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I got three films off my DVR as I prepare to part with it:
1) The Paper Chase (1973) has Lindsay Wagner and a John Williams score (which we have on an old FSM CD), but neither one of them makes the movie. Wagner doesn't have much agency in the plot, and no great costumes or sexy scenes, and Williams mainly contributes a lounge-worthy love theme and some haughty classical renditions to dramatize the percolating minds of brainy aristocrats studying for tests. But the film might still be worth seeing for a vivid, lifelike portrait of being at Harvard Law School during that era. The location shooting for many scenes was done at the real Harvard.
This is the film where John Houseman became a working actor at age 70, and it was a star-making performance as the law professor who lives to intimidate his classes. Since he later played a very similar personality on The Bionic Woman ("Kill Oscar"), I doubt if he was all that versatile.
2) I found The Sugarland Express (1974) notable for a young, pretty Goldie Hawn and a big police situation unfolding on film, but overall it wasn't my thing. And the John Williams score, his first for Steven Spielberg, did nothing for me. He just wasn't inspired by this film, or Spielberg didn't want stylish music. Also, it's a movie about stupid people (and not a comedy except for some bits that are consciously, faintly ridiculous), so suffering these characters can grind on you a little. This was largely alleviated for me by the Cuteness of Hawn.
3) The Conversation (1974) is okay. Gene Hackman plays an unglamorous audio surveillance contractor who records his target and (natch) gets in over his head. The pacing is slow, and the main interest for me was the technology involved, which is well-dramatized. David Shire's score has some nice piano interludes, but it didn't grab me personally enough to order the Intrada CD.
All three of these films are done in the no-frills, gritty-realism style of the period, and they would be a great relief, a joy to behold, if you'd just sat through a piece-of-crap CGI nightmare like Age of Ultron, or anything of that ilk.
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Posted: |
Sep 28, 2016 - 3:28 AM
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By: |
Thor
(Member)
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THE CONVERSATION "just OK"!? He, he...well, just because it's a milestone in film history, doesn't mean one HAS to like it, of course. I, personally, think it's a great film -- although I prefer Antonioni's BLOW-UP.
SUGARLAND is what it is; a playful Spielberg film that cements some of his storytelling and visual talents, but certainly not the best thing he's done. He went to Williams because he wanted a REIVERS-style score, and he got it here and there (like the soulful main theme), but on the whole is rather disappointing. Lotsa shuffling percussion. I can understand why Williams doesn't want it released.
THE PAPER CHASE is a bit of a frustrating film. There are some interesting visual details portraying the "greyish" academic milieu, and the 'threesome' drama between Houseman's professor, his daughter and his student has some potential. Unfortunately, the student/suitor (I forget who plays the role) is so completely unsympathetic, it's hard to find any point of identification. I like Williams' score -- especially the gorgeous love theme (which gives the relationship far more credence than it has). The Telemann cues (in Williams' arrangements?) provide extra class too.
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It seemed like The Conversation needed something more in the way of action or suspense, but the atmosphere was great. And I really felt for Hackman when he had to destroy his treasured Jesus figurine.
With The Paper Chase, the underdeveloped characterizations and neglected interactions, especially regarding Lindsay Wagner, may have been an outgrowth of the protagonist being so focused on his studies that, in his mind, there was practically nothing else. And I agree he was not a likeable lead.
Currently viewing The French Connection (1971). I'm a half-hour in and doing fine with it. But the music score is far from what I would have wanted.
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Posted: |
Sep 29, 2016 - 4:19 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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The scenes without John Houseman in THE PAPER CHASE can't hold a candle to those with him. There's a reason he won an Oscar for his portrayal of Professor Kingsfield.
THE PAPER CHASE is a favorite film of mine. It was the first major film role for John Houseman, a longtime theatrical producer and co-founder with Orson Welles of The Mercury Theatre. When The Mercury Theatre moved into radio, it became The Mercury Theatre of the Air, and produced one of the most notorious radio plays of all times, 1938's “The War of the Worlds.” In film, Houseman made a name for himself as a screenwriter and story editor, but primarily as a producer (e.g., 1953’s JULIUS CAESAR; 1962’s TWO WEEKS IN ANOTHER TOWN). Additionally, Houseman was a force on the legitimate stage, having produced the stage version of Richard Wright's “Native Son,” and ran a professional theater group at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. It was while in the latter position that Houseman became involved in THE PAPER CHASE, 14 years prior to the release of the film.
One day in the late 1950s, an actor-writer named James Bridges came to Houseman and asked him for some menial jobs, the kind usually reserved for interns. In his zeal to learn about the theater, Bridges won Houseman over, and the two became good friends. After graduating to writing and directing films, Bridges stayed in touch with his mentor. Once he started casting a new movie called THE PAPER CHASE, and after East Coast locations were decided upon, Bridges and the producers visited the Juilliard School for the Arts, where Houseman had established the acting program, looking to cast the roles of students. Bridges also sent the script to Houseman for recommendations on who he might cast in the crucial role of “Professor Charles W. Kingsfield, Jr,” after the producers' first choice, James Mason, walked out. Houseman suggested Edward G. Robinson and others (Gregory Peck, Melvyn Douglas, Sir John Gielgud, Paul Scofield), but none were available. In a bind, Bridges then had an epiphany: why not Houseman? Once asked, Houseman said he'd be happy to play it, but felt that the studio wouldn't stand for a novice to play such an important part. (Houseman had only appeared on screen in a small role in the 1964 Paramount production of SEVEN DAYS IN MAY.) Houseman was right, and Bridges still didn't have his Kingsfield. Eventually, however, Houseman submitted to a screen test, and based on his performance, the studio realized they were a little too quick to judge against this "novice" actor.
First-billed Timothy Bottoms had made his screen acting debut in 1971, in two high profile films: Dalton Trumbo’s JOHNNY GOT HIS GUN and Peter Bogdanovich’s THE LAST PICTURE SHOW. Co-star Lindsay Wagner had started acting in television in 1971 and had made her feature film debut earlier in 1973 in Robert Wise’s TWO PEOPLE. THE PAPER CHASE marked the feature film debuts of David Clennon, Edward Herrmann, and James Naughton. Writer-director James Bridges had made one prior feature film, 1970’s THE BABY MAKER. Bridges’ script for THE PAPER CHASE was based upon the 1971 novel of the same name by John Jay Osborn, Jr.
Under the working title of “The Bright Young Men,” the film began production in mid-October 1972. The film was shot on location in Cambridge, MA, with the hotel scenes shot at the Windsor Arms Hotel in Toronto, Canada. Production wrapped up in late December 1972. Producer Robert C. Thompson stated that there were difficulties filming at Harvard University, despite the fact that the book's author was a Harvard alumnus who had written the novel while a law student there. The university had allowed the 1970 Paramount production LOVE STORY to be shot on the campus but was unhappy with the finished film. Consequently, Harvard approved only three days of filming for THE PAPER CHASE, forcing the producers to find a matching location, which they did at the University of Toronto.
John Williams scored the film, with major cues going unused in the final film, and significant scenes being tracked with classical music (Partita No. 4 in D Major and Little Fugue in G Minor by Johann Sebastian Bach; Concerto in D Major for 3 Trumpets, Tympani, 2 Oboes, Strings and Harpsichord by Georg Philipp Telemann). Film Score Monthly released 31 minutes of the score on CD.
The 112-minute, PG-rated film was released by Twentieth Century Fox in Panavision and Color by Deluxe. THE PAPER CHASE first screened at the Atlanta Film Festival on 7 September 1973. It opened commercially in New York on 16 October 1973 and in Los Angeles on 31 October 1973. The film received three Academy Award nominations: Actor in a Supporting Role for Houseman, Sound, and Writing. Houseman was surprised at his nomination. As he wrote in his autobiography, "my first reaction was one of incredulity and vague pleasure, followed by a sense of embarrassment at the realization that for most actors of my age an Academy Award or even a nomination comes as the hard-earned culmination of a long and dedicated career: mine was the reward for ten agreeable days spent with a friend in Toronto!" Houseman won the award for supporting actor.
THE PAPER CHASE has had both cassette and DVD releases. The film was first broadcast on ABC in 1977 and has had many cable airings since then. In 1978, CBS broadcast a television series of “The Paper Chase,” with Houseman reprising his role as Professor Kingsfield and James Stephens playing law student "James T. Hart.” James Bridges developed the series and Robert Thompson was the executive producer for 20th Century Fox Television. The series got killed in the ratings against the #1 and #3 rated series in all of television that year--"Laverne & Shirley" and "Happy Days. It lasted only one season. In 1983, the series became the first network television series to move to cable when the Showtime network revived the series. It lasted for three additional years, encompassing the second, third, and final years in the law studies of James Hart. The last of the 36 Showtime episodes, “The Graduation,” aired on 9 August 1986, a scant 8 years after the eager students had begun their studies on CBS. Houseman died two years later in October 1988.
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