I guess I am a bit of an outlier, but this is just not a good movie. It was actually a pain to sit through, but you know how it is, once you are engaged, you hope things get better.
It's a story of a silent screen star that is still around (as of 1969) but forgotten, and one of a man who, near the end, even admits the obvious fact that he was willing to give up the love of his wife for the love of an audience.
Obviously inspired by the fact that Stan Laurel lived in Hollywood and was actually listed in the yellow pages, and fans would occasionally call him or even drop in on him and he was reportedly very gracious.
The movie is interspersed with black and white vignettes of his old movies, but they don't look like old movies, just black and white silents that look like someone APING old movies.
I don't know where to begin on this movie. The central character is not very interesting. He spoils his own wedding by making it into a movie, but the production aspects of the films are never really explored, and when shown on screen, they are not believable. It looks like one of the outside scenes was shot on the backlot street of "The Partridge Family" or "Bewitched". In fact, it is kind of shot like a television show. Nothing goes deep. It is supposed to be poignant, but it misses the mark.
Dick Van Dyke SHOULD be perfect for this, but I fault the story and the direction. Carl Reiner could be excellent, such as in "Oh God", but here, he really stinks up the place.
The latter portion of this film is comprised of very unfunny scenes. "Billy Bright" is being conned by a phony goldigger of a woman and her mother who Bright is scheduled to marry, but keels over (with a white eyed goofy pratfall) with a heart attack. They try to marry him when he is in an oxygen tent, but he can't get the "I do" out.....hilarious fun, right?
Occasionally, the script attempts to inject some "realism" and topicality into the movie, but it doesn't work either. For example, Steve Allen plays himself hosting a talk show, and has the "forgotten" Billy Bright on, and cheesily shills for someone to give old Billy a part...in SOMETHING. I don't know if Allen realized how the script was actually mocking HIM, but he comes off as a boob. It may have worked to convey the fickleness of Hollywood and the pandering of a talk show host, but instead, the scene keeps going to shots of another guest bizarrely mugging the camera in reaction to Billy Bright's statements. The film is staged horribly and edited worse. The other example is Bright's son shows up, also played by Van Dyke, very gay, who of course is a fashion designer. Jeez.
There is a great foundation for the relationship of Bright and his friend "Cockeye", but it never really gels and Rooney's squinty weird eye mannerisms grow stale very quickly.
During this portion the Billy Bright character is at his worst on many levels. The makeup with the greasy comb-over is awful. Van Dyke constantly seems to be chewing his cud. When he eats it is gross. He is constantly coughing, snorting, and sounding like he has snot in his mouth. At the end he just stares blankly at a screen watching what was his "hit" movie from 1926, and as the characters on screen wave goodbye, he continues to stare unemotionally--we are supposed to find the connection between the characters saying goodbye as a metaphor for him saying goodbye to the old days--and be moved that--and maybe it would have worked if Van Dyke showed ANY emotion, but he just stares off.
There's a reason few people remember this movie. And you know what that reason is.
It's a story of a silent screen star that is still around (as of 1969) but forgotten, and one of a man who, near the end, even admits the obvious fact that he was willing to give up the love of his wife for the love of an audience.
Obviously inspired by the fact that Stan Laurel lived in Hollywood and was actually listed in the yellow pages, and fans would occasionally call him or even drop in on him and he was reportedly very gracious.
The movie is interspersed with black and white vignettes of his old movies, but they don't look like old movies, just black and white silents that look like someone APING old movies.
I don't know where to begin on this movie. The central character is not very interesting. He spoils his own wedding by making it into a movie, but the production aspects of the films are never really explored, and when shown on screen, they are not believable. It looks like one of the outside scenes was shot on the backlot street of "The Partridge Family" or "Bewitched". In fact, it is kind of shot like a television show. Nothing goes deep. It is supposed to be poignant, but it misses the mark.
Dick Van Dyke SHOULD be perfect for this, but I fault the story and the direction. Carl Reiner could be excellent, such as in "Oh God", but here, he really stinks up the place.
The latter portion of this film is comprised of very unfunny scenes. "Billy Bright" is being conned by a phony goldigger of a woman and her mother who Bright is scheduled to marry, but keels over (with a white eyed goofy pratfall) with a heart attack. They try to marry him when he is in an oxygen tent, but he can't get the "I do" out.....hilarious fun, right?
Occasionally, the script attempts to inject some "realism" and topicality into the movie, but it doesn't work either. For example, Steve Allen plays himself hosting a talk show, and has the "forgotten" Billy Bright on, and cheesily shills for someone to give old Billy a part...in SOMETHING. I don't know if Allen realized how the script was actually mocking HIM, but he comes off as a boob. It may have worked to convey the fickleness of Hollywood and the pandering of a talk show host, but instead, the scene keeps going to shots of another guest bizarrely mugging the camera in reaction to Billy Bright's statements. The film is staged horribly and edited worse. The other example is Bright's son shows up, also played by Van Dyke, very gay, who of course is a fashion designer. Jeez.
There is a great foundation for the relationship of Bright and his friend "Cockeye", but it never really gels and Rooney's squinty weird eye mannerisms grow stale very quickly.
During this portion the Billy Bright character is at his worst on many levels. The makeup with the greasy comb-over is awful. Van Dyke constantly seems to be chewing his cud. When he eats it is gross. He is constantly coughing, snorting, and sounding like he has snot in his mouth. At the end he just stares blankly at a screen watching what was his "hit" movie from 1926, and as the characters on screen wave goodbye, he continues to stare unemotionally--we are supposed to find the connection between the characters saying goodbye as a metaphor for him saying goodbye to the old days--and be moved that--and maybe it would have worked if Van Dyke showed ANY emotion, but he just stares off.
There's a reason few people remember this movie. And you know what that reason is.