I’m as Gab as Hell...

Werth: Hey there, Wise.

Wise: Hi there, Werth. 

Werth: Ever since Sidney Lumet died last Saturday, I can’t stop thinking about his movies.



Wise: He was a masterful, prolific filmmaker.

Werth: And one film in particular has stuck in my craw.

Wise: Should I call your internist? 

Werth: That won’t be necessary.  One of my all-time favorite movies is Network (1976), and I know everybody talks about it, but I don’t think its praises can be sung enough.

Wise: Cue the chorus.

Werth: Network’s log line could read: A news agency deals with ratings, revolutionary groups and a messianic newscaster—but the movie deals with so much more than that. Max Schumacher (William Holden) is an aging newsman who finds himself inside bars downing shots of whiskey and reminiscing about his days with Walter Cronkite. His pal Howard Beale is fired for poor ratings by corporate news muckety-muck Frank Hackett (Robert Duvall) and ambitious succubus Diana Christensen (Faye Dunaway).

Something in Beale snaps (or is illuminated by the truth) and soon he is ending his final broadcast by pulling back the curtain and exposing the bullshit wizards of the corporate news world with a mad soliloquy. His rallying cry, “I’m as mad as Hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore” is shouted from the rooftops and makes the ratings skyrocket. 

Wise: Faye Dunaway makes a lot of people scream from the rooftops.  

Werth: Christensen knows good ratings when she sees them, and soon she re-organizes the nightly news with Beale’s ranting editorials, psychic hoo-haw, and a group of Symbionese Liberation Army wannabes—turning Beale’s cry for legitimate change into a program catchphrase.

Wise: Sounds like a day at the Fox News Network.

Werth: Exactly. Network is more than a smart, funny, pinpoint accurate satire of corporate news. It’s eerily prophetic. The emergence of nothing-is-sacred “reality news”, rabid, almost religious editorializing (whether it’s honest or not), and sacrificing hard news for ratings is so common now that it’s difficult to imagine the days when those elements were new inventions. Today in our 24 hour news cycle, the Cronkites, the Murrows and the Max Schumachers have all been eaten alive by the likes of Christensen’s new “whorehouse network.” 

Wise: What channel is that on Time Warner?

Werth: Paddy Chayefsky’s script is flawless. You could literally sit down and read it like a book. The performances by all the principles are pitch perfect (Holden and Ned Beatty were nominated for Oscars and Finch and Dunaway won). And the man who brought it all together, Lumet, was given his third Oscar nomination for Best Director. Like an experienced conductor, Lumet weaves together the different sounds of biting comedy (Dunaway’s orgasm scene and the contract negotiations with the Ecumenical Liberation Army),  manic passion (Finch’s inspired on-air orations), and nuanced pathos (Schumacher’s wife’s private and touching admonishment of her philandering spouse) without missing a beat, making a film that is still relevant, fresh and entertaining today. Network is a cautionary tale about a society where heroes are built-up and then chewed-up to appease us. It is an ugly reflection of our culture, one we should watch until we’re “as mad as Hell.” 

Wise: You know it’s funny because the Lumet film I’ve been thinking about this week examines many of those same themes—unlikely heroes, delirious arias about personal integrity, mistrust of talking heads—although in an entirely different way.  

Werth: Let me guess, The Wiz.  

Wise: No, The Wiz—wait, what?  How did you guess that?  Is it that obvious?

Werth: Let’s just say that like Lumet, you often return to the ideas that interest you most. 

Wise: I guess that is a trait all us geniuses share.  Anyway, after the success of the all-black Broadway musical version of L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, plans were made to translate it to film, and when Diana Ross expressed interest in playing Dorothy, the producers decided they needed to find a director of large enough stature to manage both the outsize production and Diana Ross’ fledgling acting career.  Lumet may not have been the obvious choice, but he certainly was an interesting choice because of the ways he transformed the project.  When it first appeared onstage, The Wiz remained much more faithful to Baum’s novel than did the beloved Judy Garland musical, albeit peppered with a jive-talking urban patois meant to reflect African-American experience.  Lumet brought on Joel Shumacher to write the screenplay—

Werth: You mean Joel “Nipples on the Bat-suit” Schumacher?

Wise: That’s the one.  Gone was pre-teen Dorothy and her life on the Kansas farm, replaced by the decidedly mature Ross playing an excruciatingly shy 24-year old elementary school teacher who is swept from her apartment in Harlem to a fantasy version of seedy 1970’s New York City.  This change makes an odd kind of sense in the story, although it necessitated further adjustments to the script to make it even more appropriate to Ross’ talents.  The film becomes even more focused on her emotional arc, often to the detriment of the other characters.  Most significantly, it is now Dorothy who convinces her friends of their unrealized gifts, leaving Richard Pryor’s Wiz to cower in the background instead of performing something like the good-natured flimflam mastered by Frank Morgan in The Wizard of Oz.  

Werth: Pryor looks like he had plenty to occupy him off-camera. 

Wise: Dorothy’s three companions in Oz—Michael Jackson’s Scarecrow, Nipsy Russell’s Tinman, and Ted Ross’ Cowardly Lion—each have marvelous moments even though their talents feel mostly underutilized.  Jackson, in particular, brings real warmth to his portrayal, true grace to the awkward Scarecrow, but he never has the opportunity to make the character fully real.  In his final good-bye to Dorothy, he is almost immediately brushed aside by Diana Ross instead of being allowed to connect with the audience before being shuffled away.  

Werth: Not even the Moonwalk can compete with Ross’ hinge-like, stick-leg, high kicks.

Wise: In some ways, it’s a shame that Lumet and Ross didn’t leave The Wiz to be made by someone else entirely while the two of them developed a film about a reluctant New Yorker who eventually allows both the magic and the mayhem of the city to release her inhibitions.  That would have been a picture ideally suited to Lumet’s affectionate dissections of the city and Ross’ twitchy drive.  

Werth: Maybe they could have called it Twitch and the City.  Or The Blair Twitch Project.  I know!  How about The Twitches of Eastwick?

Wise: Or maybe not... Check back next week for more Film Gab... and less twitching.

Werth: The Seven Year Twitch?

Thanksgiving Leftovers

(Imagine that Wise's hard-drive didn't die and this was actually posted 11/26/10). 

Wise: Happy Thanksgiving, Werth! 

Werth: Happy Thanksgiving, Wise! 

Wise: Sorry if I’m a little distracted this week, but I’ve just reached the crisis point with my turkey.  It’s decision time and I can’t decide whether to slow roast or deep fry.  

Werth: They both sound scrumptious. 

Wise: Scrumptious isn’t the point.  I’m more interested in bragging to my foodie friends about what a pain making the turkey is.  In the past I’ve roasted, dry roasted, butter roasted, butterflied, brined, salted, rubbed, grilled, injected, smoked, stuffed, herb-crusted, honey-glazed, and citrus-braised.  Thanksgiving just gives you the chance to put a lot of effort into something that might turn out terrible.  

Werth: It’s funny you say that, because when I think of Thanksgiving, I think of—

Wise: Let me guess…

Werth: Blockbuster movie releases!

Wise: How did I know?

Werth: Thanksgiving is the gateway drug to the big Christmas narcotics stash that gets sold to us on every street corner until we’re snorting and shooting up in every theater in the country! Sometimes it’s the good stuff- 

Wise:- and sometimes it’s cut with Drano

Werth: I mean, look at this week! The first half of the final Harry Potter movie! A run-away train flick with Denzel and Captain Kirk! A serious Oscar® contender about stuttering King George! A Disney re-telling of Rapunzel-

Wise: Don’t forget Cher and Christina Aguilera in Burlesque.

Werth: Oh I didn’t forget…

 Wise: Here it comes.

 Werth: —I’ve been pondering lately how often music stars try to crossover into the movie business in an attempt to make oodles of cinematic cash. Al Jolson—

 Wise: Doris Day—

 Werth: Elvis—

Wise: Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears.  

Werth: Even Liberace made a movie! 

Wise: Really?

Werth: 1955’s Sincerely Yours. There’s a piano-shaped pool in it.  But one of my favorite music star vehicles is the 1972 bio-pic of jazz giant Billie Holiday, Lady Sings the Blues starring Motown diva Diana Ross. Now it’s no secret that Diana Ross is ambitious and Berry Gordy liked to make money, so once the Supremes were finished, it makes perfect sense that Diana and her svengali would turn to Hollywood. 

 Wise: But Diana Ross as Billie Holiday?

Werth: True, both stars dealt with racism and that special brand of sexism that comes with not being classically good-looking, but the smooth sound of Ross’ pop vocals bear little resemblance to the rough, soul-exposing sounds of Holiday. And just ‘cause you stick a gardenia in your hair, doesn’t mean you look like Billie Holiday. Despite these discrepancies, Motown and Paramount were determined to make Diana Ross the music star into Diana Ross the moviestar. Movie posters for Lady Sings the Blues trumpeted far and wide, “Diana Ross IS Billie Holiday.” And you know what? 

 Wise: The movie’s fantastic?

 Werth: The movie’s fantastic! Ross portrays the complicated life story of Holiday with surprising gusto. She is scrappy as she works her way from prostitute to cabaret singer to jazz star. She is tender and coy as she falls for the slick Louis McKay played with devilish charm by everyone’s favorite beer spokesperson, Billy Dee Williams. 

Wise: I do love an ice-cold Colt 45

Werth: And she is heartbreaking as the heroin addict who can’t escape the grip of addiction. Her fits of mania when she can’t get her “shiiitttt!!!!” are stunning. Legend has it that Ross turned to her co-star Richard Pryor to find out what it was like to do heroin. She must have gone to the right place. Her performance earned her an Academy Award® nod for Best Actress and the film itself would garner another 4 nominations. 

Wise: What about the songs?

Werth: Ross’s take on the Holiday songs that fill the soundtrack, while not dead-ringers for Holiday’s sound, are great interpretations of the material. Ross’ take on pathos is less primal and more sedate- but effective nonetheless. Before I ever saw the movie, I was very fond of Ross’s “Good Morning Heartache” and would play it any chance I got when I DJ’d at the local Adult Contemporary radio station. 

Wise: You were a radio DJ?

Werth: That’s a story for another time. Ross would only make two more movies and while she certainly chewed the scenery to shreds in Mahogany and threw her stick-like legs around in The Wiz, she never topped her performance as Lady Day. She would continue to make money (and headlines) in her music career, but this chanteuse’s reign as a movie queen was short-lived.

Wise: But isn’t that true for most singers who try to make it in the movies?  Vocal talent demands a dramatic story, and if the music star can’t act the same emotions that she’s able to sing, then the whole movie suffers. Casting radio stars in movies is a tricky business.  

Werth: It sounds like you have someone in mind.  

Wise: Actually, I do.  Madonna.  Because she’s terrible in some movies, yet she’s great in others.  

Werth: Should I bust out a chorus of “Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina”?  

Wise: That would be lovely, but I was thinking about Madonna as Breathless Mahoney in Dick Tracy.  

Werth: I love Madonna in that movie.

Wise: She’s really great in it, I think, not because she’s acting very much, but because she’s using her star persona to inform the character.  She basically plays a talented sexpot who’s trying to lure Dick Tracy to the bad side while hoping for a chance to make good.  

Werth: While in real life—

Wise: She’s a talented sexpot who’s luring Warren Beatty into tempestuous affair while hoping to make good in one of her biggest screen roles.  

Werth: Not really a stretch.  

Wise: But it doesn’t have to be.  She is at the height of her fame and beauty at this point, and she uses her already familiar talents to infuse this role with a quality it wouldn’t have had with another actress in that role.  Plus she has some great Stephen Sondheim tunes to sing.

Werth: So you like Dick?  

Wise: Parts of it- and yes I got your joke, but I'm ignoring it. Dick Tracy is beautifully designed and there are a couple witty performances, but it’s one of those movies where all the good ancillary ideas kind of drown out any focus the movie has.  

Werth: I think that happens a lot with these comic book movies.  The best of them have one hero and one villain and everything else serves the main conflict.  Too often there’s just too much going on. 

Wise: And Dick Tracy is packed with minor characters, all of them played by Warren Beatty’s famous friends in elaborate make-up.  There’s Dustin Hoffman, Al Pacino, Paul Sorvino, Kathy Bates, Dick van Dyke, Catherine O’Hara, Mandy Patinkin, and one of my favorite actresses as Dick Tracy’s girlfriend Tess Trueheart, Gleanne Headly.  When every role is filled by a big name star, though, there’s nothing to telegraph who’s important to the plot and who’s not.  And while that kind of casting might work in a more nuanced film, these caricatured parts demand flamboyant performances in order to work. 

Werth: So it’s not Dinner at Eight.

 

Wise: Not exactly, but there’s lots to enjoy.  And like I said, Madonna is pretty special in it. 

Werth: This must have been before Abel Ferrara ruined her acting forever in Dangerous Game. 

Wise: Right.  I mean, she’s not playing Lady Macbeth, but she gets to chew a little scenery, toss off some witty barbs, and yet has a pretty affecting scene at the end. 

Werth: So you wouldn’t call Madonna’s performance a turkey? 

Wise: Are the food jokes just going to get worse as we get deeper into the holiday season? 

Werth: Do you think my jokes are corny or just canned? 

Wise: More like overstuffed. 

Werth: Touche.  Enjoy your holiday and join us next week for more Film Gab with Werth and Wise.