Undiscovered Gem of Wonderful Surprises & Great Perfomances
Set in the 30's, The Grass Harp is a story about an orphan boy who is sent to live with his eccentric aunts. The story follows the plight of social "outcasts" with humor and insight.
On the surface this story is about love and our connections to others - both living and dead. Yet underneath run themes of social prejudice, racial inequality, religion, morals and the struggles of social conformity vs. individual expression - but the film never preaches. It just reveals.
Director Charles Matthau accomplished the near-impossible task of adapting Truman Capote's classic book into a beautiful rendered film. Wisely, he approached this multi-layered story with a light touch, allowing the material and talent to shine. Matthau skillfully captures a myriad of complex relationships and emotions, allowing the characters to live and breathe without placing judgment on who they are.
The boy's coming-of-age story is entertaining, humorous and poignant. As the film unfolds, Collin encounters a diverse group of characters, from which he gains valuable insights about life. Now an adult he looks back (as the narrator) reflecting on this formative time.
Each character is uniquely distinct and true-to-life. The entire all-star cast is at the top of their game.
This is the best performance of Piper Laurie's career. She is delicate and mesmerizing as the fragile Dolly Talbo. Her scenes with Spacey and Matthau will break your heart.
For those of you who have only seen Walter Matthau in grumpy curmudgeon roles, you are in for a treat! Matthau is wonderful as a Judge Cool, a Southern gentleman struggling to find meaning in his retirement years. As Piper Laurie's love interest he is tender and charming yet dignified. A man of integrity and honor, Judge Cool is the only "accepted" towns person with compassion for the outcasts.
As a collective, the ensemble cast captures the social pecking order with uncanny accuracy.
Jon Don Baker is great as the Sheriff, Nell Carter is a hoot as the eccentric housekeeper and Sissy Spacek is an amazing blend of steely resolve masking her conflicted feelings of vulnerability and insecurity.
Roddy McDowell is the delightfully sarcastic barber. Jack Lemmon and Mary Steenbergen are great fun as out-of-towners who stir things up. Mary as a traveling cowgirl evangelist out to save souls - never mind that she is a single- mother of fourteen kids...all by different fathers! She pulls it off with comic charm and sad poignancy. Lemmon is a "chemical engineer" (read quack potions salesman) with a scheme to get his hands on Dolly's herbal potion. Although some locals may be skeptical about Lemmon and Steenbergen motives, they never play their roles in black and white terms.
The film is exceptionally well written, particularly considering how many characters there were to juggle. All the characters are well-developed and performed. Even the shady characters are oh-so-human in their desperate schemes to survive the Great Depression.
There is also one of the most delightful casts of furry creatures ever assembled: a host of cats, dogs, fish, and a scene-stealing Rooster named Ralph. It looked to me like Ralph was huffing around wishing he had more lines. I'd be all for him getting his own sequel.
Hollywood's Nepotism Award goes to - Charles Matthau!
A boy grows up in the thirties. Collin Fenwick (Edward Furlong) feels attachment to his aunt Dolly (Piper Laurie), a good-natured, warm-hearted, somewhat fidgety woman. But her domineering sister Verena (Sissy Spacek) considers Dolly unfit for life. In her eyes she is not presentable and she feels ashamed for her. When Verena falls for a trickster (Jack Lemmon) who pretends to market Dolly's medicinal draughts she blames her sister for her disappointment. Dolly and the other subjugated members of the household seek shelter in a tree-house. An old judge (Walter Matthau) who feels some affection for Dolly joins them...
When Truman Capote's autobiographic novel was published in 1951 the literary critics wrote that it was poetry. It seemed so pure and unadulterated. So american. Especially when compared with all this nihilist and existentialist stuff post-war Europe had to offer. Besides: they didn't have THE WALTONS then. This know-all family had at least a backbone. The film THE GRASS HARP has none. Not everything is bad. It has a feeling for the thirties atmosphere, some nice views of the countryside, and Piper Laurie's performance is heartfelt and deeply moving. But all this is not enough to save the film. Walter Matthau is just as indifferent and gloomy as in the - equally unwatchable - THE MARRIAGE FOOL. Mary Steenburgen delivers a routine evangelist-Aimee-Semple-Macpherson performance. Jack Lemmon - the only reason why I watched this film at all - appears, looks snappy in his outfit, plays a self-composed song on the piano and disappears. A cameo. Sissy Spacek seems downright piqued: She used to play Laurie's daughter in CARRIE and Lemmon's daughter in law in MISSING. And now they play her younger-looking sister and her cheating boyfriend. On the other hand, it takes courage from a sympathetic woman like Spacek to portray such an unpleasant character. Director Charles Matthau is the son of a rich filmstar. His parents adored him and when he decided to become a director his father gave him every conceivable assistance. Famous actors (Daddy's friends) worked in his films for a fraction of their usual salary (those who gave him the nepotism award over all the other star kids knew whom they chose). Why is it that one of the most privileged persons on this planet makes such depressing films? Watch THE GRASS HARP if you want, but it you need psychotherapy afterwards to keep you from jumping off a bridge - send your bill to Mr. Charles Matthau.
A Film for the Viewer With a Heart
This is one of my favorite films-not due to grand production values, or staying true to the novella, but because it packs such a powerful punch in the lesson of what life is really about. Certainly worth watching, but not really a film for shallow critical types.
I was so happy to hear Bountiful was FINALLY on dvd. I had waited so long.
It is without a doubt one of my top 5 Favorite Movies. Ms Page is absolutely outstanding as Carrie Watts. The oscar she received for the role was well deserved. Like a review before said, Ms Page had nuances of a southern lady down pat. I could have sworn that she was my grandmother, right down to the hymn singing. I do wish some of the other cast had won for supporting actors. All played their parts so well.
Now my reasons for liking this movies so much is:
1. A movie about Southerners in which Southeners are cast in a positive manner, not as a bunch of racist and rednecks.
2. The acting and script is simply outstanding.
3. A story that just about everyone can... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Geraldine Page - John Heard Director(s): Peter Masterson DVD Release Date: Released the 12 April 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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In this quaint Irish comedy about a remote town run by the large number of widows, who are led by the monarchical Mrs. Counihan (Joan Plowright), Natasha Richardson is a newly arrived English widow who brings sex appeal and the possibility of mischief when she starts courting Counihan's befuddled son (Adrian Dunbar). This sets in motion a mystery akin to an Agatha Christie tale, led by suspicious Mia Farrow. The setup is fine and the acting first-rate, but the final act forces its hand far too soon. What starts off as an accessible film turns into a prize only for those who liked Enchanted April and similar movies. --Doug ThomasMore Info about this DVD Actor(s): Mia Farrow - Joan Plowright - Natasha Richardson Director(s): John Irvin DVD Release Date: Released the 19 April 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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This silky smooth film noir pits gruff police detective Dana Andrews, stiff and blunt in his street-bred manners, against a cultured columnist and acidic wit (Clifton Webb at his prissiest) in a battle of wits during a murder investigation. The cop is a romantic hiding under a hard-boiled exterior who falls in love with the beautiful victim through the portrait that hangs in her apartment. Gene Tierney, whose heart-shaped face mixes the exotic with the girl next door, brings the poise and calm of a model to her role as the object of every man's gaze and the target of a killer. Laura, handsomely shot in dreamy black and white, is the first and best of Otto Preminger's cool, controlled murder mysteries. In the gritty world of film noir it remains the most refined and elegant example... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Gene Tierney - Dana Andrews Director(s): Rouben Mamoulian - Otto Preminger DVD Release Date: Released the 15 March 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Before he made the classic All About Eve, writer-director Joseph L. Mankiewicz made this clever story about three wives who spend an afternoon at a children's picnic mulling over a letter all three had just received, from a woman who says she's just run off with one of their husbands. As the wives--a former farm girl (Jeanne Crain), a radio soap opera writer (Ann Sothern), and a social climber from the wrong side of the tracks (Linda Darnell)--mull over the troubles of their marriages, each begins to think that she's the one left behind. A Letter to Three Wives doesn't have the crackling show-biz milieu of Eve, but it has the same mix of snappy dialogue and topnotch performances. The tone ranges from florid sentiment to unblinking cynicism, yet Mankiewicz... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Jeanne Crain - Linda Darnell - Ann Sothern Director(s): Joseph L. Mankiewicz DVD Release Date: Released the 22 February 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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The postwar vogue for documentary-style realism, prompted by The March of Time and the critical success of Roberto Rossellini's Open City, cross bred with film noir to create a compelling strain of crime films; this is one of the most low-key and credible, based on the true story of a Chicago reporter (James Stewart) who became convinced of the innocence of a death-row inmate (Richard Conte). Director Henry Hathaway (whose Kiss of Death started the trend) stages the action on the actual Chicago locations, providing a fascinating documentary record of an underfilmed metropolis (the convict's mother is a washerwoman at the Wrigley Building), and leads his cast to appropriately restrained, naturalistic performances. Stewart is just beginning to explore his newfound,... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): James Stewart - Richard Conte Director(s): Henry Hathaway DVD Release Date: Released the 15 March 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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