42

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0453562/

Following the re-election of our 42^nd president who happens to be African-American, we have the story of Jackie Robinson, one of the original barrier breakers who played with the number “42” on his uniform. The arrival of Jackie Robinson to big league baseball was no accident. This was a carefully calculated business decision that recognized that returning WWII veterans who were black and a nascent civil rights movement were ready to stake a claim to the freedom for which they’d just fought

Harrison Ford gets a well-deserved break from playing Harrison Ford in his movies. His performance as Branch Rickey, the energetic general manager of Dem Bums, the Brooklyn Dodgers not only hearkens back to the cigar chomping impresario of the classic Hollywood era but adds a sense of moral duty in breaking down the race barrier.  And he hoped to win some ball games too.

42

As sports movies go, this one is breezy and straight forward. Branch Rickey lays it all out in the first ten minutes – it’s time to move black players into white-dominated major league baseball because the players are too good to ignore. Rickey is convinced America is ready for desegregation so his Dodgers might as well get the pick of the best players out there.

Early in the film Rickey searches for the perfect candidate. He wants a player good enough to play under all the pressure and not fly off the handle when inevitable jabs and jibes come his way. Such was the likely the search by the director, Brian Helgeland, to find an actor who could portray the restrained rage while being ever charming. He hit the mother lode with Chadwick Boseman who delivers a force performance and looks like an athlete as well. Nicole Beharie, as Robinson’s wife, is sexy and strong as she endures some torturous bouts of racist behavior with her husband. Another highlight is John McGinley stepping up to the mic as Red Barber, savoring lines like, “This game is as tight as a pair of new shoes on a rainy day.”

There are no gimmicks or tricks in this movie, just a straight forward baseball story with the elements of leadership and courage that is supposed to make athletics great.  This is the kind of movie you take the kids to and many a kid in attendance wore his little league uniform. One kid even took off his cap in a scene where the national anthem is played. Play Ball!  Nothing is really wrong with the picture, but it doesn't stray too far beyond the headlines and for that I’ll split the difference and give 42 three Wilders out of four.

   

 This week’s Overlooked Film of Significance – Of all the civil rights films the best has to be Spike Lee’s Malcolm X. Beyond its subject matter, it’s also one of the best American films of the last 25 years.  I highly recommend this honest and in-depth story of about one of the pillars of the civil rights era.

Behind the Candelabra

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1291580/

Move over Bette Midler and Joan Crawford, the firmament of kitsch has a new supernova with Michael Douglas’s portrayal of Liberace in Behind the Candelabra. The HBO film will come out on DVD for those who don’t subscribe to the premium cable channel.  It’s flashy, sparkly and one might even be tempted to call it fabulous.  It could easily stand alone as a theatrical film as it breaks new ground. It’s no Citizen Kane – this is about Liberace remember – but as a trashy diversion, it’s a lot of fun – one might even be tempted to call it fabulous.

What could have easily been an instantly forgettable TV movie – there have been two previous versions – is now elevated by a quality director, cast and script. Behind the Candelabra focuses on the relationship between Las Vegas entertainer Liberace and his boy Friday/lover Scott Thorson with Michael Douglas and Matt Damon more than adequately filling out the roles.

Michael Douglas can go ahead and make space on his mantel for an Emmy award for his portrayal of the flashy pianist, at least barring a new production of the life of Christ starring Meryl Streep.  Viewers with little experience with the world in which Liberace lived his life may be shouting TMI from the earliest scenes, but such realism is what makes the film exceptional.  Both actors have worked with director Steven Soderbergh before and trust him so their comfort level is obvious in numerous hot tub and bedroom scenes.

 Behind the Candelabra

An excellent supporting cast helps carry this above the usual banality of TV movies. Debbie Reynolds and Rob Lowe get special commendations for their respective parts. (Evidently Lowe completed his transformation into a highly sought-after Beverly Hills plastic surgeon by borrowing Joan River’s face.)

Scott Thorsen was a man with little direction or ambition in life, clinging to a couple who were the last in a long line of foster parents when he got swept up in Liberace’s fast, flashy life, a life of anonymous sexual encounters and substance abuse. Although Damon plays the is-he-or-isn’t-he card a little too much – after all he is an A-list actor with much to risk here – he jumps onto the role with such physical aplomb I might wonder just how close his working relationship was with Ben Affleck.

But the film belongs to Douglas who portrays Liberace so well he probably brings a little more humanity to the character than existed in real life. This is the kind of movie that in past generations, fans would gather at theaters at midnight to watch. Sadly, those days are pretty much gone.  As our patron director was no stranger to the world of camp or kitsch I’ll give Behind the Candelabra three Wilders out of four.

   

This week’s Overlooked Film of Significance: I was lucky enough to find The Loved One available On Demand. This satirical look at the lives of British theater people who have made their home in Hollywood is as fresh now as it was in 1965. It’s on obscure film with lots of bite which is why you don’t hear about it too often. As part of an ensemble cast, Liberace makes a rare film appearance as a funeral home salesman demonstrating his ability to perform a dry comedic role as well as any Brit.