Gorky Park (1983) is an adaption of a book by one of my favorite fiction writers - Martin Cruz Smith. He has a series of books about a detective in Moscow named Arkady Renko who is clever, ironic, quiet, persistent, and honest. In Soviet (and later post-Soviet) Russia, this is a decidedly less-than-optimal combination of traits.
Here, Renko is played by William Hurt - an actor I generally like despite being rather humorless in most roles... and he is totally humorless here as well. Which is not really in the spirit of the character, but whatever, no movie is ever quite like a book. Still, Hurt is something of a liability here - his stoic/deadpan demeanor along with the incredibly bleak Soviet backdrop (everything is rusted, everything is crumbling, everything is broken) means that this movie is interesting but not entertaining.
The casting also needs some serious help. Brian Dennehy as an American come over at the height of the cold war to help solve a murder... well, OK. He does pretty much scream "AMERICAN!!" just from his voice and persona. But Lee Marvin as the villain was maybe not the best choice. Menacing, yes. But a good match for this plot (involving smuggled sables!) ... no.
But honestly, it's really Hurt's game to lose, and lose it he does. He affects a bizarre comes-and-goes British accent, and his persona is all over the map. But, sadly, never a single moment of humanity - just this bleak philosophical blank attitude toward the whole world.
It's a real letdown, considering how good the book was. The true star of the movie is the Soviet atmosphere (it was filmed in Helsinki, I believe), which is incredibly dismal and snowy and run down. It "feels" like what I imagine Soviet Russia in the early '80s to look and sound like. That alone is worth something, and so the movie isn't a total wash. But it misses out in a big way.
The movie was directed by Michael Apted, who you might know from Coal Miner's Daughter, Gorillas in the Mist, Thunderheart, Nell, The World is Not Enough, and recently the Voyage of the Dawn Treader movie. A real veteran. I ascribe whatever victories this movie accomplishes to him.
IMDB reports it brought in just shy of $16 million... but no data on how much it cost to make. Safe to say it was less than that and it made money at the end of the day.
Meanwhile, Desperately Seeking Susan (1985) appears on the horizon. Famously a Madonna vehicle, also featuring Rosanna Arquette and Aiden Quinn and Laurie Metcalf, small roles for John Turturro and Giancarlo Esposito and my personal favorite Richard Edson in a brief cameo. Pretty decent cast for 1985, all in all.
Like Xanadu last week, this movie has a really great soundtrack. Full on '80s explosion right from the beginning. Incidental music by the great Thomas Newman (American Beauty, many others).
So, the plot: Roberta (Arquette) is a bored housewife who sees a series of ads in the paper that are to and from mysterious chick named Susan - including, you got it - "Desperately Seeking Susan." Curious and with nothing better to do, she heads into NYC and seeks out said Susan, just for kicks. Finding her, she gets in complicated amnesia-based hot water with the Mafia and goes on the run with Susan. Pretty typical '80s fare.
The movie drips with style to spare - crazy wallpaper, zebra print luggage, leather hand wraps, the cool aforementioned jacket (has a giant glitzy Masonic pyramid on the back, designed by Santo Loquasto), wild neon arm bangles, crazy striped muscle shirts, you name it. The great soundtrack just emphasizes the thorough 80s-ness. It takes me back.
This movie is really about Arquette's character, she is the lead in every way, but after Madonna's popularity apexed around the time of this film's release Arquette was actually nominated for the *supporting* BAFTA award. Crazy! Pauline Kael famously called Madonna an "indolent, trampy goddess," which I was delighted to see repeated on Wikipedia for the world to read. That is pretty accurate, actually - props to Kael. And her fellow reviewer Vincent Canby named it one of the 10 Best of the year. Does it deserve it?
Hard to say. This movie is really, at the heart of things, one long music video ode to popular culture with the thinnest veneer of plot brushed over it. But it's a fun music video, and moves quickly and gives you a pretty decent feel for mid-80s New York. Aiden Quinn (80s character name of "Dez") is good, the leads are acceptable, the cameos are fun, and it moves pretty quickly. So, I guess I would recommend it. Check it out, it's a mid-80s time capsule.
Meanwhile, let's end with the original demo version of Madonna's "Into the Groove," only found in this movie:
The casting also needs some serious help. Brian Dennehy as an American come over at the height of the cold war to help solve a murder... well, OK. He does pretty much scream "AMERICAN!!" just from his voice and persona. But Lee Marvin as the villain was maybe not the best choice. Menacing, yes. But a good match for this plot (involving smuggled sables!) ... no.
But honestly, it's really Hurt's game to lose, and lose it he does. He affects a bizarre comes-and-goes British accent, and his persona is all over the map. But, sadly, never a single moment of humanity - just this bleak philosophical blank attitude toward the whole world.
It's a real letdown, considering how good the book was. The true star of the movie is the Soviet atmosphere (it was filmed in Helsinki, I believe), which is incredibly dismal and snowy and run down. It "feels" like what I imagine Soviet Russia in the early '80s to look and sound like. That alone is worth something, and so the movie isn't a total wash. But it misses out in a big way.
The movie was directed by Michael Apted, who you might know from Coal Miner's Daughter, Gorillas in the Mist, Thunderheart, Nell, The World is Not Enough, and recently the Voyage of the Dawn Treader movie. A real veteran. I ascribe whatever victories this movie accomplishes to him.
IMDB reports it brought in just shy of $16 million... but no data on how much it cost to make. Safe to say it was less than that and it made money at the end of the day.
Meanwhile, Desperately Seeking Susan (1985) appears on the horizon. Famously a Madonna vehicle, also featuring Rosanna Arquette and Aiden Quinn and Laurie Metcalf, small roles for John Turturro and Giancarlo Esposito and my personal favorite Richard Edson in a brief cameo. Pretty decent cast for 1985, all in all.
Like Xanadu last week, this movie has a really great soundtrack. Full on '80s explosion right from the beginning. Incidental music by the great Thomas Newman (American Beauty, many others).
So, the plot: Roberta (Arquette) is a bored housewife who sees a series of ads in the paper that are to and from mysterious chick named Susan - including, you got it - "Desperately Seeking Susan." Curious and with nothing better to do, she heads into NYC and seeks out said Susan, just for kicks. Finding her, she gets in complicated amnesia-based hot water with the Mafia and goes on the run with Susan. Pretty typical '80s fare.
The movie drips with style to spare - crazy wallpaper, zebra print luggage, leather hand wraps, the cool aforementioned jacket (has a giant glitzy Masonic pyramid on the back, designed by Santo Loquasto), wild neon arm bangles, crazy striped muscle shirts, you name it. The great soundtrack just emphasizes the thorough 80s-ness. It takes me back.
This movie is really about Arquette's character, she is the lead in every way, but after Madonna's popularity apexed around the time of this film's release Arquette was actually nominated for the *supporting* BAFTA award. Crazy! Pauline Kael famously called Madonna an "indolent, trampy goddess," which I was delighted to see repeated on Wikipedia for the world to read. That is pretty accurate, actually - props to Kael. And her fellow reviewer Vincent Canby named it one of the 10 Best of the year. Does it deserve it?
Hard to say. This movie is really, at the heart of things, one long music video ode to popular culture with the thinnest veneer of plot brushed over it. But it's a fun music video, and moves quickly and gives you a pretty decent feel for mid-80s New York. Aiden Quinn (80s character name of "Dez") is good, the leads are acceptable, the cameos are fun, and it moves pretty quickly. So, I guess I would recommend it. Check it out, it's a mid-80s time capsule.
Meanwhile, let's end with the original demo version of Madonna's "Into the Groove," only found in this movie:
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