Reviews

There are so many excellent insightful comments, here, I will only add a few:

1. Like many others, I consider this the greatest movie ever made. 2. I consider Peter O'Toole's performance the single greatest acting performance in the history of cinema. 3. What never fails to amaze me is that it is an awesome epic with the brilliant dialog of the best, intimate play.

In "Amadeus", Salieri says about one of Mozart's pieces, "Displace one note and there would be diminishment". That's the way I feel about this movie.

Paul

Respectfully, I disagree with the one comment posted so far.

My wife and I discovered this series when it was on PBS. As stated, we are amazed that something this good was originally on commercial TV. Is it totally unrealistic that a maid would ultimately be that outspoken, and that a Southern white lawyer could slowly have his eyes opened? Maybe. But I think the key is that everything developed slowly, over time. There were no unrealistically sudden conversions.

Among the other things that impressed us: There were no easy answers; every episode, it seems, almost painfully explored issues with complexity. If you want easy answers, this is not the series for you.

"To Kill a Mockingbird" was certainly a classic (although, as my 85 year-old father has observed, Gregory Peck played the same essential character in virtually every movie.) And it may be true that its characterization was true of the vast majority of even well-meaning southern whites. But I accept the possibility that, even in that time, at least one person of color "pushed the envelope". And that at least one Southern white of good heart found himself or herself slowly transformed.

If you can accept this, admire this series for its excellent performances and refusal to take the easy way out in any episode.

There are many good comments here, including numerous synopses, so I won't re-iterate the plot. I'll just add a few personal opinions.

I saw this movie in the theater in the Fall of 1966, as a high school senior. As I walked out of the theater, I had two strong feelings:

1. I was blown away by the movie and loved it.

2. The movie would sink without a trace in a week or two. It was clear that I was about the only one there with whom the movie resonated.

Since then I've watched it periodically. For years it wasn't on TV, or at least VERY rarely. Still hard to find.

I respectfully disagree with the comments about the movie dragging. Maybe it's a case of Frankenheimer being in love with every second he filmed, but the pace is a big part of what made the oppressive atmosphere of the movie. Would the bacchanalian scene or the cocktail party have had the effect if they had been edited shorter? I don't think so.

I have two disappointments:

1. Although the point was clear that (probably) EVERYONE fails (because you can't really change who you are), I would have liked a bit more about why Tony felt he had failed.

2. My second comment isn't really Frankenheimer's fault. (Believe it or not, there was SOME editing!) Towards the end, when he visits his wife, he makes some comments that make no sense in the context of the edited film. Apparently there was a scene where he visited his daughter as well, which was edited out. It provided a context for the later comments.

I wonder if there is a "director's cut" version?

Of the entire movie, about the most painful part for me is where all the folks are waiting, just waiting, for another chance. And I think the scene that sticks with me the most is when Charlie goes in for his second (third) chance, and is crying; and shortly you realize that he was crying for two reasons: Happiness/relief at having another chance; and the conflict because HIS chance is due to Tony being sacrificed. (Gee, interesting metaphor I never thought about: "He gave his life, that you might have life everlasting". HMMM!)

BTW, there have been a lot of comments about Rock Hudson's performance. For what it's worth, I heard a tape of an interview with him where HE said he thought it was about his finest performance, or words to that effect.

Paul