"Cider House Rules" with Michael Caine and Toby Macquire

Being a Michael Caine fan carries with it many risks. The main one is that he makes any movie offered to him. He once remarked that, "I am an actor, and that's what I do. I don't write the stuff." He’s right, so I am always willing to take a chance on one of his films, hoping that it will be another gem; such as "The Man Who Would Be King", "Secondhand Lions", or this beautifully scripted film from the book of the same name by John Irving; screenplay  by Peter Parnell.

Although this film deals with the thorny subject of abortion, I don’t think it ever really preaches to the issue one way or another. The orphanage where Homer Wells; played by Tobey Maguire works takes in unwed mothers; offering them a choice of an abortion or giving the child up for adoption. That means that there are always children waiting to be taken away by a loving family.

Homer has been at the home since he was born there, and Dr. Wilbur Larch; played by Michael Caine; has raised him almost like a son. He has even taught him obstetrics and also how to perform an abortion. Homer doesn’t have a real “problem” with the choices other people make; he just doesn’t like to perform that procedure. As a child who was given up at birth he often wonders what would have happened had his mother chose to abort him. It is the source of constant debate between Dr. Larch and Homer.

               

The film successfully portrays all of the characters who inhabit the book by John Irving. There is Nurse Edna; played with great sympathy by Jane Alexander. She is not only a caring nurse and surrogate mother to the children in her charge, but she is also in love with Dr. Larch, although she knows that nothing will ever really become of her feelings. Dr. Larch is in love with his work, as well as the ether he inhales to help him cope with the sadness he sees all around him.

When a young couple; Candy Kendall, played by Charlize Theron; and Lt. Wally Worthington, played by Paull Rudd; arrive to have an abortion, something awakens in Homer which causes him to leave with the couple on their departure. When events with the two lovers change the circumstances of their relationship Homer finds that he is confronted by love for the first time.

Meantime back at Candy’s family apple orchard, its apple picking time. With nowhere else to go, Homer decides to stay on at the orchard and work with the migrant workers who pick the apples and make the cider each year. He lives in the bunkhouse; also known as the Cider House. There is a wooden sign in it that has a list of the Rules. Nobody but Homer can read, so it’s kind of silly to have them posted in the first place. The workers feel that the rules were made with no input from them, so why should they be bound by them? The Rules were made by people who never have to face their particular set of problems; making the rulers, and their rules, irrelevant.

Arthur Rose; played by Delroy Lindo; has been picking apples for the Kendall’s for years. He arrives with his “crew”; including his daughter Rose Rose; played by Erykah Badu. Homer is the only white person in the bunk house, and although they are uneducated people, Homer is drawn to them. And, in turn, he is as much a mystery to them as they are to him.

But Homer has a way with people; he is very much Dr. Larch’s son in many ways; and he develops an easy camaraderie with the whole crew. He is particularly drawn to Rose Rose, seeing her as a figure of tragedy and lost opportunity. And when something happens to her that causes him to use the very skills he detests righting a greater wrong, he is both shocked and enlightened by his experience.

Back at the orphanage Dr. Larch finds that the board is going to replace him. He has to do something to salvage his position. This orphanage is the only family he has ever known. While Nurse Edna reads to the girls each night at bedtime, Dr. Larch does the same with the boys. He reads them exciting classic adventures and each night as he leaves the dormitory he says the same thing; "Goodnight you princes of Maine, you kings of New England!" He says this as both a blessing and a way of making them feel valued. He is deeply loved by all.

Faced with the prospect of losing his orphanage Dr. Larch fakes credentials for Homer to convince the board to appoint Homer as the next director. This is not the first time Dr. Larch has falsified a document on Homer’s behalf. Unbeknownst to Homer, the heart condition he has been diagnosed with is not real, but it did keep him out of the war.

In the end Homer sees things less in terms of black and white. He still doesn’t like performing abortions, but he has seen some things which change his opinion of Dr. Larch. In the end he is the one tucking the boys in at night. And as he continues to send them off to sleep with the same hopeful thought; “Goodnight you princes of Maine, you kings of New England!" he finally realizes what his coworkers at the orchard meant about the Rules.

Note: They spelled Michael Caine's name wrong on the cover.

"Harry Brown" with Michael Caine

Being a Michael Caine fan carries with it many risks. The main one is that he makes any movie offered to him. He once remarked that, "I am an actor, and that's what I do. I don't write the stuff." But I am always willing to take a chance on one of his films, hoping that it will be another gem, such as "The Man Who Would Be King", or the beautifully scripted "Cider House Rules", or "Secondhand Lions." While "Harry Brown" may not rise to those levels of perfection, it is worth the time to watch. This is the British version of "Gran Torino", the American film starring Clint Eastwood as an angry old man, fed up and ready to strike back.

While the theme of this movie is clearly akin to "Gran Torino", which was made one year before, this film offers you the opportunity to see that the breakdown in social order is not confined to the United States alone. This film takes place in Great Britain.

Harry, played by Michael Caine, is a "pensioner", that is he is on what we call Social Security and lives in the housing project known as the "Estate." It is a typical high rise, high crime type of development which we, here in America, refer to as the "projects." His life consists mainly of going to the local pub with his friend, another aging "pensioner."

His friend has taken to carrying a bayonet, a souvenir from Harry and his days as a Royal Marine. He carries it for protection against the drug dealers and thugs who inhabit the underground pedestrian walkway that leads into the "estate." Harry walks the extra half a mile to avoid the tunnel, but his friend is insistent upon his right to use it.

The old man has been to the Police several times seeking protection, to no avail. When he is finally beaten to death Harry decides that he must act on his own to avenge the murder. This is where the film takes a much different turn than "Gran Torino."

Harry goes on a killing spree, and although he kills only the ones involved in his friends death, he never looks beyond his own anger and rage. In "Gran Torino", Clint Eastwood's character actually learns something about himself, as well as the problems of those around him. Using this knowledge he is able to help change some of the problems that plague the neighborhood in which he lives.

Not so in "Harry Brown." When about to kill one of the men who murdered his friend , he is shown a film of the actual murder, taken on one of the thugs cellphones. What he sees shocks him; his friend, insisting upon using the tunnel, actually can be seen brandishing the weapon and striking the first blow. He is then savagely beaten to death, and though his death is unwarranted, you are made to understand that it was his actions which inadvertently caused it.

This is a bitter pill for Harry Brown to swallow. And for the viewer as well. Very realistic filming and credible acting make this a film worth watching, even if just as a comparison to "Gran Torino." It is interesting to see how the two films take the same theme and come to completely different conclusions concerning the same problems.

Movie Review: "Secondhand Lions" with Robert Duvall and Michael Caine

This is one of my favorite movies. It has two of my favorite actors and is a memoir. What more could I ask for?

When 12 year old Walter is dropped off at his Uncles farm by his irresponsible Mom, played by Kyra Sedgwick, the two old men are indifferent to him. He is terrifed of them. To make things more interesting there is the implication that the two old guys have hidden away a fortune on their farm. Walter's Mom wants the boy to find this fortune. She leaves him there for the summer while she goes off on her own.

The 2 old men don't have a clue about boys and Walter knows nothing of old men. His room in the attic leads to the discovery of an old photograph and some sand in a trunk. Who is this woman and where did the sand come from?

Over the course of the summer the boy learns the story of his two Uncles in the form of some unbelievable flashbacks. Uncle Garth, played by Caine, is the more sympathetic one, and through him we learn the story of the two mens lives.

Uncle Hub, played by Duvall, is brillant as a crusty and tough old man, haunted by lost love and who has "fought in two world wars and countless smaller ones on three continents."

Walter has no father and these two Uncles become his world. He learns about life and what is important from them. And he teaches them an equally valuable lesson, that love is not just in the romance of the past or the glory of battles once fought. Love is what you do now to change the future and make a difference.

The film ends 3 times, by that I mean the film seems to come to an end and you're satisfied, but then it goes one step further and you're amazed. So, when when it goes one more step to a surprise last 3 minutes, you simply fall in love with the whole thing.

And then you realize what Uncle Hub has been saying all along- "Some things are worth believing in- and true love never dies. You believe in these things not because they are true, or not, but because they are the things worth believing in."

Superb direction by Tim McCanlies, who also wrote the screenplay, and wonderful acting by all, make this a movie to see more than once.

Movie Review:The Man Who Would Be King with Sean Connery and Michael Caine

In 1975 John Huston released his epic version of a 15 page short story by Rudyard Kipling and 2 Geniuses collided. The film is long, about 2 and 1/2 hours, but when it is over you are left longing for more.

Set against the backdrop of India during the late 1800's the scenery and costuming are perfect. The opening scene alone, which is a smorgasbord of an Indian market place in Calcutta, is as accurate today as it was then.

The film opens in Kiplings office at the Northern Star, where he is a correspondent.(Kipling is played by Christopher Plummer) The rest of the movie is a flashback told through the eyes of Peachy Carnahan (played by Michael Caine.)

From the theft of Rudyard Kiplings watch by Peachy Carnahan in a Calcutta train station, a chain of events ensues locking the three main characters in a saga that will take "three summers and a thousand years" to come to a conlusion. Their relationship is grounded in the fact that they are both Masons and bound to one another by this connection. The implications of this are far reaching and though Kipling is only in the movie at the beginning and at the end, he is with you through the entire story in spirit. This is Direction and Screenwriting at it's best!

Character development is the key to writing a screenplay. More so when the entire screenplay comes from a short story with so little clue as to who these guys really are. Huston delivers on that score, serving up 2 of the most cagy and uncanny anti-heroes to ever cross a screen.

The 2 principal characters, Peachy Carnahan and Danny Dravot(played by Connery)are so accessible, so familar, and grow so close to you, that you want them to reach their goal.

The plot of course, centers on Peachy and Danny. They are intent on going through the Kyber Pass disguised as Hindus, Caine as a trader and Connery as a dumb Priest.(Wait until you see Connery doing a Whirling Dervish as he tells fotunes in a language of his own device, with Caine translating.)

The journey across the mountains and through an avalanche is awe inspiring. They face death more than once, singing and rejoicing in the events that have lead them to their fruitless ends. But another event saves them and they find themselves in what is today the mountains of Northern Afghanistan, past the Hindu Kush, where they intend on establishing themselves as Kings.

Meeting the local Chieftains they vow to help conquer all their enemies. They only wish to take some "small souvenirs" as a reward. But somewhere along the way, being King becomes attractive to Connery and they push on past their original intent. This leads to disaster and also to one of the most noble scenes on film as Connery pays the ultimate price for having lost sight of himself.

Of special interest is the character Roxanne, who is played by Caines wife Shakira. She literally fell into the role at dinner one night when Huston was discussing who they could cast. She is one of the events that trip our heroes up as they struggle onward towards their goal of becoming Kings.

An extraordinary work, this film should not be missed. To make a 2-1/2 hour epic from a 15 page short story takes some talent and imagination. This movie has both in abundance.