Everything That Dies, Some Day Comes Back

I was a bit shocked when this film ended up only third in the 'Screen Drafts John Grisham Super Draft', behind 'The Pelican Brief' and 'The Client'.  I was further taken aback to find out this film only gets 76% on Rotten Tomatoes. I have always thought of this as an excellent adaptation of what is surely Grisham's best novel. Rewatching it though I can see that those critics who complained about its length (two and a half hours!) and its slow pace might well have had a point.  And it's fair to say that the director Sydney Pollack might not be the best at handling the thriller elements, especially towards the end. The basic setup is great: a bright law student Mitch (Tom Cruise, at 31 just about young enough to play the part) is tempted to join a small law firm in Memphis only to discover that they are connected to a Mafia mob in Chicago.   Any lawyer trying to leave the firm is murdered, and just to make things worse the FBI are investigating and want M...

I guess younger people might find this film a bit icky - a Hollywood comedy featuring a Hollywood star actor (Dustin Hoffman) in drag, as a struggling actor (Michael) who has to pretend to be a woman (Dorothy) to get a part in a TV soap. But I can enjoy it, especially the comedy aimed at the acting profession or at daytime TV.  It also takes aim at casual misogyny, which for 1982 makes it somewhat ahead of its time. The film doesn't explore gender roles as deeply as it could have.  It would have been interesting for example to have made Hoffman's character more of a womaniser, who then comes to discover what it is like to be on the receiving end.  I also feel that the film doesn't know how to resolve the relationships it sets up between Dorothy and fellow actor Julie (Jessica Lange), and between Dorothy and Julie's father Les.  Both Julie and Les seem to cope with Michael's deceit far too easily, and in particular I didn't find the ending of the film, when it is...

This 1972 film is something of a curiosity - a stripped-down Western starring Robert Redford and directed by Sydney Pollack.  It is partly based on what little we know of the real-life Jeremiah Johnson, a "mountain man'', or in other words an explorer of sorts who survives by hunting and trapping.   A lot of legends have grown up about Johnson, but it's not obvious that his life story makes for a compelling drama, yet this film made money, which must say something about Redford's superstar status back in the day. Not that Redford was first choice for the part; at one stage it was going to star Clint Eastwood, which is more obvious casting.  The director was going to be Sam Peckinpah, who no doubt would have made the most out of the more violent aspects of the Johnson legend. For example, Johnson got into a vendetta with Crow Indians, and legend has it that he would eat the livers of those he killed.   Needless to say we don't see Redford doing that; his Joh...

Whether or not I saw this 1975 conspiracy thriller by Sydney Pollack back in the day I've always had the impression that it is a bit lightweight compared with the classics of the genre, but I was interested to see if this was indeed the case. The film starts off promisingly, as we are introduced to Robert Redford's character Joe, working in the offices of the 'American Literary Historical Society' which we readily surmise is a cover for some government intelligence operation.  Joe is a researcher who has just filed a report to HQ about a book that has some puzzling attributes,  and we can guess that this will have significance later on plot-wise.  Suspense is established from the outset due to a somewhat sinister character watching from the outside street, checking which employees have arrived.  When Joe pops out the building using an unseen rear entrance to pick up lunch we are not surprised when intruders choose that moment to enter the building, proceeding to kill...