Chip Kaufmann’s Pick:
The World According to Garp (1982)
I was one of the last people, among those I knew, to jump on the Robin Williams bandwagon. I never watched a single episode of Mork & Mindy (not even in reruns) and I didn’t care for Williams’s standup comedy routines with its schizophrenia on amphetamines “Reality, what a concept!” approach. That all changed with The World According to Garp.
I had not read John Irving’s book but was well aware of its storyline so the plot of the movie held no surprises for me. What was surprising was how really good Robin Williams was at playing a real human being. I had previously enjoyed him in Popeye (1980) but then he doesn’t exactly qualify.
As we deal with Williams’s tragic death there are several films that keep cropping up in the media remembrances such as Good Morning, Vietnam, Dead Poet’s Society, The Fisher King, and of course Aladdin and Mrs. Doubtfire but because of the impression it made on me and the fact that it seems to have been unjustly forgotten, Garp is the first Robin Williams movie that I want to remember him for.
For those of you unfamiliar with Irving’s book, a simple plot analysis of the film cannot begin to convey the incredible variety of emotions and human complications that are involved. Even reading about it on Wikipedia won’t do the trick, you need to SEE the movie. Humor, tragedy, irony, social commentary, and even sex, it’s all there.
Director George Roy Hill (The Sting) was one of America’s most accomplished filmmakers in the 1970s and 80s but he is all but forgotten today which is puzzling considering how many good films he made. He was always an actor’s director and that may be the reason why. It’s the performers we remember.
If you love Robin Williams and you’ve never seen Garp then you owe it to yourself and to him to see the movie that first showed what he was truly capable of. If you have seen it, then it’s time to revisit it to refresh your memory. Requiescat in pace, Robin.
Michelle Keenan’s Pick:
To Have and Have Not (1944)
With the recent passing of Lauren Bacall and this month marking her 90th birthday it seemed only fitting to remember her. For me, I wanted to remember where it all began – her career and the romance with the love of her life, Humphrey Bogart. Directed by Howard Hawks, To Have and Have Not marked Lauren Bacall’s screen debut, and what a debut it was. At the ripe old age of 19 she took the world [and Bogey] by storm.
Hawks had originally been set to direct 1943’s Casablanca. To Have and Have Not became Hawks’ answer to Casablanca. He secured Casablanca’s leading man, but his wife gets the credit for “discovering” Bacall on the cover of Harper’s Bazaar. When they started filming, Hawks soon realized Bacall had something special, something different from the other leading ladies of the day. There was also something special between his leading man and leading lady, in spite of a 25 year age difference, and the evidence is on the screen.
To Have and Have Not takes place in wartime Martinique. Humphrey Bogart plays Harry Morgan, a charter boat captain who “sticks his neck out for no one.” Walter Brennan plays the trusty side kick and lovable rumpot, Eddie, who loves to sum people up by asking them, “Was you ever stung by a dead bee?” Their status quo existence is turned upside down when French resistance activists try to hire Harry to smuggle an important underground leader to safety. Meanwhile a young pickpocket and chanteuse (Bacall) steals his wallet and his heart.
The script, by Jules Furthman and William Faulkner, pops with great quips and witty banter. Hoagey Carmichael provides a terrific musical backdrop to the proceedings as Cricket, the ever watchful and affable resident piano player. As with the dialogue in Casablanca, you just wish that’s the way people actually talked. Bacall is smoking hot and elegant all at the same time. Bogey does what Bogey does best and Brennan is a sheer delight.
