I first saw this movie (in snatches) when I was about 10 years old. I was totally captivated by the love story, because I could really relate to Max Von Sydow's performance as the stern, lonely Puritan Minister Hale. I got his anguish, his conflicting feelings, and his total inability to share. When Mrs. Hale (a prim but fetching Julie Andrews) gives birth and he starts sobbing and admits that he loves her more than God, I felt it like a punch in the stomach.
On the other hand, I couldn't help admiring the bold whaling captain played by Richard Harris too. When the minister falls in the water and the devilish whaler shouts, "shark! go get him, boy!" that really tickled my funny bone. I was ten years old, of course, but I totally understood what an amazing love triangle this was.
Well, the other day I finally got this movie on videotape, and after nearly forty years I was really curious to see if it would live up to my memories. I have to admit that there are some very, very long dull patches in this movie. Richard Harris never really cuts loose. Julie Andrews keeps slipping away just when she most needs to shine! So much of the movie is like a costume party, or a drinking game. Guess which famous character actor will bop in next wearing whiskers and a frock coat? There's Lou Antonio -- he played Coco in Cool Hand Luke! There's John Cullum! There's Gene Hackman! There's Carroll O'Connor! All these guys have major, major stories that have nothing to do with Abner and Jerusha. And the love story totally gets lost for about two thirds of the movie.
On the other hand, now that I'm grown up, I really appreciate what a classic American hero Abner Hale is, and how authentic Max Von Sydow makes him. You could teach a whole college course on American literature just with his influences! One moment he's Ahab, forging ahead with ruthless fury. Then he's Ephraim Cabot in Eugene O'Neill's Desire Under The Elms, mixing Puritan rage with burning lust. Then he's the young doctor in Hawthorne's story The Birthmark, shutting out happiness and totally ignoring his angelic, suffering wife. And then at the very end (this is spoiler territory) he finally gets his act together -- and suddenly he's doing a letter-perfect Mr. Scrooge.
It's amazing the way Hale's character evolves. When you watch him calling down God's wrath on the Hawaiians, it's almost dreamlike, like a silent film showing an Old Testament prophet. And you hate him so much. Yet at the end, when he *finally* gets how wise his wife really is, and how much she means to him, you want to stand up and cheer. And the fact that it's really too late only makes it more poignant.
You can't really call this movie a masterpiece -- but it's much more than just another overblown dud.
On the other hand, I couldn't help admiring the bold whaling captain played by Richard Harris too. When the minister falls in the water and the devilish whaler shouts, "shark! go get him, boy!" that really tickled my funny bone. I was ten years old, of course, but I totally understood what an amazing love triangle this was.
Well, the other day I finally got this movie on videotape, and after nearly forty years I was really curious to see if it would live up to my memories. I have to admit that there are some very, very long dull patches in this movie. Richard Harris never really cuts loose. Julie Andrews keeps slipping away just when she most needs to shine! So much of the movie is like a costume party, or a drinking game. Guess which famous character actor will bop in next wearing whiskers and a frock coat? There's Lou Antonio -- he played Coco in Cool Hand Luke! There's John Cullum! There's Gene Hackman! There's Carroll O'Connor! All these guys have major, major stories that have nothing to do with Abner and Jerusha. And the love story totally gets lost for about two thirds of the movie.
On the other hand, now that I'm grown up, I really appreciate what a classic American hero Abner Hale is, and how authentic Max Von Sydow makes him. You could teach a whole college course on American literature just with his influences! One moment he's Ahab, forging ahead with ruthless fury. Then he's Ephraim Cabot in Eugene O'Neill's Desire Under The Elms, mixing Puritan rage with burning lust. Then he's the young doctor in Hawthorne's story The Birthmark, shutting out happiness and totally ignoring his angelic, suffering wife. And then at the very end (this is spoiler territory) he finally gets his act together -- and suddenly he's doing a letter-perfect Mr. Scrooge.
It's amazing the way Hale's character evolves. When you watch him calling down God's wrath on the Hawaiians, it's almost dreamlike, like a silent film showing an Old Testament prophet. And you hate him so much. Yet at the end, when he *finally* gets how wise his wife really is, and how much she means to him, you want to stand up and cheer. And the fact that it's really too late only makes it more poignant.
You can't really call this movie a masterpiece -- but it's much more than just another overblown dud.