Customer Reviews

Rhinoceros

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

 

 

One of the great things about this DVD is that it includes an interview, taped in 2002, with the film's director, Tom O'Horgan. (He was the guy responsible, along with Galt McDermot, for the original Hair on Broadway). Among other things, O'Horgan talks about the conversion of the original Eugene Ionesco play into a cnematic version, giving great credit to the screenwriter, Julian Barry.

And with good reason. While Ionesco is one of the great absurdist playwrights, his sensibility is decidedly European. This means that the sense of humor expressed in the original play would very likely fall on deaf (American) ears, to a large extent. What the screenwriter has done is to essentially Americanize the dialogue, making it truly hilarious in many scenes.

And of course it helps to have a great cast. The two leads, Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder, are perfect for their roles, especially Mostel who is funny enough to make you micturate in your trousers, if you catch my drift. Seen first as a man overly concerned with appearance and manners, he descends, in the course of the film, to the level of the titular creature.

The story is of a small town which is beset by a bizarre plague, if one can call it that--the transforming of humans into rhinos. Ionesco was commenting on the radical changes occurring in society as the Cold War became a reality--meaning, more than anything else, as people had much more to be afraid of than they did before. Fear makes us lose our rationality, become less human. Even become rhinoceri.

This is a really funny film that is just as good now--maybe even better--than it was when originally released in 1974. In supporting roles, Percy Rodriquez and Joe Silver are especially good--staunch representatives of corporate America. Karen Black does a great job as a sexy woman who Stanley (Gene Wilder) works with and is smitten with and eventually anguishes over as he is the sole remaining human in a town full of rhinos.

Much, much better than you might think. Definitely recommended.

Stanley is a bored, alcoholic young man who feels disconnected from the rest of society. His best friend John is contstantly trying to help him to fit in and get over his feelings of awkwardness. One Sunday morning, while the two are at a restaurant, a rhinoceros rampages through the streets. Soon, Stanley notices more and more rhinoceroses and begins to realize that everyone in town is turning into them. Determined not to change, he confronts John with the problem only to watch his transformation in a rhino. As the rest of the world changes, including Daisy, the woman of his dreams, Stanley desparately tries to transform, but realizes that he can't and that he won't.

This is a good adaptation of the absurdist play by Eugene Ionesco and changes the setting from a small French town to a big US city. Wonderful performances by Gene Wilder as Stanley and Karen Black as Daisy; and a standout performance from Zero Mostel as Stanley's friend John. Tom O'Horgan's direction is definitley unique, making it feel as though the viewer is watching a stage play. The only drawback is the bad '70s music that doesn't fit.

The DVD has some great extras including an interview with Tom O'Horgan, an interview with Zero Mostel, information about Eugene Ionesco, and the original movie trailer, to name a few. The trailer gives an idea of how the studio marketed this film as a comedy, even though it views more along the lines of a drama or a very, very dark comedy.

Having read the play in college, I enjoyed this adaptation. If you enjoy a movie that makes you think, then this is definitely the movie for you.

I guess I can understand how some folks don't like Ionesco or this play in particular. I have quirky taste. If you like Tim Dorsey or Elmore Leonard or Carl Hiassen, you might like this. I watched it by myself on television long about 1976 or so and almost died laughing.

The film is strangely up to date and topical too, with a kind of virus sweeping New York (IIRC). It's a stagey piece, with the two main actors providing almost all the energy. New Yorkers, being New Yorkers, have varying responses to crises, which is part of the fun.

And the virus itself is a barely disguised version of what really has gripped our nation since this play was written. Everyone should see it at least once.

Well, maybe not everyone.

I first saw this adaptation in a college film class and have been trying to get a VHS or DVD since. Yes, it is supposed to be funny, but funny odd not funny ha-ha. Absurdist theater takes normal behaviors and exaggerates them so we see how weirdly we act and how distorted our values sometimes are. The character Zero Mostel plays is fastidious in his morals and attire, but even he changes. The character Gene Wilder plays resists to the end, but has to admit the sound of a rhinoceros is stranglely compelling. Are our civilized behaviors just neurotic expression or are we really superior to animals? Oh, by the way, I do find this movie ha-ha funny. But maybe it's a matter of taste.

One would think that the combination of Eugene Ionesco, Zero Mostel, and Gene Wilder would be a guaranteed success. Sadly, such is not the case with the American Film Theatre production of "Rhinoceros" as committed to film in 1974. While the theme of maintaining one's identity as everyone else goes along with the herd (originally a metaphor for Nazism, McCarthyism, etc.) is intact, Ionesco's text has been so altered that is is destroyed. Here it becomes subject to slapstick, poor unfunny added situations, exaggerated performances, and clumsy direction. The film has been criticized for "staginess," but that is not the real problem. It makes use of camera movement, external sets, etc.; it just has no rhythm. It is a trial to get through it--certainly not the case with Ionesco's original, either on stage or as read to one's self. Gene Wilder is always diverting but the character he portrays has been so tampered with that it's just unpleasant and tedious. Karen Black's character is an embarrassment as are all the other minor characters. The only bright spot in this mess is Zero Mostel, whose fifteen minutes on screen are amazing, his transformation from a dandified fussbudget into a destructive rhinoceros an acting tour-de-force; done without makeup, it encapsulates the essence of the piece. But that's it: the other ninety minutes are dreary and awful.

The DVD is very well transferred, but the extras are disappointing: e.g., an "interview" with Zero Mostel is simply text to be read frame by frame, and an article about Ionesco and the play is simply an on-screen text repetition of the liner notes. There is a very long interview with the director, in murky sound; after seeing his incompetence demonstrated in this film, no one will have any desire to see him drone on about it.

This is a rare treat. I waited a long time to see this once more. Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder are a fantastic duo. This tops "The Producers."

The film 'Rhinoceros' is based on a play by Ionesco. It is most suitable for mature age educated people. I saw it when I was much younger and couldn't make much out of it. It is part of what has been called the 'Theatre of the Absurd', requiring acceptance that a lot of what we do doesn't make a lot of sense. In particular people readily conform to pointless and dangerous views. The background to the play is the rise to power of the Romanian fascist movement, the 'Iron Guard'. It is more satire than straight comedy.

This is a dreadful film which shows little understanding of the playwrights original intention and particularly the humor inherent in the original script. Instead the director and cast go for mugging, pratfalls and a wild and now hopelessly outdated "60's" feeling -

Gene Wilder stars in this unusual movie about a small french town being plagued by Rhinoceros'es.You've got to see it to believe it!!

I see I'm in the minority among Amazon reviewers on this one. All I can advise is that you read what critics have had to say about this film before making a purchase. Most, you will find, rate it as quite poor -- and for good reason.

Some might wish to pick up this DVD for the re-pairing of "Producers" duo Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder. Think again. Whatever one may think of the original absurdist Ionesco play that is its source, it's clear that it doesn't work on the movie screen.

In fact, it's excruciatingly bad (and not in an enjoyable way). Even fans of Mostel and Wilder are not likely to find any redeeming value.