A pair of Stephen King adaptations. See our previous Reiner tribute (both iterations of "Spinal Tap") here.
STAND BY ME (1986) (B+) - Quaint, bordering on quirky, this Boomer nostalgia trip gets by on a naive charm and the performances of its four stars portraying a band of 12-year-olds on an overnight trek to hunt for the body of a co-hort who has gone missing. It is steeped in sepia but sharp enough at key moments to rise above the maudlin.
Wil Wheaton (above left) stars as Gordie, a sensitive boy who already has been tagged with the "writer" label, a neat cubbyhole that filmmakers love to exploit. The film is a flashback to 1959 narrated by the adult Gordie (Richard Dreyfuss). He relates the story of the Labor Day weekend excursion with three buddies to track down the dead body that older teens were afraid to report to police.
River Phoenix is the true revelation here as Chris, a tough-talking smoker whose older brother was one of the toughs who first saw the body (but were afraid to report it). Phoenix shows a depth unheard of for a young teen in only his second movie role. By comparison, Corey Feldman is a relative clown as goofy Teddy, who is haunted by his war-hero father's mental-health struggles. Jerry O'Connell is the main comic relief as Vern, the portly Curly of this bunch of little rascals. Their banter is amusing, and Reiner allows his writers (Raynold Gideon and Bruce Evans) to luxuriate in the ribald putdowns and slang of the late Eisenhower era (mostly at the level of juvenile dick references, skidmark jokes, and "two for flinching" bullying). It was a time when America not only still minted pennies, but those pennies could add up enough to feed four boys for a day or two.
Gordie is saddled with the shadow of his dead older jock brother (John Cusack in flashback flashbacks), and the little wimp must prove himself to his grittier buddies. That will come in a memorable showdown with the older gangsters (led by Kiefer Sutherland), who belatedly race the boys to the body by the lake in order to grab the expected media spotlight. I will forever quote the signature line, "Suck my fat one, you cheap dime-store hood."
There are some curious detours here. A scene in which the boys taunt a junkyard dog feels shoehorned in, and there is no payoff to a tall tale Gordie unspools about an obese kid at a pie-eating contest. But a race against a train across a river bridge has genuine tension. And the coming-of-age bonding among the boys -- amid the bittersweet late-summer brink of moving on to junior high -- feels genuine. And the wistful ending might catch in your throat.
MISERY (1990) (B) - Kathy Bates is a revelation, and James Caan manages a strong performance despite being confined to a bed for most of the movie, a slow-burn thriller about an obsessed fan who kidnaps her favorite author after rescuing him from an auto accident in a blizzard.
Annie (Bates) is actually a nurse, if not one with up-to-date certifications. She is obviously deranged, truly a super fan (of a beloved series of novels that the author is desperate to move on from) but she is not necessarily looking out for the best interests of her captive, King stand-in Paul Sheldon (Caan), who has two broken legs and an arm in a sling. She dotes on her helpless patient but also locks him in his room. She lies about the blizzard closing the roads and downing phone lines, even as the days drag on, and soon this becomes a cat-and-mouse contest of wills and strength.
Comic relief comes from Richard Farnsworth ("The Straight Story") as the gruff sheriff and Frances Sternhagen as his helpful wife/deputy, who share a folksy DNA with characters from David Lynch's movies and the Coen brothers' releases to come, like "Fargo." Reiner juggles the two storylines ably; as to the suspense, he is no Hitchcock, but he also does a serviceable job of ratcheting up the tension across 107 efficient minutes. Reiner does struggle at times; an old-fashioned montage of Sheldon healing, as the days pass and he pounds out a new novel under orders from Annie, ain't exactly "Rocky" material. A famous scene involving a sledgehammer is not for the squeamish.
Bates, in her breakout role on the other side of age 40, carries the show here. She finds nuance in the stereotypical role of a mentally ill captor. Caan has been better elsewhere, in meatier roles, but he manages to do a lot of work through his eyes and facial expressions. Lauren Bacall shows up in a glorified cameo as Sheldon's literary agent, appearing at the beginning and end of the film. And bonus points for placing Liberace on the soundtrack; Annie is a big fan, yet another red flag regarding her overall mental state.
BONUS TRACK
Fifties oldies pepper the "Stand by Me" soundtrack, but the king (By Ben E. King) is the title track over the closing credits:
No comments:
Post a Comment