One of my wife's favorite films is "Cyrano de Bergerac" (1950, directed by Michael Gordon and starring José Ferrer in the title role). After watching it again last week, she expressed an interest in seeing the production with Kevin Kline, staged in New York and specially directed for TV by Matthew Diamond (PBS's "Great Performances," 2008). I borrowed the DVD from our local library and we watched it.
Kline's performances is masterful, understated, cinematically effective, but quite incompatible with Jennifer Garner's highly theatrical performance as Roxane, the object of Cyrano's tragic love. We'd have preferred for hers to match his, rather than the reverse.But what I want to report is an item about Chris Sarandon, who very effectively plays the Comte de Guiche. Who was he, I wondered? Not the actor who played opposite Jane Fonda in "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" No, that was Michael Sarrazin, with a fairly long list of films I'd likely mostly find UBOO.
No, listed among Chris Sarandon's many films is "Dog Day Afternoon" (1975), in which he played Sonny [the Al Pacino character]'s "wife" Leon Schermer (Pacino was robbing the bank to pay for Leon's sex-change operation)! We watched that film again a couple of years ago, and the character's pathos is graven on my memory. Sarandon was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance.Chris Sarandon is about six months older than I. And no, he isn't Susan Sarandon's brother; rather, she acquired his last name when she married him (in 1967).
Footnote on movie incompatibility. I am fortunate that my wife and I share a love of film (and TV series). A friend reports that
I used to just check off all the movies on the Netflix website I could think of that I wanted to see so I always had something in the mail. Netflix is really easy to manage. I used to make sure I watched four or five movies a week. Nowadays we barely manage one a week mainly due to the fact that [my spouse] just isn't into films as much as I am.I'm sure it's tough not being compatible in terms of movies. My old college roommate who visited us last week told me that he, too, doesn't watch many movies (even though he'd like to), simply because his wife doesn't like to watch them. But, rather than watch them anyway, alone, he reads a book.
I can relate, actually. I don't "feel right" watching a movie when my wife doesn't want to watch it too. I'm fortunate that she almost always (but not quite always) is willing to at least start watching with me. If she decides to not continue watching, I don't feel so bad continuing myself, but starting to watch one she doesn't want to watch is another thing. I'm not sure why.
Morris, have you ever seen The Princess Bride? It's a hilarious movie, and Chris Sarandon is wonderful as the evil Prince Humperdinck.
ReplyDeleteAh, yes, years ago. I see that the Internet Movie Database has, in its slide show, a photo of Sarandon and Christopher Guest riding their horses side by side.
ReplyDeleteRobin Penn Wright was so young in 1987! And Sarandon still looked more like Leon Schermer than the Comte de Guiche.
What's your favorite Christopher Guest movie? I think mine is still "This Is Spinal Tap" (also directed, like "The Princess Bride," by Rob Reiner).
Yes, This Is Spinal Tap is probably Guest's standout performance. I also liked him in Best in Show.
ReplyDeleteI think I've seen "Best of Show" three times. The first Christopher Guest movie I saw (or even heard of) was "Waiting for Guffman," which we watched when visiting my wife's sister in Los Altos a few years ago. I like the core Guest ensemble: Larry Miller, Fred Willard, Catherine O'Hara, Parker Posey, Eugene Levy. I sense I'm leaving someone out.
ReplyDeleteKen, by the way, I didn't fail to notice that you italicize movie titles, while I continue to follow the (perhaps outdated?) practice of putting them in quotation marks. Can you cite a current authority for this convention?
ReplyDeleteI've sort of let the world of style conventions slide past, still trying, for example, to distinguish between "who" and "whom," in the face of criticism from, for example, an old friend who is actually a college English teacher that even the "who"/"whom" distinction hardly merits recognition anymore.
That is, I still honor lessons learned and remembered from my excellent high school English teacher (Miss Lois Thompson, who was already in her 70's by the time I came through). For example, the very useful distinction between "compare with" and "compare to." And others that come to mind when the occasion arises (but not at the moment).
Authorities differ on the treatment of movie titles, but there is substantial support for italics. Even if they all called for quotes, I'd choose italics because of what I'll call the "differentiation factor." In my view, quotes do a weak job of setting titles apart. That's OK for the title of a short story or essay, but a film is a major body of creative work, like a novel.
ReplyDeleteKen, I like your rationale for italicizing movie titles, and I hereby adopt it (without going back to change everything done differently, of course—except maybe the currently shown list of recently viewed movies [and TV shows]). Thanks!
ReplyDelete