This whole element of the film feels like a reshoot or reedit grafted on to the earlier picture. The John Byner and Austin Pendleton characters appear and take over uninvited. The women virtually disappear without explanation. Perhaps the filmmakers lost their nerve, ran short of funds or had the film cut to ribbons in editing but the latter part of the film bears no relation to what has gone before. But half way through the film something goes horribly wrong. None of this is played out in the rest of the film The women from the whorehouse are endearing and funny and if the film had stuck to playing out their adventures it might have been much more rewarding. Indeed when Elegant John picks up Beebo this exactly parallels the opening scene of "The Grapes of Wrath" when Tom Joad hitches a lift. Elegant John's reminiscences about meeting Eleanor Roosevelt in the Depression era clearly evoke Henry Fonda's role in John Ford's film "The Grapes of Wrath". Yet this theme is never explored any further. Henry Fonda as Elegant John is ill probably dying and the cross country drive he undertakes is his way of defying death. The tone of the overall film is of a rather cartoonish comedy but the early scenes hint at something more substantial. First of all you would think that a film with a cast which includes Henry Fonda, Eileen Brennan, Dub Taylor and Susan Sarandon should have something going for it. Nevertheless I watched it again recently and quite enjoyed it so I feel I ought to say something positive. It has to be said that this is a pretty terrible film.
0 kommentar(er)
