DVD Saint Jack
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Review(s): DVD Saint Jack | |
| Fascinating Film, Tedious Commentary |
This is a really great film if you want to watch something that's tremendously atmospheric and realistic. It was shot in Singapore in the late 1970s, and was intended to portray the country in the early 1970s, when the US war was still raging in Vietnam and US soldiers roamed throughout East Asia looking for some "R & R" (which usually meant prostitutes and booze). Peter Bogdanovich shot the film almost entirely in the back-lots and alleys of Singapore, and the realism is astounding, since he used 99% genuine locations, and 95% local non-actors playing supporting roles. This was the "old" Singapore, teeming with life and seething masses of people who moved through the markets and shops and alleyways, making transactions and interacting. The realism is so palpable that I could almost feel the steamy tropical mugginess, and the swarms of people milling about the city. I could almost smell the good (and bad) fragrances that mingled in the air, and I could certainly hear the cacaphony of noises that the movie recorded in the background. This was the pre-sterile Singapore, which has now been completely obliterated in the name of "progress". What is now an island of relentless skyscrapers was, twenty-five years ago, a jumbled metropolis of terraced wooden houses, shops, and hovels, along with some magnificent older architecture (like the famed "Raffles" Hotel). The story of "Saint Jack" is that of an American pimp, played by Ben Gazzarra, and his attempt to run a successful business catering to the relentless flood of American GIs who traveled around searching for a quick "good time". The secondary character is a British businessman, played by Denholm Elliott, who visits Jack three times in the course of the movie, each visit constituting an "act" in the plot. Both Gazzarra and Elliott are fantastically natural performers, and one can hardly differentiate between the times when they are speaking written dialogue, or when they are improvising. I had a huge problem with the commentary by Bogdanovich - it is mind-numbingly boring and repetitious. The vast majority of it is: "this (setting) was real", over and over again. Or else "this (Chinese store-keeper/clerk/prostitute) was not a professional actor". Or "this dialogue was improvised/written by the actors". DO NOT waste your time listening to the commentary. Instead, watch the interview with Bogdanovich - he says it all there, and he says nothing in the commentary that he hasn't already said much more succinctly in the interview. I was actually considering using one of those "clickers" to COUNT every time he used the word "real" in the commentary, but then I realized it would be an exercise in futility, since I am certain that he said it at least 250 times in the course of the commentary. This was definitely a case where my great admiration for the director based on the movie itself was decreased by hearing the director's monotonous and unimaginative commentary. And I could have used a "helpful" commentary, since this DVD does not include close-captioning, and there was often dialogue that I couldn't quite catch or understand. Thus, there were some aspects of the movie that I couldn't appreciate, since I wasn't quite sure what was happening in the plot.
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| Overlooked marvelous movie |  |
In fact at some moment after veiwing the film for the 15-th time one starts to notice that Gazarra is in effect playing a role, one notes with critique that "this could have been done differently" and "that could have certainly been done better". But tell me what movie will pass this "perfection" test after 15 reviews? In fact there are too few films that are worth numerous re-veiwing and Saint Jack is one of the few.The movie is balanced, slow-pace and absolutely nostalgic for the 60-s and the old world order. Especially for those who were in South-East Asia in the 60-s and early 70-s. DVD sound seemed a bit strange - as if from a different source. Pic quality is O.K. This is truly a once a rare stuff that was absolutely impossible to get 3 years ago (I had been actually looking for it and the best I could get was a second-hand 13 years-old VHS tape on an e-auction - untill they made a DVD earlier this year)
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| Crystal clear memories and fuzzy DVD |
Who knows why a movie makes an impact? I traveled a lot in SE Asia during the period that the movie depicts and I was thrilled to once again "visit" the Singapore of my memories: the markets, the alleys, the old neighbourhoods and the old, faded Raffles. I was thrilled to roam these locations once again with Ben Gazzara. The music by Satchmo actually drove me into a buying frenzy to re-acquaint myself with his fabulous music, so moody, so atmospheric, so perfect in this movie. Yes, yes! My memories weren't all wrong, I remembered this movie for good reason. It is indeed one of these overlooked special movies that you can watch many times over and enjoy every single time. Very similar in fact to traveling to Singapore on numerous trips. I remember clearly that I thought that Ben made a huge mistake when he let his ladyfriend walk out - "stupid" was her last comment. Ah, it was the right thing for the movie, but being a romantic at heart I was hoping for a happy end. I will defer to the "professional" reviews of this movie - I agree with them.Now, the reason why I rate this DVD only 3 stars. I thought that the picture quality was at times poor - looked occasionally like a poor copy of an overly used movie-reel - and on a number of occasions there was very abrupt cutting. Was that the case with the original? I don't recall and I don't know. It just was rather jarring. And, somehow, I didn't feel that the soundtrack featuring Armstrong's marvelous music was up to par. This is DVD and the music should be of appropriate quality. So, I got this uncomfortable feeling that this DVD looks and sounds like a low budget conversion. Maybe it is a curse that sometimes memories are crystal clear and unfortunately this DVD features some fuzziness and nicks and scratches.
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