I've written before about the problems of reading a great book before seeing the movie. Year after year the literati kept waiting for & blathering about the long-anticipated "great American novel". Meanwhile Ken Kesey's Sometimes a Great Notion came & went without their realizing this was it - the most quintessentially American story ever told, a tale that goes straight to the heart of that stubborn independent streak that makes a man a man.
I realize I'm rambling on about a book in a film review, but bear with me; knowing a little about the book helps understand why this movie's so damn good. No single movie could ever capture the breadth & depth of a 599-page book that interweaves generations of multi-hued characters to delineate who these people are, whose loins they sprang from & how they think. A mini-series would be hard pressed to cover it all. So of course, the first time I saw the film I was disappointed. But then again, I guess I expected to be.
It was a tale well told tho, worth seeing again, & this time - the 3rd time I've watched it - I finally realized exactly how good a film it really is. Every aspect, from the cinematography to the casting, the dialog, the acting, right down to the corny country & western tune - with its mildly religious overtones - that opens & closes the film were exactly, perfectly, sublimely right. Who but Paul Newman could have played the indomitable hardnose Hank Stamper? No actor could have fit that role better. Henry Fonda was grand as cantankerous old Henry & Michael Sarazin - an underrated actor in my opinion - was excellent as the brooding younger son Leland. The characters were painstakingly true to the book & the tale was told without taking any but the most necessary of cinematic liberties. I did find myself wishing it was longer tho, but that's just because I didn't want it to end.
I realize I'm rambling on about a book in a film review, but bear with me; knowing a little about the book helps understand why this movie's so damn good. No single movie could ever capture the breadth & depth of a 599-page book that interweaves generations of multi-hued characters to delineate who these people are, whose loins they sprang from & how they think. A mini-series would be hard pressed to cover it all. So of course, the first time I saw the film I was disappointed. But then again, I guess I expected to be.
It was a tale well told tho, worth seeing again, & this time - the 3rd time I've watched it - I finally realized exactly how good a film it really is. Every aspect, from the cinematography to the casting, the dialog, the acting, right down to the corny country & western tune - with its mildly religious overtones - that opens & closes the film were exactly, perfectly, sublimely right. Who but Paul Newman could have played the indomitable hardnose Hank Stamper? No actor could have fit that role better. Henry Fonda was grand as cantankerous old Henry & Michael Sarazin - an underrated actor in my opinion - was excellent as the brooding younger son Leland. The characters were painstakingly true to the book & the tale was told without taking any but the most necessary of cinematic liberties. I did find myself wishing it was longer tho, but that's just because I didn't want it to end.