Natalie Wood’s Farewell in “Brainstorm” 1983

Natalie Wood completed all but two scenes in "Brainstorm" before her untimely demise.

While 1983’s Brainstorm is not flawless filmmaking, the sci-fi film was made with good intentions, talented artists, and some intriguing ideas. Given the circumstances that Brainstorm was made under—the battling director and studio plus the death of a star—it’s a miracle that the resulting movie nearly two years later was even completed.

Christopher Walken plays the scientist husband of Natalie Wood in "Brainstorm."

Brainstorm is about research scientists who devise a system that allows people to experience recorded events, thoughts, and feelings of others—virtual reality. The military wants in on this government project and they don’t want to use the innovation for good, of course. The two lead scientists are Christopher Walken as Michael Brace and Louise Fletcher as Lillian Reynolds. Natalie Wood is Walken’s estranged wife, Karen, who is the project’s designer. Cliff Robertson is their boss, Alex Terson, who gives in to the government.

Christopher Walken and Natalie Wood play an estranged couple in "Brainstorm."

Though Natalie Wood had done some fine work in television after her return to acting, The Cracker Factory and a mini-series remake of From Here to Eternity, Wood sought to make her mark again on the big screen. Two prior efforts, Meteor and The Last Married Couple in America, despite good directors and co-stars, could not elevate the weak material. Though Wood had kept her face and figure, Natalie was acutely aware that she was now over 40, tough for golden era stars.

Natalie Wood hoped "Brainstorm" would be a step in the right direction
for her film career, but admitted the special effects were the real star.

Christopher Walken was then a hot young star, on the verge of becoming a leading man, like DeNiro or Pacino. Instead, Walken became a quirky star character actor. Did the Wood scandal taint Walken and give his odd looks and peculiar persona an even more sinister edge?

There's times when Christopher Walken's nerd scientist looks like Dwight Schrute.

First time director Douglas Trumball was prior a special effects director on classics like 2001: A Space Odyssey, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and Blade Runner. Trumball had a vision for the film, with use of a new process called Showscan. This was a high-speed, large-screen process that would show a picture with absolute clarity. The process would also require theaters to be retrofitted to accommodate this film. MGM was a studio that seemed to be strapped for cash many times over the years, and not the studio to foot the bill. But that’s never stopped a problematic production from getting the green light in Hollywood.

Louise Fletcher, excellent as Walken's co-scientist, Lillian Reynolds, in "Brainstorm."

Ironically, the studio's attempt to stop the film maker parallels Brainstorm's major plot point, when the scientists get their project taken away. When Natalie Wood died, MGM had already gotten cold feet over this expensive production. Even though all but two of Wood’s scenes were shot, they seized on her tragedy as an excuse to shut down production. The studio even locked the sets, much like when Brainstorm’s scientist gets locked out of his lab.

Cliff Robertson, as Alex, the smiling bad guy, in "Brainstorm."

Insurance company Lloyds of London offered to pay out for the completion of the film, instead of the whole write-off that MGM wanted. Trumball's fight with the studio to finish embittered him from directing again, and the studio dumped the film after the fact. Ultimately, the standoff was a lose-lose, but along the way, Brainstorm became a bit of a cult classic.

The premise is fascinating; the effects are terrific and imaginative for their time. The fine cast does what they can with the film's biggest problem: a script and characters that feels like a sketch, not a full-bodied portrait. The dialogue, especially in some of the crucial scenes, feels very flat-footed. There's a lot of short-hand for characterization, like Cliff Robertson's old-school rich alpha male wardrobe, Louise Fletcher's incessant smoking, and Chris Walken's absent minded professor routine. Natalie Wood has nothing to work with, but the star is warm, sincere, and beautiful, so that's something. More than a few film stars have gone out with far less fanfare.

Christopher Walken's scientist "sees" a sad memory via his wife in "Brainstorm."

Louise Fletcher has a beautiful death scene, elegantly depicted by the actress and director. Robertson’s got the smiling villain down pat, since Three Days of the Condor. Walken is perfectly cast as the brilliant but tunnel vision scientist. The actor plays his part well, not afraid to look like a nerd or a jerk in flashbacks.

The supporting cast is particularly good. Note that one of the “food fantasy” girls is 19-year-old Lana Clarkson, who would come to her own tragic end, murdered by Phil Spector in 2003.

Lana Clarkson, center, was just 19 in this food fantasy scene in "Brainstorm."

Trumball was admired by his stars, gave his all to the produce a breakthrough in special effects, fought the good fight with the studio, and he deserves great credit for that. I can only fault Trumball for not paying as much attention to the script as the special effects. Yes, the final result falls short of the original vision. But the story still has resonance. 

In happier times: Christopher Walken and Natalie Wood in "Brainstorm."

Natalie Wood was having better luck on television than film, and that is probably where she would have ultimately worked. Would Nat have settled for quality work on TV or would she have ended up as a guest star on one of the ‘80s many night time soaps? Wood was also exploring theater; Anastasia was to be her stage debut in early 1982.

Like other stars that died young, Natalie's death has kept her in the public eye. Sadly, that tragedy at times overshadows the legacy of Natalie Wood. And while Brainstorm is no classic, at least Natalie exited the big screen with her class intact.

FYI: I put all the movie overflow on my public FB  movie page. 

Check it out & join!  https://www.facebook.com/groups/178488909366865/

Encouraged by friend Elizabeth Taylor's success in "The Little Foxes,"
Natalie Wood had planned to make her stage debut in 1982 with "Anastasia."

 

 

The Deer Hunter Catches Me at Last

The epic wedding scene from "The Deer Hunter." Real drinks were served in these scenes!

I grew up watching the Vietnam War on the nightly news, so Vietnam movies seemed grimly unnecessary to me, and I never watched any of them until decades later.

I finally saw Apocalypse Now when I turned 50 in 2009, watching it on TV with Mom and Dad. We were engrossed in Apocalypse until Marlon Brando—not my Dad’s favorite—appeared, acting weird. After a few mumbled scenes, Dad waved his hand at the TV in disgust, saying, “Ahh, I’m going to bed.” This was Dick Gould’s classic thumbs down when he was done with a TV show or movie.

The Deer Hunter came out in 1978, a year after I graduated from high school in Manistique, Upper Michigan. I just watched the controversial classic for the first time this summer, 38 years after it was released. I guess I’ve been avoiding The Deer Hunter my entire adult life!

Director Michael Cimino, on  the film's set.

When Deer Hunter director Michael Cimino died in 2016, I realized I should watch the movie that made him famous. Opening the Netflix envelope, I saw that it was over 3 hours long—and wondered how 1970s audiences liked that?

All I knew about The Deer Hunter was that it made Meryl Streep and Christopher Walken stars, that the Vietnam scenes were hard to watch, and that it was an epic about everyday people.

Robert DeNiro as Mike, as the deer hunter.

A great deal has been said about this film—about its artistic merits, political accuracy, and intentions.  Though I thought The Deer Hunter was too long, I could not take my eyes off the screen. The Deer Hunter was unlike any other movie and I had no idea what would happen next. How could audiences or I know that a pivotal wedding day scene would last an hour? Or that we would next see the three men, about to leave for Vietnam, in the middle of action, and shortly after, captured? And that the group leader would actually return to Vietnam to rescue one of his friends, only to find out that he doesn’t want to be?

Meryl Streep, in her breakout role as small-town girl, Linda.

I found the small town scenes the most powerful, because they rang true. The Deer Hunter is set in a small Pennsylvania steel mill town. While the paper mill in Manistique wasn’t as all-dominating, many locals worked there or at Inland Limestone. Growing up and watching demonstrators and politicians argue about the Vietnam War on TV, I was always struck by the different attitude of people in my home town. They may have been for or against the war, but either way, just seemed to accept it as another hardship in their working class lives. I remember as a grade-schooler at Hiawatha School, when we brought treats and wish list items to mail overseas to local soldiers. I have vivid memories of when my family got the news that Dad’s brother, David, stepped on a land mine. I can still feel how horrible the news was, how frantic my family was, trying to figure out how to get Grandpa and Grandma Gould to the army hospital Uncle David was flown to. They had no extra money for luxuries like plane tickets. I remember hearing the grownups say that when word got out about David, money was donated from friends, family, and townspeople in a day’s time. So, those scenes of people coming together in The Deer Hunter, whether for a wedding or to welcome one of their own back from the war, in a simple, heartfelt way, really hit home.

The Vietnam scenes and its chaos of gunfire, bombing, and masses of people on the run, is hard enough to take. But the infamous Russian roulette scenes had me flinching. After a certain point, I felt like I was watching another movie. I think that was the point: these men were taken from their small town lives and dropped into a nightmare halfway around the world. Robert DeNiro and Christopher Walken were both 35, and John Savage was 29, when this movie was made. Despite their painfully powerful acting, the actors were clearly men, not boys. I realized later that many U.S. soldiers were so young, like my Uncle David, who was 18 at the time. Imagine going into that hell straight out of high school.

Christopher Walken won a best supporting actor Oscar as walking wounded Nick.

Just when you think you’re home free, DeNiro’s Mike goes back to rescue Walken’s Nick. And like the Vietnam War’s finish, there’s no happy ending for The Deer Hunter, either.

The controversy, praise, and criticism of The Deer Hunter are all valid. The movie is at least 30 minutes too long, you wonder where some characters have disappeared to, or ponder where is this all going? The movie’s strengths are the talents involved. The acting is uniformly top-notch. To think that John Cazale, as shit-stirrer Stan, was dying of lung cancer during filming, is mind-blowing. Vilmos Zsigmond’s cinematography is striking, making his compositions of rugged nature and the smoky factory town equally beautiful. The direction by Michael Cimino shows both his strengths and flaws. Cimino knows how to stir emotions with epic sweep and realistic detail. But like Francis Ford Coppola and his war epic, Cimino doesn’t know when less is more, or when enough’s enough. Cimino was given free rein on his next American epic, 1980’s Heaven’s Gate—which turned out to be enough rope to hang himself. The film was such a critical and commercial flop that it essentially ended Michael Cimino’s career.

The Deer Hunter, released at the end of 1978, still retains its emotional power.

I’m not one of those film buffs that love to pick movies apart or demand perfection. If a film has something to recommend it, I’ll watch. Maybe I’ll even watch Heaven’s Gate, to see what all the hooting and hollering was about.