Is Sidney The Wiz At Afternoon Dog Running?

Is it blasphemous that I consider Sidney Lumet merely a good director opposed to a great one? This question has crossed my mind recently as this week marks a retrospective on Lumet career as part of The LAMB's wonderful series, LAMBs in the Director’s Chair. Before you run out and grab your pitchforks and axes, let me preface this by stating that a lot of my views toward Lumet stem from the fact that I have experienced more of his later works rather than his “classics”.

My earliest encounter with Sidney Lumet’s films was The Wiz when I was younger. I remember watching it one summer on television with a few family members. It was a big event that evening mainly because the all black cast featured both Diana Ross and Michael Jackson. Fast forward to present day and The Wiz still holds a special spot in my heart. It is not a great film by any means; in fact the unevenness of the film is more glaring now with than it when I first watched it over twenty years ago. I even had a tough time explaining my fondness for the film to my wife last week when we happened upon it on television. It is hard to point out the film’s strengths when giant trash bins, with oversized teeth, are gumming Michael Jackson’s arms on screen…believe me I have tried.

Many will cite Serpico and Dog Day Afternoon as examples of Lumet’s exceptional works and I would not disagree. I would even throw Running on Empty into the list as well. Those would be my top three selections, based on what I have see, of Lumet’s canon of work. All three films were stellar examinations of characters struggling with issues of loyalty. Whether it was the cop being true to his code of ethics in the face of corruption; the misguided criminal doing whatever he can to help the one he loves; or simply the young man who loves his family but must wants to be his own man; each one of those pictures left an undeniable mark on the world of film.

Loyalty is a theme that is constantly in all of Lumet’s films, although more often than not, it is never quiet executed as well as in the three films mentioned above. Just look at some of the films that people conveniently overlook when reminiscing about Lumet. Films like Guilty as Sin, which tried hard to be a sexy thriller but ended up being a sloppy mess. Don Johnson’s overacting matched with Rebecca De Mornay’s poorly written attorney was a recipe for disaster from the start. Halfway through the film you really could care less about De Mornay’s conflict of wanting to prove Johnson’s guilt while still having to represent him as her client. Or how about the generational comedy, and I use the term “comedy” loosely, Family Business. While some may have enjoyed seeing Dustin Hoffman, Sean Connery, and Matthew Broderick stumble around like buffoons, I could not help but think that the actors had signed up for the film script unseen. Let us also not forget the gangster’s girl with a heart of gold story, Gloria, in which Sharon Stone attempts to show off her softer side. One of the most shocking things about Gloria was that the formulaic story came from a John Cassavetes script.

Even decent films such as Night Falls on Manhattan, Q&A, Strip Search, and A Stranger Among Us fail to muster up anything more than a “well it was not a bad way to kill two hours” type of response. If I had to pick the one that stood out the most it would probably be the made for television feature Strip Search as I really loved the segment between Ken Leung, a vastly underrated actor, and Maggie Gyllenhaal. I like how the tension builds in the scene and the resolution is as equally unsettling as the interrogation.

Again I am not saying Sidney Lumet is a bad director, I just do not see him in the same light that many others do. Besides a handful of exceptional films the majority of Lumet’s body of work, based on what I have seen, is good but not necessarily great.

Top Five Fri…err…Saturday: Robert Downey Jr.

I got home rather late from Iron Man 2 last night so I am posting this a day later than I original anticipated. Anyways since this month’s LAMB Acting School 101 is on Robert Downey Jr., I thought I would look at the top five best and worst films that he was featured in. Look for my thoughts on Iron Man 2 to be up within the week.


The Best:

Chaplin

How he lost the best actor race to Al Pacino at the 1993 Academy Awards is still a mystery to me? Yes Pacino was good in Scent of a Woman, but Downey Jr. not only captured the essence of Charlie Chaplin. He also brought his only original take to the role and provided picture with a greater emotional resonance.






Zodiac

Including Iron Man on to this list would have been too easy. I was tempted to throw either Short Cuts or Wonder Boys in this slot but Downey Jr.’s roles were rather small in the grand scheme of those pictures. Instead I opted to highlight his subtle work in this brilliant, and often underrated, film.  My love for this Fincher flick grows more and more with each viewing.






Two Girls and a Guy

It was a toss-up between this film by James Toback and the flick Heart and Souls for this spot. Both are films that did not find a large audience upon their release, yet they each have a special place in my heart.









Tropic Thunder

Robert Downey Jr. stole this movie! Simple as that.  He took on an extremely risky role and made it memorable in a good way.







Natural Born Killers

Love it or hate it chances are you could not turn away from it. Oliver Stone’s ultraviolent look at the impact of media on our society would not have worked if it was not for Downey Jr.’s brazen performance.







The Worst:


Gothika

Even Robert Downey Jr. could not save this leaky ship from sinking. The film had the cast, the director, and a decent premise. Yet all those pieces somehow found a way to produce the least suspenseful thrillers in recent years.







U.S. Marshals

The less said about this movie the better. Another example of Hollywood trying to wring every last dollar out of film, in this case The Fugitive, that was actually good.









Air America

I know Robert Downey Jr. and Mel Gibson are good friends in real life. So I can only assume they had a great time making this particular picture. Too bad I did not have the same level of enjoyment sitting through this awful film.





The Gingerbread Man

Some may question why Soapdish is not on this list? Truth is there is a campy charm to Soapdish that I enjoy. The film is not great, but I still consider it watchable. The Gingerbread Man, on the other hand, is an embarrassment for all involved. It does not even qualify in the "so bad it is good" category.





The Singing Detective

Putting this film in the worst section may be a bit harsh as I actually enjoyed The Singing Detective when I first saw it at TIFF. Unfortunately, the second time I watched this film it dawned on me that TIFF-induced sleep deprivation had played a huge part in my original assessment of this film. I have seen The Singing Detective a few times now and it gets worse with every viewing.

Lenny’s A Riot Without Carl Carlson

Lenny

The one thing I love about Academy Award season is the large amount of classic, and award nominated, movies that show on television. It is a chance to re-watch old favourites, and to discover previously unseen gems. It also allows us to reflect upon actors/actress whose have spent the majority of their careers delivering outstanding, and often defining, performances. Dustin Hoffman is the perfect example of this.

I had forgotten how great of an actor Dustin Hoffman was back in the sixties and seventies. This is not to say Hoffman is not a good actor today. On the contrary, he can still turn it on at a drop of a hat. Yet, when you review some of the films he starred in between 1967 to 1979, his work in that era is simply jaw dropping: The Graduate, Midnight Cowboy, Straw Dogs, Lenny, All the President's Men, Marathon Man, and Kramer vs. Kramer. The interesting thing is that Hoffman is often overlooked when discussing great actors. Although widely respected, he does not get the same amount love as other actors, like say Robert De Niro or Al Pacino, of that era. I wonder if this is because Hoffman often opts for playing the everyman instead of the more macho roles that De Niro and Pacino tend to take. I was thinking about this fact while watching Lenny for the first time last week.

Lenny, directed by Bob Fosse, is a biopic that looks at the life of Lenny Bruce (Dustin Hoffman), the most controversial comic of the 1960s. The film follows Lenny's as he goes from struggling stand-up comic to underground sensation. We see the ups and downs of his marriage to Honey (Valerie Perrine), a stripper, including their battle with addiction. Yet his marriage to Honey was the least of Bruce’s problems. As Lenny became more popular, the vulgarity he used in his shows became more scrutinized. This resulted in Lenny constantly being arrested on indecency charges. The numerous arrests not only started to damage Lenny’s professional career, but his mental state as well.

Dustin Hoffman is brilliant as Lenny Bruce, he brings a rogue-like charm to the role while never losing site of Bruce's humanity. Several of the best scenes in the movie are not Lenny's stand-up routines, which are great, but his interactions with his wife Honey. As Honey spirals out of control, we are constantly aware of the confliction growing inside Lenny. Bruce knows that she is bad news for both of them, yet he is responsible for making her the way she is. The fact that Hoffman and Perrine have great chemistry together only heightens the turbulent marriage on screen.

If the relationship between Lenny and Honey was not gripping enough, Fosse nicely juxtaposes Lenny’s stand-up routine with many key moments in Bruce’s life. Fosse slowly shows how the many court battles started to alter Lenny. Not only did Bruce’s jokes, and observations, become increasingly political; but the stress of the legal woes impacts his overall mental state as well. One of the most gut-wrenching moments comes when Lenny, who can no longer find work to pay his legal fees, is begging to be thrown in jail but the judge refuses.

It is fascinating watching Lenny in this day and age. Many of the things that Lenny Bruce got arrested for saying are considered tame by today's standards. The film is not just a reminder of how far society has changed in the last fifty years; but also, how much we take freedom of speech for granted. Through his tribulations Lenny Bruce inadvertently became one of the important pioneers of the free speech movement in the sixties. It was a burden that he did not want, but ultimately ended up carrying all the way to his grave. Without Lenny Bruce there would not be the likes of Richard Pryor, George Carlin, Jerry Seinfeld, Judd Apatow, etc. Heck, we probably would not even have Youtube or blogs. If you are looking for a movie to get you ready for Sunday’s Academy Award show, Lenny might be the film for you.