Customer Reviews

Desperate Characters [VHS]

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

 

 

Otto and Sophie Bentwood (Kenneth Mars and Shirley Maclaine) live in a gigantic, messy brownstone in 1970 Brooklyn Heights, but for all intents and purposes they might as well be living in Paris in 1848. Barricaded in from the street and the changing social and political world outside by means of their barred entryway, locks, and intercom system (which are given plenty of attention in this film), the Bentwoods are left to tear each other apart with their mutual dissastisfactions. Then the outdoors slowly comes creeping into their home: first with the bite of a (possibly rabid) cat that Sophie tries to befriend, then with the midnight drunken visit of Otto's former partner in his law firm, then by a young man wanting to use their phone. The Bentwoods begin to discover that there is no safety behind closed doors.

Paula Fox's beautifully claustrophobic and depressing 1970 novel seemed a natural to be filmed because of its compressed time frame over one long unhappy weekend; it might still make an absolutely first-rate film some day, but this Frank D. Gilroy film made a year after the novel was published doesn't quite pull it off. Gilroy was experimenting quite a bit in this film with shots of very dark city streets and with intentionally disorienting jump cuts to shots above the characters after intense conversations that make them look trapped and hopeless; he also deliberately made the Bentwoods' clothes, hairdos, and homes look as awful as possible (even by the standards of one of the least stylish periods in American cultural history). To say the result isn't very cheerful is putting it mildly; but it's also very off-putting in narrative terms. It's hard to much care for the Bentwoods' social world which seems so sterile as to deserve to be doomed, and though it's fascinating to see Kenneth Mars in a serious role, he's exceptionally unpleasant as Otto.

The main reason to see this film is Shirley Maclaine, who delivers perhaps her best dramatic performance here. Her best scenes often are her wordless scenes, when she turns up her beautiful rosy-pink face towards the other actors and stares at them as her mind races. This is such a far cry from the mannered ding-a-ling roles from both her earlier and later years that here she seems quite another actress altogether. With Sada Thompson, who invests her very unlikely speeches with her characteristic dignity and grace, and Carol Kane in a tiny part as a young hippie.

Shirley Maclaine and Kenneth Mars are simply incredible in this film, playing urbanites that seem literally trapped in their own lives. You can almost taste their bitterness, and hopelessness. Neither they nor their friends seem capable of admitting real emotion to show through their sad facades while they are together, and the silences become volcanic, and truly deafening. They don't really seem to care about one another ( Mars, as Otto, is something of a bullying ogre ). Either because they are too socially conscious, or too set in their ways they have apparently not considered divorce. I was unable to take my eyes off from Maclaine. She imbued her character ( Sophie ) with so many complexities that every gesture, or glance said volumes.

This is a very intense, and devastating film, and the Academy was definitely out to lunch in overlooking Maclaine, and Mars at Oscar time. It is also an extremely depressing movie. The plot is secondary to the dialogue, cinematography, and character developement. I loved it.

DESPERATE CHARACTERS is not a film to watch in a depressed mood, although it could cheer you up since yours isn't likely to be any worse than theirs. Frank D. Gilroy (Tony Gilroy's father) directs efficiently this low key production, a do-any-two-movies-you-like deal between Shirley Maclaine and a Paramount subsidiary (the other one being the great yet also depressing THE POSSESSION OF JOEL DELANEY). Anyhow, DESPERATE CHARACTERS contains fine acting by everyone, with a nice change of pace for funnyman Kenneth Mars. But it's really Mrs Maclaine's picture. She turns in a very carefully nuanced interpretation. Fans of the star should definitely see this one.

This DVD is excellent. I love the film. I first saw it in 1972, soon after it came out. The acting is great, particularly by Shirley MacLaine. It really is one of her best performances. The script is also really good.

The sound and picture quality on the DVD are beautiful. I own 2 VHS copies of the film. The quality on both is poor. It is one of those SP mode cheap videos and both copies skip, once in a while.

If you haven't seen this film and you like serious dramas with great acting and a fabulous cast, then you are in for a real treat if you buy this film on DVD.

The film received excellent reviews, when it came out, but it was not widely distributed, outside of the major U.S. cities. MacLaine won the Best Actress award at the Berlin Film Festival for this film.




Philip Cairns

Shirley MaClaine stars in this early 70's great movie concerning disillusioned New Yorkers,but re-release this movie so that humble people such as myself can afford it!!

The plot has been well reviewed by others. The awkward sexual encounter at their country home was equally awkward to watch, and could have been omitted. This is an unusual film in some ways, and I think there are bits and pieces to which we can all relate. Sada Thompson (one of my favorites) is great in her low-key, measured, but cynical and sardonic interpretation of the people in her own life, including her ex-husband, a college professor, who lives off and on with her for companionship. She thought it would be easier to adjust to being in her forties than it was, remarking to Shirley MacLaine "This is why I dress as I do--better a middle-class frump than an aging go-go girl."

There is a strange encounter between MacLaine and a supposed friend, Ruth, who she sees on the street hailing a cab. MacLaine tries to reach out to her, and Ruth is clearly not interested in conversing with her, only answering her questions. Shirley asks if they can have lunch some time. "I don't eat lunch anymore, I'm on a diet" is Ruth's excuse. Then Shirley says "I'll call you." Ruth says something as she enters the cab, but we can't hear it because of horns blowing on the street. Shirley then turns to a stranger standing close by and asks "Did she just say for me to go away? It doesn't really matter, I'm just curious." The woman doesn't answer her. And of course it mattered to her--she was just saving face.

Again, I think all of us can relate to some of these odd encounters, where MacLaine seeems to be trying to make sense of a world to which she has increasing difficulty relating.

This is one strange flick. I've always liked Shirley Maclaine, and wondered why I had never heard of this movie (I saw it listed on the Internet Movie Database.) So, I thought I would check it out.

Big mistake.

This movie has very little going for it. To begin, no matter what time of day you watch it, it feels like it's one of those movies TV stations used to show after midnight to fill time. Everyone in this movie seems to be lamenting something or just bitching to hear themselves bitch, and they all talk like people out of a novel-with everything they say appearing to have some kind of deep import. Kenneth Mars' character (Shirley's husband) is particularly irritating, and you wonder if she will eventually murder him. After a few scenes, you realise that you don't care about any of them. They're like tiresome guests at a party who won't take the hint and go home.

Otherwise, this movie is dreary, abysmally slow, and confusingly resolved.

I now know why it was only a couple of bucks on E-Bay.

I can see why this film was held up from DVD release. I was interested in it because it starred Shirley McClaine, one of my favorite actresses. It turned out to be a very boring and slow film with the plot hard to follow. Shirley's acting was great but not enough to overcome the boring aspect of the film. You can rent it but do not buy it like I did-I feel ripped off.

This movie is about the angst of a middle-aged couple in New York City. It's boring, but I'm giving it four stars because of Shirley MacLain's nude scenes. She has two. The first is with her lover, but you see only her legs and body as she's lying against her lover covering all the naughty bits. The second is what gives the movie four stars. She bares her lovely breasts with her husband, played by Kenneth Mars, while in their home in the country. These two scenes are the only interesting bits of the whole movie, but their good enough to give it four stars.