Customer Reviews

Man of Century [VHS]

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I loved this movie! The snappy patter and Bobby Short's music
did it for me. I've never particularly been a fan of this or that era but this movie may well make you want to go back to the twenties. I loved that song Nagasaki enough that I ordered a Bobby Short cd. From the other reviews it seems you love or hate this movie. I think it's good enough to watch over and over!

With a little "Purple Rose of Cairo," Buster Keaton, Chaplin, W.S. Van Dyke, and modern Indie sensibility thrown together, "Man of The Century" is a breezy, fast moving winner well cratfed and excellently performed by a steller cast. Frazier's comic timing and language are a riot, and Johnny's rat-at-at old movie jargon is as infectious as this movie's charm. The film is extremely clever in presenting a man out of time, and nicely captures the magic of silent-era comedies and early crime/film noir movies of the 20's and thirties. Clearly the filmmakers know the styles of those films and pay tribute to them. But beneath the gimmick of the premise and style is another surpirse- a fun and spirited story which collects a great group of contrasting characters and delivers a sweet message. Johnny's New York is a bit more romantic and naive than the world of the modern characters he works with, but by the end of this picture, you, like everyone else in the movie, will be glad to join him there. Good stuff, here.

If you enjoy history of the cinema or the Jazz Age, you will enjoy this movie tremendously. It's a lot of fun, and in contrast to formula movies where someone stuck in the past can't make it in the present, he does just fine in our age, thank you, thanks in part to the real world picking up some of the fantasy from the early cinema. The acting, and action, is hilarious. Much that's in here has been done before, in the original, but it all comes together here in a very unique way. The only flaw I found is that although the language and situation "formulae" are from 1928-32, the dress is closer to 1926-27. Highly recommended.

Man of the Century is an odd little independent film revolving around Johnny Twennies (Gibson Frazier), a man existing out of his time. His mannerisms and sensibilities are that of someone living in the Roaring Twenties. His colloquial speech pattern and cocky, independent persona recall James Cagney and Cary Grant, from Hollywood's golden age. He wears old-fashioned attire (hat included), sends out telegrams, types on an old-school typewriter, dances the Charleston, and is particular to tunes by Irving Berlin and the Gershwins.

Johnny Twennies resides in modern day New York yet is breezily oblivious to our contemporary times. His girlfriend Samantha (Susan Egan) is carrying a torch for him, yet finds herself constantly frustrated because Johnny insists on being a gentleman and refuses to put out. His new photographer partner seems unable to get across to Johnny that he's gay. Trouble comes calling when his newspaper editor gives Johnny one last chance to come up with a scoop before he gives him the bum's rush. Add to that the fact that two hoodlums are hassling him because of a newspaper column...well, it's all enough to give one the heebie-jeebies.

This short, weird film is short on depth, but long on style. I thought it was a blast. It was really fun watching the clash between 1990s NewYork residents (and their modern sensibilities) and the determined obliviousness of the anachronistic Johnny Twennies. The glossy black and white cinematography is apropos to the storyline and looks great. Gibson Frazier, who co-wrote the story, has the 1920s personality down pat, complete with the snappy, rapid-fire patter and jaunty, can-do attitude. Susan Egan has a perfectly pitched performance as Johnny's baffled girlfriend. Sadly, Frank Gorshin (Batman's Riddler) doesn't fare as well as the elderly, decrepit, kinky Roman Navarro, who preys on musical ingenues.

I do agree with several reviewers who suggested this would've improved even more with a shorter running time. It would've been absolute gold as a 20 minute short. Nevertheless, Man of the Century is still definitely worth checking out for the full-on commitment and realization of its wacky premise.

I would imagine the only people interested in buying this film had it recommended by a friend, because there's no other way anyone would even hear of this goofy little film. I loved it, but I can see how some viewers would find it tedious, because the criticisms are correct _ it is a bit of a one-joke movie. But it worked for me. I loved the way Johnnie Twennies's entire dialogue is filled with archaic catchphrases I've only heard in movies from the early 30s and 40s. In one scene, he slaps a man saying something like, "When I slap you, you'll take it and like it." I swear I heard Humphrey Bogart say that in the "The Maltese Falcon" when he slapped Peter Lorre around.
I laughed through the whole movie at the silliness of the premise, and the odd juxtaposition of his phrases, his dress, his whole demeanor in a modern world. I don't know. Maybe it just appealed me because sometimes I just feel like Johnnie Twennies myself.
The song track is right, there are little homages to the predictable scenes those old films always had _ like the cab chase, the nightclub scene, the down on her luck cigarette girl.
Yeah, I liked this film.

This film is a study in contrast on levels beyond the photography: a man of the (20th) century matches wits with modern characters and comes out on top.

E.g. a couple of sailor-mouthed, leather-clad, gun-wielding goons are sent to menace the anachronistic newspaper reporter and strong-arm him into writing a bogus story. He brushes them off like pieces of lint.

Every frame of this gem is silly, sweet, beautifully photographed, and barrels of fun. There are plenty of references to old-time photography tricks, implausible story mechanisms - even breakdowns in continuity - but they don't seem to bring me out of the moment or detract from the fun. It's like listening to a life-of-the-party type of fellow going on a tangent from a joke that's as funny as the joke itself.

I saw this for the first time a week ago, and I've already put it on my all-time favorites list. First rate.

If you are a fan of Laurel and Hardy, Harold Lloyd, Buster Keaton...a fan of old-world (old here meaning the first thirty years of the twentieth century) sensibilities...a fan of men wearing felt fedoras (and straw boaters!), suits and ties; and girls wearing dresses and arm bands and who dance the Charleston (sigh!)...this is your film. Gibson Frazier plays Johnnie Twennies, a modern-day newspaper man whose sensibilities (his clothes, language, attitude, mannerisms, etc.) are all straight out of the nineteen twenties. He is utterly devoted to his career, even when his "big story" is the opening of a library, and is a completely charming boyfriend to a girl who, alas, is very frustrated by Johnnie's apparent lack of interest in...er...moving things along. Johnnie becomes involved in a plot with some thugs who are very much NOT old world, whose vicious swearing and threats of violence contrast abruptly (and maybe too abruptly) with the sweetness of Johnnie. The film also features some unfortunate scenes with a lecherous opera producer played by an otherwise completely welcome (and very healthy looking) Frank Gorshin (the Riddler from the old Batman series.) A final quibble with the film is that, in true old-world style, Johnnie smokes cigarettes almost constantly. But in the end, the movie is a joyous celebration of all things bygone, of a time when if a man was asked "Are you gay?", he could answer "I'm as gay as a day in May!" A beautiful, charming film, especially for old-film buffs.

This is a film about a reporter named Johnny Twenties, a late 20th century man whose demeanor and speech and lifestyle completely reflect the time of the roaring Twenties. Watch Johnny Twenties handle himself peerlessly and fearlessly as he faces off against mobsters and thugs and all others who lack chivalry and respect.

The mob is after him to do a piece on its boss, Elijah Pitts. But when Johnny hedges, they try to make him do it by force. Not everything goes according to plan for Johnny Twenties. But the film is a quaint and quirky parody of a man of another time living in our own time. In this regard, it reminded me of the 1995 Brady Bunch movie, another film where people of another culture and time try to make their way through our own modern world.

This is a relatively short film, coming in at 80 minutes. But I recommend it. An entertaining film.

This is a potential classic: Living anachronism, Johnnie Twennies is a reporter living in the present-day Big Apple, writing a mundane column for a marginal newspaper on an old manual typewriter. He wears '20's suits, hats and utters pure '20's-speak while rescuing young women in distress from muggers, resisting threats from gangsters, visiting mom (who wants to marry him with the New York Social Register), dances the Charleston with his modern sweetie and resists compromising her virtue. While the world around him abounds in chaos, he makes his way optomistically searching for righteousness, in a Parsifalian way, getting his girl, evading his ma's mindless preppie pick, beating up the bad guys upon occasion, playing '20s post-ragtime jazz on the piano, exposing and capturing the evil villain while embracing virtue at every turn...and, does this all in good humor.
Everything works. The acting, the photography, the business. The only name I recognized was Gorshin, playing Roman Navarro, an Italian impresario-imposter into leather S&M. Check out the reviews. The overwhelming verdict is very, very positive.
This goofy plot works amazingly well, from the first scratchy roll of the credits to the song-laden end. This has all the necessary elements of a cult classic. Get it. See it. Share it. Believe me, Toots. You'll be glad you did.

Here is the gimmick: a reporter for a New York newspaper in the year 2001dresses, talks, acts, and thinks as if he was a fast talking, jazz loving reporter from the late 1920's. Is he stuck in a time warp or eccentric? The film never answers that question. It doesn't matter. Gibson Frazier gives one of the most charming and breezily confident performances of the year as the reporter who wears celluloid collars and speaks the brash lingo of 1927 Manhattan while those around him are either exasperated by or enchanted with his ways. If you love the 20's (as I do), this will be right up your alley. See if you can catch all of the pop culture references to that period. Bobby Short contributed some great music done in period style. Frazier sings a great version of "You were meant for me".
One sad note is that in comparison to the winning ways of our gentleman hero and the age that he loves, the moderns come across as vulgar, offensive, and lacking in all sense of propriety. It shows you how unnecessary and crass the four letter words really are when they make their appearance (which is rare in this film, thank goodness).
If you are looking for a fun little film that might be overlooked in the video store next to the displays for the bigger movies, try this one. It works as a comedy, a romance, and as a break from the usual.
I would like to give this one five stars but I was afraid that readers might get it expecting some big splashy production. It is an independent film with a modest budget. Within those constraints, however, it deserves five stars.