have to be slaughtered to avoid an epidemic. Hud wants to sell off the cattle before the government can declare them unfit, but his father refuses and they eventually have a confrontation in which he reveals that his dislike of Hud doesn’t stem from the accident which killed Lon’s father, but rather from his lack of character. It’s this lack of character, the refusal to care about anything other than himself, that ensures that Hud will end up exactly where he does: all alone.

The performances make the movie, with all four of the principles delivering solid, nuanced portrayals. Newman ambles seductively through the film, alternating between easy going banter and angry sulking. Rejected by his father, he lashes out at him but remains desperate from some kind of approval from him. When his father makes his brutal proclamation, all Hud can do is throw up his hands and say with a mixture of anger and sadness, “My mama loved me but she died.” Newman hits a complex series of notes throughout the film, making for a character who is difficult to like most of the time, but also compelling in the way that someone who is his own worst enemy can be compelling.

As for the other three, De Wilde is solid playing a young man who finds himself caught between wanting to do the right things like his grandfather, but also seduced in a way by his uncle, who just seems so cool; Neal is wonderful as the no nonsense housekeeper who is drawn to Hud despite knowing better and the scenes between her and Newman crackle with electricity (“Don’t go shootin’ all the dogs 'cause one of 'em’s got fleas,” Hud drawls while lying across her bed); and Douglas is simply marvellous. He’s an actor I find myself consistently surprised by: the actor who plays the worn down old man here is the same as the one who played Garbo’s elegant romantic foil in Ninotchka and the difference can’t be attributed solely to age. Douglas won an Oscar for his work here, as did Neal, and Newman was nominated as Best Actor, but lost to Sidney Poitier for Lilies of the Field. If you’ve never seen this movie, I can’t recommend it more. Rarely do you get the chance to watch four great actors, all at the top of their form, playing off of each other like this.