The Baby Maker (1970, James Bridges)

It's unfortunate that Barbara Hershey's early career was dogged by bad publicity relating to her free-spirited ways and temporary name change to Barbara Seagull because it overshadowed her fine, early-career work in films such as Frank Perry's Last Summer, Paul Williams' Dealing, and James Bridges' The Baby Maker.  If and when the Warner Archive is able to locate the elements to properly restore Last Summer, they will have nearly cornered the market on the early feature films of Hershey, as they have already released the aforementioned Dealing and The Baby Maker, as well as Lee H. Katzin's Heaven With a Gun (Hershey's feature debut).

 
With that out of the way, I'd like to delve a little more into Bridges' The Baby Maker, as I'm a longtime admirer of this filmmaker and I've only recently--finally--caught up with, this, his first feature film.  In the title role is Hershey, playing a sweet-natured college dropout happily living in free love squalor with her layabout, aspiring leather craftsman boyfriend (a very young Scott Glenn in his feature debut)--what Peter Boyle's Joe would disdainfully refer to as "HIPPIES!"--in a ramshackle Santa Monica (I believe) apartment / storefront.  Hershey's Tish is matched up by elderly fixer Mrs. Culnick (Lili Valenty) with square, upper-middle class couple Suzanne and Jay Wilcox (Collin Wilcox and Sam Groom) to carry Jay's baby.  What could easily come off exploitative and sleazy, is instead handled with a lot of sensitivity and nuance. 

The then-new concept of surrogate motherhood is no longer envelope-pushing, nor does the suburbanite vs. hippie dynamic carry the same weight, but these aspects are still fascinating to me in an anthropological sort of way.  Unlike, say, Clint Eastwood's Breezy, though, Bridges' portrayal of the youth culture feels more knowing and even-handed.  More importantly, in spite of these dated elements, Bridges' story, characters, sense of place, and knack for convincingly realistic depictions of SoCal folk remain in full force over 40 years later.  Tish's maturation, her growing bond with Suzanne and Jay, and her burgeoning personal strength...the way these things were portrayed by Hershey and Bridges was incredibly moving to me.  Forgive the hyperbole, but Hershey is incandescent here.  It's a great, unsung performance.  We've seen many birth scenes dramatized over the years, but I can't recall an actress so convincingly portraying the pain of childbirth and truly putting aside personal vanity, as Hershey does here.  This is the first of Bridges' progressively-conceived and well-written female leads, followed by the likes of Jane Fonda in The China Syndrome, Debra Winger in Mike's Murder, and Jamie Lee Curtis in Perfect.

Now, after I've just listed Tish as one of Bridges' strong female characters, I'll take a step backward for a moment to comment on just how naturally beautiful Hershey is in this film...it's enough to make me genuinely sad that it was Hershey who would be credited with the collagen implant craze, when she had her lips injected for Beaches.

The rest of the cast is superb as well, with Groom and the late Wilcox (who also appeared in Bridges' September 30, 1955) registering quite strongly after they initially appear as stiff as their characters, but it's due to their abilities and Bridges' tendency to dispel stereotypes, that they emerge well-rounded and quite sympathetic.

Bridges deserves credit for unearthing Glenn, who appears startlingly young and beautiful here, for this, his actual film debut, and then--years later--when Glenn emerged from a two-year hiatus from Hollywood in Bridges' Urban Cowboy, the "debut" of the second, more fruitful part of his onscreen career.  Glenn is alternately charming and abhorrent as Tad, reflecting the oft-mentioned (by me, anyway) New American Cinema brand of realism and honesty...may it rest in peace.

Glenn and Hershey hang out on Santa Monica Pier years before Hershey's harrowing moments there with Michael Douglas in Falling Down.

Some other noteworthy Bridges-ian things that I liked in The Baby Maker:

* Valenty's Mrs. Culnick, an elderly, wealthy, and forward-thinking mother figure of unsaid European (possibly Jewish) origin who lives alone in a fancy house in the hills and has connections with the hippie counterculture.  It is through Tish's radical friend Charlotte (Jeannie Berlin) that Mrs. Culnick meets Tish.  Seeing the underclass Tish visit Mrs. Culnick's posh house high above the city is reminiscent of underclass Mike sleeping at motherly music producer Paul Winfield's mountaintop manse in Bridges' Mike's Murder.  Like Winfield's character (based on Winfield himself), I suspect Mrs. Culnick is also based on someone Bridges knew in real life.

* The experimental movie and flashing light-watching party attended by Tish, Tad, and assorted other riffraff, which is like the 1970 equivalent of the punk / New Wave performance art party put on by Richard (Dan Shor) in Mike's Murder.

Odds and Ends:

*Part of the aforementioned "anthropological" stuff: I really enjoyed and must mention the scenes with Berlin's Charlotte and her fellow commune dwellers, particularly the piece of agitprop anti-gun public theater that they stage outside of a toy store.

*It's been awhile since I've watched Cisco Pike with Kristoffersen, Hackman, and Black, but, as I recall it, Kris and Karen's Venice Beach grungy abode reminds me of Scott and Barbara's pad.  There's lot of interesting-looking locations in The Baby Maker, something Angelinos should have a fun time spotting and ID'ing, which I can't do with any authority, being a New Yorker.

*'70s Hollywood aficionados will appreciate the appearance of Helena Kallianotes, belly dancer (which she demonstrates in The Baby Maker) and sometime actress.  She's in the famed diner scene in Five Easy Pieces, William Castle's Shanks, Rafelson's Stay Hungry and Head, and a few others.

*Future Motel Hell and CHiPs co-star Paul Linke appears in a couple of amusing scenes as one of Glenn's whacked-out pals.

Befitting its low-budget origins with another studio (National General), it's unsurprising that the Warner Archive's no-frills DVD-R comes from an un-restored, aged source.  Almost looks like a release print, but I couldn't say anything definitively, of course.  It's in the correct OAR, which is good, and, frankly, I'm surprised this (unjustly) forgotten, low-profile film came so early in the Warner Archive timeline.  If not one of the initial releases of the label in March 2009, it's close.  Again, due to its non-WB origins, it's not surprising, though no less disappointing, that there is no original theatrical trailer attached to this DVD-R.  Overall, though, The Baby Maker is firmly in my wheelhouse so I hope some others check this disc out.  Now, someone please get that Bridges retrospective off the ground!

1983 / 2006

Her,Suzanne76 pointed this connection out to me at a recent screening of The Keep so she gets full credit for this, whatever that's worth.  Obviously the stills aren't quiet as effective as seeing the scenes play out in motion, but there is certainly something familiar about the Miami Vice scene that feels like it may be some kind of an acknowledgement of the earlier film.  Whether this is an intentional nod to The Keep on Mann's part or not, it's worth pondering.  It should, of course, also be noted that Mann has not kept his negative feelings about The Keep secret and has "disowned" it to a degree.  To date, The Keep remains unavailable on DVD or Blu-ray, no doubt due to Mann's antipathy towards the finished film, though it can be found streaming, in widescreen, on Netflix Instant.

Scott Glenn's Glaeken Trismegestus travels by fishing boat from Greece to Romania in Michael Mann's The Keep (1983).

Sonny Crockett (Colin Farrell) pilots a speedboat with Isabella (Gong Li) from Miami to her Cuban home in Mann's Miami Vice (2006).

Addendum: it seems I had a different scene in mind than Her,Suzanne76 when she whispered to me during the "boat scene" in The Keep, "Like Miami Vice."  We have a pretty good shorthand going, but sometimes even our signals can get crossed.

More nautical stuff from Mann's Miami Vice, most of it at night, the sky taking on some of the same purple and orange hues as in the scene in The Keep.

Not So Obscure Trailer, but Still MIA on DVD: The Keep (1983, Michael Mann)

This looks like it came straight from a film source rather than an old VHS. Listen for the great v.o. proclaiming 70mm and 6-track Dolby Stereo in selected theaters. :

Stars of Track and Field Are Beautiful People

Personal Best (1982, Robert Towne)

Aside from a complimentary DVD Beaver review, Warner Home Video's fine DVD release of Robert Towne's Personal Best has flown completely under the radar. Issued as part of the company's Directors' Showcase: Take Three, the film has long been one of my most requested DVD titles.  Contrary to early press releases, the DVD carries not only an anamorphic widescreen transfer and theatrical trailer, but also an audio commentary with producer/writer/director Towne and actors Scott Glenn and Kenny Moore.  Female leads Mariel Hemingway and Patrice Donnelly are sorely missed, but the track is not without merit. We learn early on that the film was over two years in production, largely due, the director says, to an actors strike in 1980. 

If ever a film benefited from such a prolonged production it is Personal Best.  The extra time allowed Hemingway to hone her athletic skills to credible levels and gave Glenn the opportunity to soak up maximum knowledge from the top coaches and athletes who served as consultants on the film.  [Amazingly, Glenn also found time to go to Japan and shoot John Frankenheimer's criminally underrated The Challenge during the production hiatus!]  It is due, in large part, to this unusual production schedule, that Personal Best achieves an uncommon verisimilitude. The relationships between Glenn, his assistant coach (the dependable Jim Moody of Bad Boys [1983] and Fame), and his athletes, especially Donnelly, are utterly convincing and seem to have been in place for years when we first encounter them on screen.

Unsurprisingly, the commentary participants do not acknowledge the unflattering allegations made by Peter Biskind in Easy Riders, Raging Bulls, of which I am not an admirer.  According to Biskind, a drug-addled Towne presided over an out-of-control production, feuded badly with executive producer David Geffen, and conducted affairs with both of his leading actresses.  If there is any truth to these stories, it is nullified by the fact that Personal Best is one of the most accomplished directorial debuts of the last twenty-five years and remains one of the best cinematic treatments of athletes in training, in competition, and in their personal lives. 

At its core is the complex relationship between tough coach Terry Tingloff (Glenn), veteran pent-athlete Tory Skinner (Donnelly), and promising, but untested Chris Cahill (Hemingway).   Tory mentors the younger Chris as they train for the 1980 Summer Olympics and the two soon fall in love much to the chagrin of Tingloff who is loath to have personal relationships jeopardize the on-field achievements of his athletes.  The relationship between Chris and Tory is conceived and performed with a rare sensitivity.  The moments leading up to and including their first kiss and lovemaking are filled with just the right mix of humor, spontaneity, and pathos. This central relationship is made all the more impressive by the fact that Hemingway, a non-athlete, had to undergo rigorous training to look convincing alongside real Olympic athletes.  At the same time, the former Olympian, Donnelly, with no prior acting experience, delivers a superb performance opposite seasoned performers Hemingway and Glenn.  

Hemingway, in just her third feature film, following Lamont Johnson's Lipstick and Woody Allen's Manhattan is a revelation here, going from an insecure, green 18-year old to a much wiser, strong-willed 22-year old track veteran.  Unfortunately, in spite of her success in Personal Best and in Bob Fosse's Star 80 the following year, Hemingway would have very few subsequent worthwhile big-screen opportunities.  It is because of the long arc of her character that Towne justifies Chris' eventual relationship with a man (former Olympian and Sports Illustrated scribe Kenny Moore). In his commentary, Towne maintains that Chris is young and unformed enough to be able to enter into sexual relationships with women and men, experimenting, if you will, without becoming locked into traditional roles (i.e. lesbian, bisexual, heterosexual).  A major point of criticism for feminist and lesbian critics, Chris' relationship with Denny Stites (Moore) is, I concur, the one aspect of the film that is not entirely convincing or successful.  Towne's comments on the DVD do little to convince otherwise.  

The heterosexual relationship does not have the same organic quality that punctuates the relationship between Chris and Tory and also that of Tingloff and his star athletes.  In contrast to those relationships, Chris and Denny's feels forced.  Still, one of the film's most daring and memorable scenes occurs between Chris and Denny, in which Chris follows the nude Denny into the bathroom and holds his penis in order to see what it's like to "pee standing up."  This scene is something of an antidote to the plentiful female nudity that populates the earlier parts of the film.  For further feminist criticism it is instructive to look at Linda Williams' contemporary review of the film in Jump Cut.  This was followed by a 1984 study of the feminist/lesbian audience of the film by Chris Straayer.

Glenn, as Tingloff, is magnificent and it is a shame that he has not had more film roles of this caliber. Relegated mostly to character parts, albeit many good ones, in the years since Personal Best,  Glenn never fails to convince that he is a top-ranked women's track coach. Tingloff is alternately caring, manipulative, and despicable, always full of amusingly salty wit. His inimitable ticks and vocal delivery are utilized perfectly and are the mark of an actor at the top of his game. Glenn has one of the best scenes of the film, in which he complains to Chris that winning Coach of the Year as a women's coach ultimately means very little in his profession.  He could have coached college football, Tingloff tells her, and then launches into a brilliantly profane tirade that mixes the stars of the Pittsburgh Steelers and "female issues"--"Do you actually think that Chuck Noll has to worry that Franco Harris is gonna cry because Terry Bradshaw won't talk to him?!  Jack Lambert can't play cause Mel Blount hurt his feelings. Lynn Swann's pregnant.  Rocky Bleier forgot his Tampax."  

Finally, it must be mentioned that Towne surrounds himself with premium talent--both cinematic and athletic--cinematographers Michael Chapman and Caleb Deschanel, composer Jack Nitzsche (with associate Jill Fraser), supervising film editor Bud Smith (flanked by a team of accomplished editors), and numerous top U.S. track and field athletes and coaches of the 1970s and early 80s.  The design and photography of the film is stunning.  Towne and his collaborators came under fire from some critics (mainly men) for portraying the athletes in a pornographic manner, but in my view the film portrays the bodies and movements of the women athletes with an appropriate sense of awe, admiration, and beauty.  The races and events are expertly staged and edited, particularly the climactic 1980 trials sequence filmed during the actual 1980 trials using real athletes and a mixture of staged and authentic event footage.

Credit must also be given to the sound design and score, which is effectively minimalist and unconventional. The largely electronic score can be found, in part, on Nitzsche's earlier St. Giles Cripplegate and Jack Nitzsche albums.  These are collected on the excellent Rhino Handmade Three Piece Suite collection.  In addition, the soundtrack includes several well-culled songs of the period which nicely complement the mood and setting of the film. Viewers will be hard-pressed to get Billy Joel's "Rosalinda's Eyes" (also used to memorable effect in an episode of Freaks and Geeks in a moment that seems inspired by Personal Best), Fleetwood Mac's "You Make Loving Fun," and the Doobie Brothers' "What a Fool Believes" out of their heads after the film is over. Towne immersed himself so deeply in the culture of Olympic athletes of the era, in an effort to transport it accurately to the screen, that I have to believe his attention to detail extended even to the songs they listened to.

Towne's film certainly merits another look, which this, frankly, belated DVD release will hopefully inspire.