Heroes & The Big Fix-double bill 77/78

Heroes (1977)

Scris de Jim Carabastos (Heartbreak Ridge, Hamburger Hill, No Mercy), care a servit în Vietnam în 1967-8,cavalry, e unul din primele filme care prezintă sindromul disorder post Vietnam. Henry Winkler (Fonzie din serialul Happy Days, atunci star TV, azi în Arrested Developement) e dus. Veteran, acum în spital, o ia la fuga cu busul de la New York de-a lungul Americii. Vrea să deschidă o fermă de viermi (!) în oraselul Eureka ! Şi dă de Sally Field (cred că e cel mai frumos şi romantic rol al ei). Road movie cu o bucată reminscentă de Monte Hellman (Two-Lane Blacktop), cu 20 de minute excelente de Harrison Ford şi una mică bucată de Jacob’s ladder. Muzica, Jack Nietzsche !


Pe final piesa original din soundtrack, Kansas Carry On My Wayward Son , a fost scosă pe raţiuni de copyright (orice cronică scrie asta) şi a fost băgata pe dvd/vhs , una mediocra, ceva gen "We need Heroes"...Moshu, titlul era ironic, trist ! Piesa schimba cu totul starea, se aude ca a fost schimbat ceva pe soundtrack si e o mirlanie asa cum e acum ! Val Avery e Mel the driver, John Cassavetes are un cameo ca medic la spital !!!



Jeremy Paul Kagan, regizor interesant care a pierdut-o (de la Sting II la Big Man on Campus, la TV movies galore), autorul aşa numitei trilogii şaptezeciste, malaise post sixties, Vietnam, Watergate (începută la Tv în 1975 cu Katherine, un fel de prototip pentru Patty Hearst, cu Sissy Spacek, Art Carney şi Winkler..apoi The Big Fix, 1978, cu Dreyfuss, pe care l-am vazut recent dar m-a deceptionat...poate aveam eu asteptari mult prea mari). e un bun companion piece la The Long Goodbye al lui Altman, si Dreyfuss (si producator), e un verisor al lui Elliot Gould !



si mai politizant decit Heroes, si mai satiric, The Big Fix este si despre un raliu politic trucat. Apar John Lithgow, Bonnie Bedelia, Fritz Weaver si F. Murray Abraham (in prima lui aparitie importanta pe film, va mai lucra cu Kagan la By the Sword, 1991).


Heroes 7 /10,
Big Fix 6 /10

Night Moves (1975)

am revazut Night Moves (1975) si l-am gasit destul de dificil, downbeat si de nemirare ca a fost un megaflop, anti-noir la fel ca The Long Goodbye dar mai depressing...filmat in 1973 si stat la raft pina in 1975 ! sper sa nu fie ceva de belea cu Arthur Penn, care la 86 de ani tocmai a fost spitalizat cu pneumonie...


great imdb comment (spoilers)

Its an existentialist film. Its not the plot which is important, rather than the effect of the plot on the main protagonist Harry Moseby. The Night Moves which Harry can't see in the dark and the Knight Moves on the chess board of Harry's life, of two moves to the front and one to the side, are key to the film. This is a story about a man who is moving forward, but at vital moments in the story, he is either metaphorically or actually looking to the side and missing a vital bit of information. It begins with Private Dick Harry discovering his wife has been having an affair under his nose. This pre-occupies him for the rest of the film, to the point near the end when the Edward Binns character actually tells Harry to his face that he is responsible/guilty, but Harry at that moment and as always is not paying attention. Harry must be the worst detective in the history of the cinema. No wonder he ends up dying in the boat called "The Point Of View" going around in circles and not understanding anything. His point of view has been wrong all along. Do watch the film again and see how Harry misses everything. The idea IS a wonderful concept for a film and where Penn makes it work a treat, is that along with Harry, the audience joins him in his predicament.

the POV-so ironic...si cit priveste finalul (spoilers)

one interview in which Arthur Penn was asked whether Moseby survived at the end, he said was that the intended interpretation was that Moseby was eventually rescued and he survived. But he would just drift on aimlessly in life as he did before. (Thus you have the last image of the boat going in a circle).

puncte de interes: Melanie Griffith teenagera si nuda in ceea ce e debutul ei (intersant apioi apare in at film detectiv, The Drowning Pool, sau Harper 2), James Woods batut si cascade cu avioane si rime frantuzesti de la Eric Rohmer si
a nuit cu maud, la muzica clasica cu vin rouge pe making love cu Harris Yulin (!), un pic de Kennenth Mars si muzica jazzy tv de Michael Small, dialoguri greu inteligibile (cel putin pe soundtrackul acestui dvd) de Alan Sharp
o cronica interesanta care-l ridica in slavi pe Hackman si-i ingroapa pe Penn si pe dopul Bruce Surtees aici

dvd (Warner): nimic macar trailer pe dvd si nici subtitluri decit in germana (cu titlul Die Heisse Spur) ! dvdul american are si Trailer, si un featurette de 9 minute din epoca intitulat: The Day of the Director

3 1/2 din 5, 7 din 10, mai ales pentru final, altfel muddled existential neonoir,
'7o's deconstructing film as Long Goodbye, The Big Fix