An odd, atmospheric 1947 thriller with a San Francisco setting, adapted by writer-director Delmer Daves from a David Goodis novel and starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. We hear but don’t see Bogart for roughly the first third of the movie, which features the subjective camera (a la Lady in the Lake, but handled more successfully) as his character, who’s wrongly accused of murder, escapes from prison and undergoes plastic surgery, only to emerge looking like . . . Humphrey Bogart, before setting out to clear his name. The effective supporting cast includes Agnes Moorehead, Bruce Bennett, Tom D’Andrea, and Clifton Young. 107 min. (JR) Read more
Inspired by a true story, this 1993 feature by Maggie Greenwald is about a woman from the east (Suzy Amis) who’s rejected by her family after giving birth to an illegitimate child and who travels in 1866 to a frontier town disguised as a man to protect herself; she keeps up the impersonation for the remainder of her life, revealing her true sexual identity only to a Chinese servant (David Chung) she takes as a lover. Apart from an impressive performance by Amis and some very capable ones from the secondary cast (which includes Rene Auberjonois, Bo Hopkins, Ian McKellen, Carrie Snodgress, and Heather Graham), this is more skillful than inspired, with an image of the early west that seems largely borrowed from McCabe and Mrs. Miller. (JR) Read more
An unbelievably tiresome attempt to imitate Scorsese for the umpteenth time. It’s a phony movie about upper-middle-class hoods and show-offy camera movesthe usual Sundance jive, only much more hollow and pointless. Written and directed by Rob Weiss; with Steve Parlavecchio, Patrick McGaw, Joseph Lindsey, and Mira Sorvino. (JR) Read more
Martin Scorsese’s ambitious and sumptuous 1993 film version of Edith Wharton’s 1920 novel about New York society in the 1870s manages to be both personal and true to its source, though it never quite comes together. Incorporating chunks of Wharton’s socially knowing prose in the narration (regally spoken by Joanne Woodward), it tells the story of a young lawyer (Daniel Day-Lewis) who’s engaged to marry a debutante (Winona Ryder) but who falls in love with her married cousin (Michelle Pfeiffer), a somewhat disreputable countess, and never succeeds in doing very much about it. As beautifully mounted as this production is, Scorsese has a way of letting the decor take over, so that Wharton’s tale of societal constraints comes through only in fits and starts. But it’s a noble failure, with plenty of compensations, including a fine secondary cast that includes Geraldine Chaplin, Mary Beth Hurt, Stuart Wilson, Miriam Margolyes, and Norman Lloyd. 133 min. (JR) Read more
