It’s becoming a theme this month … another movie I probably haven’t really watched since I first watched it as I was first getting into movies, and again, a movie that’s been sorely needing a review here. All I really remembered of this one was, obviously, the infamous dentist scene, and the ending, all of which I could recall was something to do with Lawrence Olivier walking along a New York sidewalk with a lot of Jewish people staring at him, which for some reason had moved me memorably.

I can be forgiven for having no memory of the story – it’s as convoluted as the best of Seventies thrillers, disconnected as f**k for at least the first 40 minutes (and that’s before Olivier even graces the screen). It bears all the other hallmarks of that wonderful era of cinema, too – from the tinkling piano music score, Hoffman’s facial injury (tooth, of course) mirroring Jack Nicholson’s Chinatown nose, the political ribbing … you know the stuff.

The fact that this is a Seventies Thriller should send you good signals straight away, but in case it doesn’t, note the other facets of its pedigree … John Schlesinger directing, Robert Evans producing, William Goldman with his screenplay doing to the thriller kinda the same as he did to the fairytale with The Princess Bride, and of course Olivier and Hoffmann in the cast.

There are a few moments that don’t quite ring right, but this is really a perfect thriller, giving the audience not even a moment to catch their breath.

Maybe it’s ‘cos I’m a Seventies cinema whore, and this movie embodies all the necessary characteristics; maybe it’s ‘cos I love the Olivier / Hoffmann anecdote on method acting (I won’t recount it here, it should be easy enough to Google); maybe it’s something else personal I haven’t mentioned here; but this is definitely one of the best movies I have ever seen. Speaking of Olivier, I feel the need to mention his performance and what it means to me. He is f**king terrifying in this movie. I mean, I’ve seen the movie before, I’ve seen all the classic scary performances, and I never thought I’d ever be as deeply frightened by a movie than I was by this one on this viewing. He is stomach-churningly horrible. I realise he’s known to have given greater performances than this, but hey … I’ve seen three of his movies and (obviously) never seen him on stage – and while his Hamlet was great, I prefer Kenneth Branagh’s (ok, I’ll admit, sometimes I even prefer Ethan Hawke’s lol), and Marilyn Monroe is the clear scene-stealer in The Prince and the Showgirl – this is Lawrence Olivier’s finest hour to me, and probably always will be. He’s scarier than Anthony Hopkins’ Hannibal Lector. It’s the most frighteningly flawless male performance I’ve ever seen.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 28th, 2006 at 11:43 pm in 5 hearts, Movie Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.