Weaving magic in movies

Although I had seen ‘Out of Africa’ in the mid-1980s it didn’t seem so after seeing it again at Rafique Baghdadi’s “Press Club” show on Saturday evening. But it helps one go down the memory lane. Could do so with either Robert Redford or director Sydney Pollack.

I first saw Redford in ‘This Property is Condemned’ (1966), also directed by Sydney Pollack, and with Natalie Wood in the lead role and it still is one of my favourite movies. It begins with little Mary Badham, ragdoll in hand, walking along the railroad track, singing “Wish me a rainbow, wish me a star...” Then there’s a sound cut, a rare thing.

But let’s stick to director Sydney Pollack, who along with Sidney Lumet and a few others, is an auteur director in the best European tradition, who made over 20 films before he died in 2008 at the age of 74.

‘Out of Africa’ also begins sublimely with writer Karen (Meryl Streep) narrating her own story. She asks her friend Baron Bror Blixen (Klaus Maria Brandaur) to enter a marriage of convenience with her. Although Bror is a member of the aristocracy he is no longer secure and therefore agrees to the plan to begin a dairy farm in Africa.

They decide on a coffee plantation but Bror travels all the time and so when handsome big game hunter Denys Finch Hatton (Robert Redford) comes on the scene she finds it hard to resist him. Against the wildlife African backdrop director Pollack soaks in the ambience as he tackles this love triangle.

It’s all about not wanting to give up one’s independence and how the three principal players interpret it. It is a tight-rope walk for the leading pair but the latter half is a tad prolonged and its 161-minute length could have been minimised.

It is still a classy narrative that also touches on the native African tribes right to the land and the British Government’s efforts to suppress them. Meryl Streep is excellent and Robert Redford is not far behind. Klaus Maria Brandaur is merely decorative while Susannah Hamilton makes a mark.

Set in small town Dodson in Mississippi (it has four eyes and yet cannot see, the line from ‘Mississippi Burning’) in the 1930s with little Willie Starr (Mary Badham) narrating the story of her much adored dead sister Alva (Natalie Wood) whom she describes as the “main attraction.” Willie is telling the story to Tom, whom she meets at the abandoned railroad tracks.

Starr Boarding House is a popular place run by Mama Starr (Kate Reid) who has a rugged boyfriend named JJ (Charles Bronson). Into this town enters handsome Owen Legate (Robert Redford) with a special agenda. He is to cut down on the railway staff.

Like in any small town, there is a good deal of social life and many of the elders having their eye on Alva, who on the other hand is looking for greener pastures. It is a good screenplay co-written by Francis Ford Coppola, before he attained fame, that keeps the viewer going right through and of course with three big names Natalie Wood, Robert Redford and Charles Bronson doing the honours there’s enough to make “This Property is Condemned” quite special.

Pollack’s next one is really stunning ‘They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?’ (1969) set in the Great Depression. Robert Syverton (Michael Sarrazin) is the catalyst who has dreamt of being a director but has also seen horses shot after being injured. Fast-forward to the Santa Monica Ballroom where manipulative emcee Rocky (Gig Young) enlists contestants for the dance marathon where the winner takes $1500.

Among the contestants are a failed actress Gloria Beatty (Jane Fonda), middle-aged sailor Harry Kline (Red Buttons), a delusional blonde Alice (Susannah York), an impoverished farm worker James (Bruce Dern) and his pregnant wife Ruby (Bonnie Bedelia) and much more.

It is a challenging drama and Pollack looks after every minute detail, aided no doubt by Philip A Lathrup’s caressing lens. The weaker ones give up first. The dance continues for days, weeks. What folks won’t do for $ 1500? Slowly, ever so slowly, events build up to that shattering unbelievable climax which makes the title so relevant.

Jane Fonda gives the performance of her life till then to win her the first Best Actress nomination (later she won two Oscars for ‘Klute’ and ‘Coming Home’). Bruce Dern, Red Buttons and Susannah York all lend support in this historic movie.

These three films clearly give evidence of Pollack’s versatility and he went on for the next two decades with films like ‘The Way We Were’, ‘Tootsie’, ‘Absence of Malice’, ‘The Firm’ and much more. Oh yes, lest we forget, Pollack worked as an assistant to the immortal John Frankenheimer.

By: Ervell E Menezes