ecn-ec:mj@pur-ee.UUCP (08/03/83)
#N:ecn-ec:7000052:000:718
ecn-ec!mj Aug 2 19:40:00 1983
I just got back from taking a date to see "Class". I was
not impressed. The acting on the part of the not-as-rich-
not-as-good-looking-not-as-classy roommate was excellent,
but, overall, I didn't like the movie. I think it
is aimed at a high school audience - porn for kiddies, rather
than kiddie porn. The dialogue was terrible, the plot was
predictable, and the timing was bad. The cinematography
was good to very good. I'd place this movie in the same boat
with 'Private Lessons'. I was rather disappointed, because
both the idea and Mme. Bisset have a lot of potential,
and I don't think either was realized.
________
Mark A. Johnson Purdue University decvax!pur-ee!mj tgd@floyd.UUCP (Tom Dennehy) (08/04/83)
Time to get out the ol' key-
board and do some flaming:
At the risk of compromising my credibility as a serious
moviegoer I will admit to have seen "Class" ( a misnomer if ever
there was one). Start to finish we have ourselves a baaaaad
piece of 35mm doubly perforated celluloid.
A couple of weeks ago I saw J. Bisset on Entertainment
Tonight (another secret vice revealed - honestly I thought the
Yankee game would be on). She was peeved about the final cut
of the film, saying they had stripped out all the "subtext" of
her performance. The clip they ran with the interview was the
plot-thickening seltzer bottle scene, which had all the subtext
of your average MTV video (a favorite target for culture flames
everywehre). Now, JB can't seriously say that her career has been
studded with landmark performances - she has spent most of her time
as window dressing in macho action flicks (e.g The Deep), and her
character here hasn't been written with much more depth. How many
times has Meryl Streep made her screen entrance by drinking an
instant Marguerita (also known as an upside-down M[]ita if that
helps the uninitiated visualize the process).
The biggest problem with Class is its reluctance to resolve
either of the major plots, the affair and the cheating scandal.
The first is discarded by writing Ms. Bisset out of the script
(more to follow) and the second is never resolved. We simply have
Stuart Margolin playing the same sort of slime he's played every-
where else fom "Love, American Style" to any Blake Edwards effort,
being shown up by the students at every possible turn of his inves-
tigation (including the films only climax if you'll excuse the
phrase). He also gets to say "We'veall done things we're ashamed
of" only so it can be put out of context in the trailer and com-
mercials.
Now the fact that she disappears just when we have the
potential for some acting to be done leads me (horror upon horror)
to believe that there were some scene filmed with JB and her young
paramour trying to sort out their affair that were conveniently left
out in case they might make the audience think a little. If that's
the case Ms. Bisset has a legitimate beef with the producers, and
as compensation she should be selected to play the aging dancer in
Flashdance II.
The film's almost documentary grip on reality is frightening.
We are seriously asked to believe that a high school kid who is so
petrified at the thought of a date with a high school girl that he
throws up in the car (almost in her lap) can cooly and calmly carry
on a cross country affair with a woman so shy and reticent that
she seduces him in a glass elevator. He is introduced as inept and
socially backward when compared to his peers, but can pass himself
off as a graduate student from Northwestern.
Where has Cliff Robertson been all these years, and why did
he do this film?
A final flame - I'm tired of movie after movie, made-for-TV
and otherwise, about tragic affairs between young men and older women.
The only representatives of the flip side of the coin I can think of
are "Baby Doll" and "Lolita", both of which stand head and shoulders
over Class's sort of nonsence, but were scandalous at the time of
their release. Each of these gave different views of obsession, deal-
ing mainly with the (often dire) consequences. These new efforts deal
only with the affairs and gloss over anything else. The resolution
is easy and the effects neglible. What gives?
Tom Dennehy BTL Whippany {...floyd!tgd}