Reviews

I had the great pleasure of seeing the East Coast Premiere of "Heavens Fall" at the Stony Brook Film Festival, Long Island, NY on July 20, 2006.

Timothy Hutton gave a riveting performance as defense attorney Samuel Leibowitz. In my opinion it was his best since his equally fine portrayal of Archie Goodwin in "Nero Wolfe." Bill Sage as prosecuting attorney Thomas Knight, Jr. and David Strathairn as Judge Horton were also excellent in their roles. Bill Smitrovich as co-defense attorney, Maury Chaykin in a cameo role as a bigoted insurance salesman, Francie Swift as Leibowitz' wife, Belle, and James Tolkan as Thomas Knight, Sr. (four other "Nero Wolfe" actors) were exceptional, too, as was B.J. Britt, Haywood Patterson, in his film debut. LeeLee Sobieski and Azura Skye as Victoria Price and Ruby Bates were marvelous in their extremely difficult roles.

The score by Tony Llorens was haunting - a perfect accompaniment for the plot and the beautiful cinematography by Paul Sanchez.

This fine movie with its superb acting, splendid score, and beautiful cinematography had only been seen in the US by festival audiences, but it is now available to a broader audience. (US DVD release, November 6, 2007) The DVD includes two "behind the scenes" documentaries by Charley Rivkin with additional footage by Adam Witt. The first, "Creating The Fall," includes interviews with Terry Green, Timothy Hutton, Bill Sage, David Strathairn, Anthony Mackie, LeeLee Sobieski, and Azura Skye with their thoughts on the movie and the subject matter. The second, "Surviving The Fall," is about the difficulties the cast and crew endured and heroics they performed when Hurricane Ivan interrupted the filming of "Heavens Fall."

The "Nero Wolfe" TV series (2001-2002) was brilliant, and if you missed it on TV or, like its myriad fans, want to see it again and again, "Nero Wolfe" is available on DVD. Producers Michael Jaffe, Timothy Hutton, and Howard Braunstein did everything right - the cast, the dialogue, the sets, the wardrobe, and the music. Everything that Rex Stout put into his stories can be seen on these DVDs. ("Nero Wolfe-The Complete Season One" and "Nero Wolfe-The Complete Season Two") And the quality of the DVDs, both the audio and the video, is superb.

The Doorbell Rang (the first episode on the Season One DVD set), starring Timothy Hutton as Archie Goodwin, and Maury Chaykin as Nero Wolfe, is an exceptional adaptation of Rex Stout's 1965 novel. Nero Wolfe, with the assistance of Archie Goodwin, his intrepid legman, takes on "the big fish," J. Edgar Hoover.

The Season Two DVDs are every bit as fine as the Season One set in audio and video quality. Season Two has the added fillip of bonus material which was sadly lacking in the Season One set. The Season Two set includes "The Golden Spiders," the 2000 TV movie which led to the series, and "The Making of Nero Wolfe," a short documentary which offers interviews with Timothy Hutton, Maury Chaykin, and others involved in the production of this marvelous series. Also included as a "bonus" is a widescreen version of "The Silent Speaker." (It is unfortunate that A&E did not see fit to offer all of the episodes in widescreen.) After enjoying Nero Wolfe Season One and Two you'll want more adaptations of Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe done by Jaffe, Hutton et al. You'll also wonder what fit of nincompoopery came over A&E and made them cancel this exemplary series.