Reuben, Reuben

If you are not familiar with movie history, then you do not know that thousands of films have been lost over time, from the silent era onwards. And many of these movies were landmarks, because they so perfectly captured a unique time or place, or because of technical achievements or great acting. Some lost movies were even blockbusters in their time but then began to seem dated and were quickly forgotten. Reuben, Reuben is an example of a relatively modern movie that is getting that age old treatment.

Tom Conti gives a brilliant performance in this movie, and the supporting cast is great. The screenplay and direction are brilliant. And the subject matter is meaty, something adults can think on and discuss seriously. So, why is this movie virtually unheard of now?

Reuben, Reuben is of its time - the early eighties - just before excessive style, slickness, and silly 50s-style moralism and hokeyness took hold. A number of brilliant movies were release in 1983 alone - Educating Rita, Local Hero, The Big Chill, Terms of Endearment. This was a period when story telling was paramount, and movies unfolded gently, with a respect for both real and theatrical time.

I have come to believe that many of these great movies are slowly being forgotten on some conscious level; we the viewing public does not want to remember the best, as it will make us realize the amount of dreck that is now released, and make us maudlin and mournful. This pleases the movie industry no end - it would prefer to have us come back again and again for sugary confections rather than supply us with something nutritious into which we can sink our teeth.

Hopefully, the Internet and sites like IMDb will help to promote near-forgotten gems like Reuben, Reuben, encouraging young movie fans to seek them out and then spread the word of their excellence. And, possibly, with growing recognition of really good cinema, the movie industry will not be so careless and neglectful.

On paper, a comic fable about a randy, drunken, fading poet sounds like a recipe for disaster, but to the enormous credit of all involved, this film works very well indeed. Obviously a strong central performance is essential in films like this, and Tom Conti provides just that as the bedraggled Scottish writer charming his way into the beds of frustrated New England wives. Although the screenplay is consistently witty from start to finish, it is mainly in the second half of the film that it is also extremely moving. The romance between Conti and Kelly McGillis's young student is as obviously doomed as that of Romeo and Juliet, but just as heartbreaking too. The denouement is as sad and shocking as any in cinematic history, yet this film with its warmth and beauty and insight will surely light a fire in even the coldest of hearts.

Tom Conti stars in and was Oscar-nominated for taking the lead role in this blackly comedic drama with literally a dark twist in the tale right at the end. He plays the improbably-named Gowan McGland, a contemporary, feted Scottish poet who hits the lucrative American lecture trail as a distraction from his writer's block. Unfortunately he also hits the bottle, hard, and isn't above disgracing himself with rudely inappropriate behaviour at the various soirées laid on for him and is so down on his luck that he pilfers tips left on tables at restaurants for meals he didn't even pay for in the first place.

With more than one bored, middle-aged American housewife prepared to fall at his feet and do his bidding and an ex-wife looking to profit from her published kiss and tell revelations of their time together, McGland's life is something of a slow-motion train crash. Until that is, Kelly McGillis's much younger pretty student Geneva Spofforth (the character names in this movie are rather silly) takes pity on him, paying a train fare he's either financially or drunkenly incapable of meeting. They hook up, much to the disapproval of her mother, although her more wordly grandfather appears to be on his side.

McGland makes the awful mistake of crossing a wealthy dentist, Joel Fabiani's Dr Haxby, by, naturally, bedding his wife (Conti's real-life wife in fact, Kara Wilson) and compounds his felony by seeking free dental treatment from the very man he's cuckolded. Obviously he's never seen the well-known scene in "Marathon Man" as a painful revenge is extracted more than it's exacted.

It just remains to be seen if Conor and Geneva can make a go of things, especially after she delivers some cataclysmic news to him, but the accidental intervention of man's best friend at the end delivers the last words and coincidentally explains the movie's rather unusual title.

Reportedly based on the later life of the celebrated Welsh poet Dylan Thomas who was similarly accursed, some might say blessed, with drunkenness and debauchery, Conti shines as the tousle-haired McGland who never seems to change his clothes. Cynical and superior, ever ready with an asinine put-down to those he considers beneath him, which is just about everyone he encounters, he's a difficult character to warm to, making me wonder if all poets talk in such a convoluted and pretentious manner as McGland does here. I didn't really buy into Geneva's attraction for him either and found the frankly weird ending as unexpected as it was bonkers.

An unsurprisingly wordy film, peopled with rather unattractive characters, it had the look and feel of what it very much appeared, a film adaptation of a play, Despite good acting by Conti and in particular Roberts Blossom in support as the knowing old grandfather, I found the movie rather detached and mannered and found I couldn't quite connect with it at any level.

Tom Conti,(who was nominated for an Oscar for this role as Gowan Mcland), gives one of the most brilliant acting performances I have ever seen. I was looking forward to more meaty roles from this great actor, but he seems to have disappeared, leaving this film as his greatest legacy. His character is a genius who is out of control, but Conti's talent depicts his situation as comic and tragic at the same time-no small feat-- while being absolutely sympathetic. To today's audiences, the pace may seen slow, but all is redeemed by the ending. This has by far the best ending of any motion picture, ever. The fact that this film is not out on DVD is shameful. Interestingly, this is Kelly McGillis' "introducing" film; she was showcased and it was made clear that she was expected to be a great star. She does shine in this role. The more relevant social commentary is the portrayal of women, after they have lost that flush of young love, tend to become disillusioned. We are left wondering whether Geneva Spofford (McGillis' character) will become like the other sad society women around her. See this movie if you have the chance-it won't disappoint.

This movie wasn't just written by Julius Epstein - as executive producer, and with another Epstein co-producing, he clearly midwifed it as well. So this would be a fairly unmediated labour of love from the man who penned Casablanca 40 years earlier, and damn if I don't like it better than Casablanca - if there's one thing I wanted to see it's a portrait of the lapsed poet as an old womanizing souse. Making him a Scot run amuck in New England is another great touch, gives the milieu a specificity you don't see every day. And that's not mentioning Tom Conti's very specific, and brilliant, performance - no wonder he never did anything comparable, he LIVES inside this thing. His hilarious portrayal of the sad-eyed loser Epstein has written him is the opposite of maudlin. As his doomed infatuation with young 'un Kelly McGillis approaches its inevitable demise, you wonder how on earth they are going to wrap things up - redemption would be corny, but despair would be hopeless and wrong. The answer he comes up with is a head-spinner, but it's also a perfect answer to this dilemma, and answers your lingering questions about the movie's name.