Mark Rydell

  • Cinderella Liberty (1973)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, June 2022) Back in 1940s movies, sailors on leave could be counted upon to tear up the town in perfectly acceptable ways, peck a lovely girl on the cheek and have themselves a few great dance numbers. By the early 1970s, however, movie sailors on leave had complex romantic problems with pregnant prostitutes, became surrogate fathers to biracial boys, dealt with wartime trauma and spent days untangling the absurdity of military bureaucracy. If that almost feels like a good time, just wait until the ending for a mix of motherly abandonment, infant death and identity fraud. (And yet people wonder why I despise New Hollywood movies…)  Cinderella Liberty is glum through and through, although it offers a good dramatic showcase for James Caan as the sailor stuck in Seattle while his military records are nowhere to be found. The gritty, rainy atmosphere of working-class Seattle is rendered in almost too-convincing detail, and director Mark Rydell (working with novelist/screenwriter Darryl Ponicsan) wants to make sure you feel all of it. It’s not badly made, although the quasi-melodramatic accumulation of one thing after another reaches an almost-ridiculous point if you’re not on-board with Cinderella Liberty’s intentions.

  • The Rose (1979)

    The Rose (1979)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (In French, On Cable TV, December 2020) If you wanted an actress for a high-energy rock singer biography in the late 1970s, you really only had two choices: Barbra Streisand or Bette Midler. While Streisand had hers in A Star is Born, here is Midler taking on not-Janis Joplin’s role in The Rose. While the script doesn’t stray too far away from the usual showbiz-sex-drugs-and-rock-and-roll template (albeit without a redemption arc, because Joplin was the inspiration and the 1970s were mean like that), the entire film is carried by Midler. Her high-energy performance is far better than the (rather decent) material she’s given, and even at a time when Joplin is a distant memory, Midler is still fit to impress here. Amazingly enough – this was her big-screen acting debut (other than one previous concert film) and she effortlessly crosses from singing sensation to acting. The rest of the film, directed competently by Mark Rydell, is far more ordinary – but the period atmosphere is getting enjoyable with time. Still, The Rose is Midler’s show – and the single best reason to seek this out.