Customer Reviews

The Big Brass Ring [VHS]

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In the Clintonian era of mixed morals, the Big Brass Ring offers a compelling, multi-layered and extraordinarily moving portrait of American politics at the end of the 20th century. And of course, it all originates from an original screenplay by Orson Welles. Director George Hickenlooper has made a unique film of his own, and at the same time, has addes several Wellesian touches to create one of the most unique and underrated films of 1999. William Hurt, Nigel Hawthorne and Miranda Richardson give some of the finest performances of their careers. Richardson, by the way, was nominated for a Golden Globe award for her role as the estranged wife of gubernatorial candidate Blake Pellarin. This is a must see for any true cinema buff... If you love films like The Big Sleep, you'll be blown away by The Big Brass Ring...

This is a murky story of politics, scandal, sex and deception. Sounds like it should have been a great film, but it wasn't. The basic plot was sound as we might expect from Orson Welles. But the way it was presented was too disjointed and abstruse. Without reading the original script, it is hard to tell if the responsibility for this lies with Welles, Oja Kodar (who did the adaptation) or George Hickenlooper, the director. I suspect it is the latter two.

The biggest problem I had was character development. By the end of the film one should reasonably expect the pieces to fit together. Good character development should give us insight into the characters' motivation. I found this lacking. The flashbacks didn't really help us to understand the motivations of the characters as much as they should have. It seems that the brothers voluntarily switched identities, since Billy was wearing a name tag that said "Romero" on his uniform when he left to go to war. So, Blake really didn't steal his brother's identity as it appeared. This wasn't made very clear.

There were lots of loose ends here. What motivated the limo driver to do what he did? Was it a need to be close to power, or some personal vendetta? Who knows?

From a directorial and cinematography point of view, the film was far too dark, that is, underexposed. I'm certain they were trying for that look, but it made the photography look as if it were shot on 30 year old film of poor quality. Also, the audio was very bad. It was very difficult understanding a lot of the dialogue.

William Hurt was miscast in this role. For certain films, his puling, self tortured style of delivery are appropriate to the character (Big Chill, Broadcast News, Children of a Lesser God). However, in this film his character required a more dynamic and confident portrayal, which he was unable to deliver.

Nigel Hawthorne gave the best performance as Kim Mennaker, the Senator who brought the boys up. His ability to portray the old political warhorse, seduced by the trappings of power was excellent.

Irene Jacob gave a good performance as Cela, the reporter with an obsession for the candidate and the truth behind him.

Overall, the whole was less than the sum of the parts. The presentation was ponderous and uneven and the direction mediocre at best. Worth a 5/10. If you are looking for political campaign stories, there are better choices (Primary Colors, The Candidate, with Robert Redford).

In the Clintonian era of mixed morals, the Big Brass Ring offers a compelling, multi-layered and extraordinarily moving portrait of American politics at the end of the 20th century. And of course, it all originates from an original screenplay by Orson Welles. Director George Hickenlooper has made a unique film of his own, and at the same time, has addes several Wellesian touches to create one of the most unique and underrated films of 1999. William Hurt, Nigel Hawthorne and Miranda Richardson give some of the finest performances of their careers. Richardson, by the way, was nominated for a Golden Globe award for her role as the estranged wife of gubernatorial candidate Blake Pellarin. This is a must see for any true cinema buff... If you love films like The Big Sleep, you'll be blown away by The Big Brass Ring.

It's an up-to-date topic, more then ever - political scandals, lies and deceit. but this plays the essential part: in the end Pellarin ( W. Hurt ) decided for his brother and the truth! There were good actors, first of all William Hurt, he plays every part expressive, believable and convincing. Who 's interested in high-quality movies should go and see this film.

This film's trailer informs us that 'Big Brass Ring' was written by Orson Welles three years before his death and it was his final unproduced screenplay. Seeing as how he never got to write/direct and act in it, perhaps it should have sat on the shelf. At it's core it's a twisty and complex political thriller about a man desperately trying to hide his past from a reporter who, aided by the man's former mentor, threatens to bust it wide open. But director George Hickenlooper and co-writer F.X. Feeney bury the story in too many complicated plot twists and odd touches like child pornography, drag queen spies headquartered on a riverboat, a pet monkey with terrible gas and other distracting elements that take away from an otherwise strong story. As a result the whole film seems unfocused and hard to keep up with let alone care about. This is especially true in terms of the acting. It's disappointing to see reliable actors like William Hurt, Miranda Richardson and Nigel Hawthorne going about their roles without a sense of passion or focus. This film is such a disaster that Welles and companion Oja Kodar's names should have been spared from it.

Missouri senator Blake Pellarin (Hurt) is running for Governor as an Independent candidate. With one week left before people go to the polls everyone is desperate to get a hold of him. This includes Democrats and Republicans who want him to join their side and the media who want to know if Governor is the first step on the way to a long term political career. Former political reporter turned entertainment reporter Cela Brandini (Irene Jacob) is especially eager to track Pellarin down. She has been interviewing his former mentor Kim Mennaker (Hawthorne in the role Welles intended for himself), a failed politician himself. Mennaker has emerged from a self imposed exile to reveal truths about Blake's childhood and how he may or may not have played a part in the disappearance of his younger brother. Blake's rich wife (Richardson) wants to silence Mennaker before he can do any more damage to her man but she soon finds out that her vast reserves of money are useless in shutting Mennaker up. He wants the public to know the truth about their candidate. When Pellarin and Mennaker finally meet face to face neither reacts the way you'd expect.

As the film progresses things get more and more complicated as the flashbacks pile up showing Blake, his brother and Mennaker over the course of the boys' adolescence. Serious stuff, like the child porn and switched identities, are shown but I could never distinguish one brother from the other due to the actors close resemblance to one another. Trying to watch the film a second time to solve all the unanswered questions, I finally gave up. Hickenlooper is a great documentary filmmaker who's directed films like 'Hearts Of Darkness', 'Mayor Of The Sunset Strip' and the docudrama 'Factory Girl', but at least you could follow those films since he focused on the characters and their inner thoughts rather than pile on the plot twists. It's a shame that previews touted this as some kind of event, Welles' last unproduced screenplay finally making it to the screen, since the end result is so unsatisfying. There's the possibility of a good film in here somewhere but I guess that part actually stayed on the shelf.

I read Welles's original screenplay (you can buy it here on Amazon), and this movie is nothing like it.

Not in the story, not in the acting (Jack Nicolson and Welles were projected for the leads), certainly not in the direction. Welles's elan-filled script about a married presidential candidate having adventures in Africa and Spain with an old homosexual former teacher of his, leading to a devasting meeting with a Vietnamese lady who was the love of his life, is simply ripped to shreds here with grotesque elements like child porn, brothers who switch identities, a farting monkey, etc. Who cares?

Welles planned to film the movie in black-and-white, with elements of color flashing on and off in key moments. Here it's all a dark brown smudge.

Presidential candidates are more interesting than deep South gubernatoral candidates. And Jack would have been more interesting than Hurt.

Anyway, the director of this movie bought Welles's script to cover himself with the great man's name - and proceeded merely to make a mess. Oja Kodar (Welles's companion, who participated in this movie) unfortunately shares some of the blame.

Do yourself a favor. If you can visualize screenplays while you read them, then get a screenplay called "The Big Brass Ring by Orson Welles" and read it.

William Hurt is just excellent as a Missouri governatorial candidate who has a few skeletons in his closet, walking the tightrope between keeping true to his ethics and wanting to win the election.

A believable, low-key suspense movie. Believe it or not, it was written by Orson Welles, I think it was one of his last works before he died.

Great performances by Miranda Richardson and Nigel Hawthorne.

Very recommended!

It's an up-to-date topic, more then ever - political scandals, lies and deceit. but this plays the essential part: in the end Pellarin ( W. Hurt ) decided for his brother and the truth! There were good actors, first of all William Hurt, he plays every part expressive, believable and convincing. Who 's interested in high-quality movies should go and see this film.

This may be a flawed masterpiece or perhaps a mediocre movie with a lot to recommend it. I enjoyed it and would like to see it again, partly to make sure the plot worked and partly to catch some nuances that I missed. And also because, as my esteemed colleague, flickjunkie, notes below, the audio is atrocious and my ears are not as sharp as they once were. But life is short and the entire opus of film is long...but maybe I can edit with the fast forward!

Okay, let's look at the evidence. Script by Orson Welles: somewhat amazing since he died in 1985. His last work. That alone may make this worth watching. William Hurt plays a southern pol, Blake Pellarin, running for governor of Missouri. Miranda Richardson plays his rich, alcoholic wife, and she is very good. Nigel Hawthorne is Kim Mennaker, Blake's one time mentor, a shadowy, behind the scenes political figure, a cynical character who is writing a 27,000-page memoir, which no doubt includes much about his love for the Pellarin boys. Irene Jacob plays Cela Brandini, a TV reporter fascinated with Blake. The one-time protege of French-Polish director Krzysztof Kieslowski is not shown to advantage here. I'm not sure why, but there is little subtlety in the way she plays the part. To really appreciate what she can do, see her in La Double vie de Veronique (1991) or Trois Couleurs: Rouge (1994), both directed by Kieslowski. She is beautiful and very winning.

William Hurt, contrary to some opinion, was excellent. His characteristic laid-back, almost languid style works strangely well for a southern pol. He is certainly different, but believable, although I don't think his style would have worked had his character been running for president, as in Welles's original script. (Incidentally, they really wanted Louisiana, not Missouri, for the locale.) Hurt's performance reminds me in some ways of his work in the outstanding but now somewhat neglected, Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), for which he won an academy award.

The Big Brass Ring never had a theatrical release, and it is not hard to see why. The print is too dark and the story too murky and hard to follow. It appears that the brothers changed identities when young and never bothered to change back. Apparently Blake's brother and not Blake was the subject of the homosexual photo, but I'm not sure. To make this movie work for a mass audience, the true status of the boys then, and during the time of the action, must be made clear.

I rented this movie the second it hit shelves, in fact I'd been pestering my local Blockbuster for a month about it before it even came out. Here is my 2 cents about the film. It's not normally a movie I'd be interested in (political stuff, 'y know?) but since Miranda Richardson has never let me down in her roles I'd been getting quite pepped up about it. (BTW... Mandy played Dinah Pellarin, Blake's wife)

The story starts out with an interesting flashback of two little boys playing in a convertible. Then it flashes to the present where Blake Pellarin is giving a speach so he'll be elected governer. Anyway it goes into a huge political scandel when some pornography pictures are found. The man in them looks just like Blake. Of course it's then used to bribe him etc...

There are some great scenes in it, I'll probally understand it better if I watch it again. I recommend it to almost anyone. I really enjoyed it, there was great casting!