1958 fishing movieRating: 16/20
Plot: An old Cuban man, here played by famous Cuban actor Spencer Tracy, doesn't have a lot of luck. He stoically ventures out every day in his boat, but he hasn't caught a fish in months. Everybody makes fun of him except for a boy who apparently looks up to losers. One day, Spencer Tracy decides to go out further than the others and manages to catch a gigantic fish after struggling with the beast for a few days. Unfortunately, shark trouble and fatigue make it difficult for the old man to get his prize back home again.
This terrific Man v. Nature conflict isn't without its problems. The entire movie is narrated (by Tracy, in third person) which is usually something that doesn't work for me. The narration is a little uneven although it's hard to argue against Hemingway's text being in the film. Hell, Hemingway would probably punch me for even suggesting that his text shouldn't be in this picture. There are probably multiple reasons why Hemingway would want to punch me though. Ultimately, I surprisingly like the narration in this one even though I'd usually rather wrestle with a big fish for days than watch a movie with this much narration. It doesn't seem possible that this single-character-out-in-a-boat thing would work without the internal dialogue. The biggest problem with this movie is that old man is in a studio a lot of time instead of being in the sea. Apparently blue (green?) screen technology hadn't been perfected in '58 because there are a lot of scenes where Spencer Tracy's got a white line around him, obviously not anywhere near the beautiful backdrop behind him. It's tacky, and Hemingway, who apparently didn't like this movie anyway, probably should have punched somebody over it. The whole production has the feel of a Disney movie. Having said all that, the story is beautiful, and those aforementioned backdrops perfectly compliment it. There's a scene where the fisherman are departing before dawn to fish for the day. The sunrise, the line of boats, the sparse lighting, and the infinite sea sure are pretty, and the haunting male choral soundtrack nearly makes the scene a religious experience. While watching the build-up to the catching of the fish and everything that happens on the old man's journey back home, I had some worries about how they'd pull it off, but it all looked good. These one-man shows wouldn't be easy to pull off, but you can read Santiago's frustrations in the lines on Tracy's face. I thought his performance was moving, and it was easy to empathize with his character. The movie's good, but I'd still recommend the book first even though it takes a little longer to get through.
If I travelled in a time machine to visit Ernest Hemingway and described blogs to him and how I had one, do you think he would try to punch me?
1 comment:
I think he would decide to use his last bullet on you instead.
A 16 is a little high. I would give it a 14. I do wish you would see a film called "Captains Courageous" soon after this. Tracy again has an accent and works in the sea. Great flick from many years earlier.
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