“Low”: Duvall’s New High

by Thomas M. Pender

As Hollywood clichés go, “the role of a lifetime” is among the top.  Still, as I was entrenched in the first third of the newly released DVD Get Low, the phrase kept echoing in my head.

Robert Duvall has had a very long and distinguished career.  Along the way, he has actually hit upon several “roles of a lifetime”!  From the enigmatic Boo Radley in To Kill A Mockingbird to Tom Hagen in The Godfather, Parts I and II to Lt. Col. Bill Kilgore in Apocalypse Now to his Oscar-winning role of Mac Sledge in Tender Mercies, Duvall has burned a trail of talent across the decades . . . and now, at the age of 80, Duvall gives us Felix Bush in Get Low.

Based on an age-old overtold tale, with no one left to know how much is true, Felix is a Tennessee hermit, self-exiled to his land, and almost never seen in the nearby town.  When he is, the townsfolk cross to the other side of the street, mothers hide their children’s eyes, and men spit at him.  It seems everybody (except the audience) knows about Felix . . . and it ain’t good.

Coming to the end of his life, or so he opines, Felix decides to throw himself a funeral.  He arranges with the local funeral home owners (who are dying for business, if you’ll pardon the easy pun) to arrange a giant gathering and raffle.  Tickets are sold, and the winner is to get Felix’s land, which is rich in timber, upon his actual death.

Among the folks interested in Felix’s new publicized “coming out” is a woman (Sissy [Coal Miner’s Daughter] Spacek) who seems to know who he was before he disappeared from society.  Also, a pastor from another state is asked twice to attend, first by Felix and then by the undertakers (played with deadpan charm by Bill [Caddyshack] Murray and Lucas [Friday Night Lights] Black).  The second time, he comes along.  Through the minister and the woman, we learn that Felix has something in his past to be ashamed of, that he’s never completely faced or conquered.  Eventually it seems that, one way or another, Felix means to come clean at the funeral party.

Laced with humor, Get Low remains a deep and touching character study.  As we learn about the man we don’t understand, we at times fear him, feel for him, pity him, and cheer him.  He is, as we each are, a complex human being, even when only a few characteristics show on the surface.  Remorse, regret and redemption come to the party, as well, and when the end credits appear, we finally feel that we have indeed met the man they call Felix Bush.

If you’re looking for action, sex, explosions and car chases, the cover art for Get Low (a simple shot of Bill Murray sitting and Robert Duvall standing in a field) will surely scare you away.  But if you want to see how intricate writing and subtle acting can truly bring a character to life, see Duvall’s latest triumph.  This “role of a lifetime” . . . no matter how many he’s had . . . is worth seeing!

True Reboot

by Thomas M. Pender

After seeing the Coen brothers’ remake of True Grit in the theatre, I immediately rented the John Wayne original, to get a good sense of the similarities and differences.  I can say with delight that some things are the same and some are different, but all elements either matched or outshone the original!

First of all, I have to commit what I’m sure will be seen as a Commie Un-American act, and admit publicly that John Wayne, icon that he was and is, was no actor.  Our man John played the exact same character in about one hundred films, without so much as flexing a single acting muscle.  (Forgive me, Dad, but it had to be said.)  Jeff Bridges, on the other hand, has played many diverse characters in the past few decades, and to his credit, he does not try to play Marshal Reuben J. “Rooster” Cogburn as John Wayne.  Bridges, the much more capable of Lloyd Bridges’ acting sons, plays Cogburn with fire and slosh, which is exactly how a drunkard U.S. Marshal past his prime should be played.

The rest of the principle actors are just as outstanding in their abilities to breathe new life into existing characters.  Matt Damon is playing LaBoeuf in this resurrection.  Damon is a talented actor with good range, and therefore wastes no time at all in overshadowing the very wooden Glen Campbell.  Campbell, who irritated Wayne to no end in the production of the original, was hired simply to record the title song and get it sold.  Before he was hired, the producers considered Elvis Presley, so you can see where their heads were at, and acting skills were not a priority.

Kim Darby, who had a few acting credits to her name before Grit, also chafed Wayne’s britches as a whiny semi-decent actress.  Mattie Ross is now being played by little-known Hailee Steinfeld, and she easily takes the reins from Darby.

The character of baddie Ned Pepper was wisely cast in both versions.  Robert Duvall, who would later appear in The Godfather, Apocalypse Now and Tender Mercies, among many other achievements, did well as Pepper in the original.  Character actor Barry Pepper does so well as the dim-witted antagonist, and is made up so well, that I didn’t recognize the actor until the film was half over!  I mentioned in a prior column that Pepper is an underused gem in Hollywood, and I’m hoping his role in this big-budget Christmas release will lead to much bigger projects for him!

Main bad guy Tom Chaney, originally portrayed by Jeff Corey, is here fleshed out by Josh Brolin.  I have seen Jeff Corey in several film and television productions of the late 1960s, and he is only slightly better than Wayne in his ability to emote and vary his characters.  Brolin, however, has impressed me for years, both as heroes and villains, and he continues to impress with this role.

Behind the camera, I was pleased that the Coen brothers, Joel and Ethan, did not turn a revered Western into a . . . well, Coen brothers film.  Known for writing and directing such outright weird tales as Blood Simple, Raising Arizona, Barton Fink, Fargo and No Country For Old Men, I was a bit worried when I heard they were piloting this remake.  Quite frankly, I was afraid Marshal Cogburn would be riding a hippopotamus!  My fears were eased early in the film.  By no means a carbon copy, this remake does pay plentiful respect to its predecessor.  Some scenes are added, some deleted, and others altered, but enough is untouched that the original story shines through, while the new telling is a beautiful new creature all on its own.

Love or hate John Wayne, Jeff Bridges or the Coen brothers, you will certainly find something enjoyable in this new film.  My generation, and the younger generations behind me, do not get to enjoy a newly-made old-fashioned Western nearly as often as we should.  I recommend you get out and do so now.

Ten Awesome Things About Working From Home

by Thomas M. Pender

(I’ve experienced this modern situation a little bit over the past year or two.  It’s quite a different experience than working in an office or other business.  Stay tuned!  Next week, I’ll present “Ten Sucky Things About Working From Home”!)

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10.)      Work starts promptly at 8 a.m. . . . or about 8:30 a.m. . . . or before noon . . .

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9.)        Ratty robe?  “Sex God” boxer shorts?  Lucky you!  Those are within the “work at home” dress code guidelines!!!

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8.)        Need a break?  Wish there was some place you could relax and watch “The Godfather, Part II”?  Try the living room!

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7.)        When the workload gets you down, the dog coming in to lay on top of your feet or the cat dancing lightly across your keyboard is a great reminder that you are special.

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6.)        If you can’t sleep at 3:08 a.m., there are constructive things you can get done toward your success.

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5.)        No awful Muzak in the elevators.  In fact, odds are there are no elevators!

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4.)        Staff meetings are completely internal.

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3.)        Absolute privacy in the “executive washroom”!  (Okay, maybe not for work-from-home moms!)

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2.)        Rush hour from the bedroom to the den is pretty light.

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and

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1.)        Sexual harassment is not really an issue!

Bobby, As Only Bobby Can Do It

by Thomas M. Pender

“Stanley, you see this?  This is this.  This ain’t something else.  This is THIS!”

This one speech, short as it is, sums up all the strength and coolness that is Robert DeNiro.  A screen icon with such tremendous resume entries as The Godfather Part II, Raging Bull, and The Untouchables, Robert DeNiro (known as “Bobby” in the Hollywood circles) has personified tough guys (both dramatic and comedic) for over 35 years.  While there are many roles and films that could be pointed at to symbolize DeNiro’s character presence, no single delivered line says “DeNiro” like this one!

One of the first films to take on the Vietnam War and its effects on the veterans who served there, The Deer Hunter was praised as a cinematic triumph.  It was nominated for nine Academy Awards, and took home five, including Best Picture and Best Director.  Along the way, DeNiro proved beyond the shadow of a doubt that the power of any line is in the delivery, not in the actual words.

In an early scene, Bobby and three buddies, having just arrived at their chosen hunting spot, are changing into their hunting gear.  Stanley (played with spineless majesty by the late John Cazale, best known as Fredo Corleone in The Godfather and The Godfather Part II) is asking if anyone brought along an extra pair of boots that he might borrow.  This brings up the subject that Stanley is ill-prepared on every hunting trip, and Michael (DeNiro), the driving force of the group, declares that he will not be loaning Stanley any more gear in the future.  When Stanley whines about this, Michael produces a rifle bullet, holds it up for all to see, and delivers the enigmatic line.

Now, if any other actor in Hollywood had delivered this line, it would have earned unwelcomed laughter.  The line means nothing whatsoever! Not on its own, and not even in the context of the scene!  What you are led to feel is that Michael is fed up with Stanley (and in fact, the next line is “From now on, you’re on your own.”), and that he is attempting, in an undereducated steelworker manner, to force his friend to face up to his limitations and to do something about them.  Slow-witted Stanley not only does not see the light, but he mocks the senselessness of the statement.

The statement is, of course, senseless.  A high school dropout’s attempt to explain Nietzsche.  You feel that Michael has a valid point to make, and wishes Stanley would face up to this valid point, yet he does not have the words to communicate such a complex thought.  To go a few levels deeper, it’s interesting that in an attempt to point out Stanley’s slow-wittedness, Michael himself sounds a bit dim.

But this is not meant to be an analysis of the line itself.  I simply point to this line as an ultimate example of DeNiro’s screen persona, and how people can be led by what is called “the cult of personality” over substance.  No one on the screen or in the audience could explain what the line means, yet when Bobby D. utters the line, you feel like he has just explained the meaning of Life.  It’s all in the delivery.

Bravo, Mr. DeNiro! This, it seems, is most definitely “this.”