Based on the short story, "Rear Window," by Cornell Woolrich
Screenplay: John Michael Hayes
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: L.B. (Jeff) Jeffries: James Stewart, Lisa Carol Fremont: Grace Kelly, Detective Thomas J. Doyle: Wendell Corey, Stella: Thelma Ritter, Lars Thorwald: Raymond Burr
"First You Dream..."
Cornell Woolrich began writing romances in the F. Scott Fitzgerald tradition. When the Depression came he turned to the pulps to survive, and began writing dark, brooding mysteries. Along with Hammett, Chandler and Cain, he is credited with originating the "noir school" of fiction writing. But, unlike those contemporaries, his style wasn't spare and pointed; rather it was eloquently descriptive, with long, complex sentences. From the twenties through the forties he wrote hundreds of stories and more than a dozen suspense novels. After a divorce in the early thirties, and by no means penniless, Woolrich chose to live with his mother, in a series of rundown hotels for transients. He remained with her until her death in 1957. Cornell Woolrich died from a stroke eleven years later, in 1968. His life is best summed up in his own words, "First you dream, than you die." An appropriate epitaph for the man called, "The Poet of the Shadows."
The Movie
Allow me to set the record straight. Rear Window is NOT a movie about voyeurism. In preparing to write this review, I watched the movie twice and read a few critiques by some learned critics. I'm amazed by how many believe this movie centers on compulsively staring into neighbor's windows. Apparently, none of these good people grew up in an apartment that was close to-and faced-other apartments. I did.
Here's what Rear Window is about. A guy is stuck in a wheelchair in a small apartment. He has a broken leg. His name is L.B. Jeffries and he's a world-class action photographer. It's the dog days of summer, so hot he and his neighbors keep their blinds and shades up day and night to catch relief from the slightest breeze. He's been in his apartment for six weeks and has one more to go before the cast is removed. He is tortured by boredom. So what does he do? Same as any apartment dweller would do; the same thing you would do if you were an active person who'd been in a small apartment for six weeks and still had a week to go-he watches what's going on with his neighbors in their apartments across the courtyard. It's a free show and everyone, where I grew up, did it. No thought that it was voyeurism; at worst, it was nosiness. Occasionally, you'd see someone you were looking at looking back at you, and you'd wave to each other, slightly embarrassed, and then you'd each find another window to look into. This is what apartment dwellers do, especially those who've been house-bound for too long.
This becomes apparent when L.B. Jeffries, our broken-legged photographer, suspects that behind one of those windows a gruesome murder and its grisly denouement have taken place. Now our interest is piqued, too. Did it really happen that way? Is Jeffries getting cabin fever? (And, I'd guess, the inhibitions of those who weren't raised in apartments are giving way to good old prurient curiosity.)
Much as we despise the thought of murder in our neighborhood-and the courtyard Jeffries looks out on is, now, our neighborhood, as surely as it is his-we root for Jeffries to be right, first because he's played by Jimmy Stewart and we know that anyone who can play second banana to an invisible rabbit with a straight face, is a square guy in our books. And, second, because it's a lot more fun to be solving a murder than wondering if Jeffries is having hallucinations.
Assisting Jeffries is his loving girlfriend, who tells us her name is, "Lisa"--as she turns on a lamp in his darkened living room--"Carol"-as she turns on a second lamp--"Fremont"--and the third lamp winks on. We have just watched Grace Kelly, radiant as ever, waltz gracefully around the room, illuminating it. We first saw her, moments earlier, in full-face close-up, leaning down to wake Jeffries from a nap with a tender kiss on his lips. One of the most erotic kisses on film.
Another skeptical-at-first-but-now-a-supporter is Stella, Jeffries' "insurance nurse." (Boy, those really were the good old days.) Thelma Ritter owns the role with her nasal voice and cynical delivery perfect for the dry humor and biting common sense of her role.
Wendall Corey, he of the pleasant face and hound dog eyes, plays Jeffries' friend, Detective Thomas J. Doyle, who takes Jeffries' murder theory with just the right amount of professional skepticism to keep us honest, while we covertly root for Jeffries to be right.
Raymond Burr is seen from a distance, across the courtyard. He is the salesman, Lars Thorwald, whom Jeffries stubbornly believes, but can't prove, murdered and dismembered his invalid wife.
The final star is the rear window, itself. Director Alfred Hitchcock forces us to see with Jeffries' eyes; we spend more than 95% of the screen time looking through his rear window onto the courtyard below and into the windows of the apartments across the way. Are we voyeurs? No, we are curious neighbors. Not only about Lars Thorwald, but, also, the others Jeffries watches-"Miss Lonelyhearts," who can't find a man, but sets her dinner table for two, pretending she's entertaining a suitor; the songwriter, who is struggling to compose a hit; "Miss Torso," a shapely dancer who does, as Lisa says, "…a woman's hardest job-fending off wolves;" the newlyweds, who enter the story lovey-dovey behind drawn shades, but, by the end, are arguing about money and jobs and marriage; the couple who lowers their dog to the courtyard from their fire escape, in a basket attached to a pulley; and others-the sunbathers, the sculptress, the couple who sleeps on their fire escape.
Did Thorwald do it? Hah! If you don't know, do you think I'd ruin it for you? I will tell you this, though. The situations of each of Jeffries' neighbors', including Thorwald's, are resolved by the end. And, like the good apartment dwellers we've become, we feel completed knowing that the small slice of the world we can see from our window, which has become our world complete, will survive for another day.
Most people familiar with Hitchcock's films know that Hollywood's master of suspense made brief appearances in each of his movies. Correctly tell me where Hitchcock turns up in Rear Window, and win a Tip of the Black Fedora in next month's column, from Critical Jim, The Hit Man. Send your answers toReadersRoom2@aol.com.
WHO IS CLETIS TOUT?
(2002)
Screenplay: Chris Ver Wiel
Director: Chris Ver Wiel
Cast: Trevor Finch: Christian Slater, Critical Jim: Tim Allen, Micah Donnelly: Richard Dreyfuss, Tess Donnelly: Portia de Rossi, Dr. Savian: Billy Connolly
Since Who Is Cletis Tout poses a question, I felt it proper to pose a few of my own.
First, who is Critical Jim the Hit Man?
Critical Jim is a hit man, played by Tim Allen in the movie, Who Is Cletis Tout? Critical Jim the Hit Man reviews movies for ReadersRoom.com. Critical Jim the movie reviewer is not Tim Allen the hit man.
When the good folks at ReadersRoom.com gave me the go-ahead for this column and suggested I give it a name, I thought, "Great!" During the next few days I jotted down such witty titles as, "Movie Reviews," and, "Jim's Movie Reviews," and the brilliant, "Jim Goes to the Movies." Sadly, none seemed quite right.
That night I rented, Who Is Cletis Tout? At the end of it, my wife said, "Why don't you be Critical Jim?"
I objected. "There already is a Critical Jim, and Tim Allen did a great job playing him."
"Trust me," she said. "No one will confuse you with Tim Allen."
I had to agree; her logic was unassailable.
That's how I became Critical Jim the Hit Man, not to be confused with Critical Jim, the hit man, in, Who Is Cletis Tout?
Still confused? Just remember, I am not Tim Allen.
Next, who is Chris Ver Wiel?
This is Chris' second turn at writing/directing. He debuted in 1996 with the low-budget ($200,000), but highly regarded film, Waiting Game, written from his play of the same name. The film won him the Audience Choice Award at the San Diego Film Festival. With Who Is Cletis Tout? people may stop asking, "Who is Chris Ver Wiel?"
Then, Why Cletis Tout?
My original intent for this column was to review movies that were in some way connected to writers or books. After all, we're at ReadersRoom.com, not IMDb.com. But, sometimes I get giddy in the video store, and my hand strays to a movie I've never heard of. Why? I don't know; it just happens. Most times, this means enduring two hours of torture. But, occasionally, I get lucky and find I've brought home gold--or at least gold plated. This time, I thought I'd share my discovery with you.
And finally...If you had your druthers...
...would you rather be a critic or a fan?
The Movie
If you've chosen critic, you'll hate Who Is Cletis Tout? Its clichés will remind you of dozens of bad movies you saw when you were a kid; the romantic-crime-comedy genre keeps the story from developing into one you can take seriously; the actors play their roles as caricatures, rather than characters; the plot is unrealistic and overly complicated; and the unceasing references to great movies compel you to compare WICT to them--unfavorably. It will also remind you of all that overdone, cardboard-kernelled popcorn you suffered with, because, at the movies, you always got popcorn.
If you favor being a fan, you'll love Who Is Cletis Tout? and for the same reasons. The clichés will remind of all those mediocre movies you thought were great because you were a kid; the romantic-crime-comedy genre keeps you from getting bogged down in weighty criminal matters; the cast of caricatures isn't taking the movie too seriously--they're having fun, and want you to join them; you don't care about the plot, because you know it's simply a device for tacking on more clichés and references to great movies. It will remind you of those giant tubs of popcorn you always got and the effort you made to convince the lady-behind-the-counter to put in a few extra squirts of butter.
The performances:
Tim Allen steals the show as Critical Jim, a mob hit man with an enduring love of everything about old movies-the stories, the acting, the flashbacks, the middles. Everything. Allen mugs serious for the camera, but fortunately his version of a straight-faced killer puts a twinkle in his eye. He delivers his lines so earnestly, you know he really wants to be a hit man. But, he's Tim Allen, and that's a good thing.
Trevor Finch has a problem. An escapee from prison, he's assumed the identity of a dead reporter, Cletis Tout. He doesn't know that the mob is after Tout until Critical Jim holds him hostage in his own hotel room. Christian Slater plays the good bad-guy perfectly, serving up just the right portions of sincerity, rebelliousness, and boyish charm.
Richard Dreyfuss is Micah Donnelly, who escaped from prison with Finch and now is trying to recover the stash of stolen diamonds he'd buried years earlier. My only problem with Dreyfuss is that he's shot midway through the film and we don't see him again. Too bad he couldn't hang around until the end to see what happens to his diamonds. He's one actor I can't get enough of-fully capable of turning the reading of a phone directory into memorable entertainment.
Portia de Rossi--Woof! When I go to that big projection room in the sky, I want her to be my personal angel. But, for now, I'll have to settle with seeing her in Ally McBeal reruns, and as Tess, Micah's daughter. Although her relationship with Finch starts out rough, together they pursue dad's diamond stash. de Rossi is good, but not outstanding. Her displays of anger and frustration toward Finch, were too softened by her angelic demeanor. But then, angels don't get angry. Do they?
If Tim Allen hadn't already stolen the movie, Billy Connolly would have. He plays, Dr. Savian, a free-spirited coroner, with authority, and makes merry with his too-brief screen time. As a doctor with a shady past, he provides Finch and Micah with identities stolen from his dearly-departed clients at the morgue.
Just one caution: Though you may be a fan, be aware that this movie does have a drawback. There will be times when you realize that it can't decide whether it's homage, take-off, or farce. Sometimes you may feel that split personality uncomfortably yanking you in too many directions. But even schizophrenics can be fun...as long as they're benign. Who Is Cletis Tout is definitely benign.
It's time for your answer: Are you a critic or a fan? I, for one, am willing to suspend my disbelief and forgive some flaws. I proudly stand with the fans.
...So, from one movie fan to another, have fun with it-and pass the popcorn, please.
Do you have comments about Jim's reviews? He'd love to hear from you. Contact him at:
ReadersRoom2@aol.com
Copyright 2003 by ReadersRoom, LLC. All rights reserved.
