leeper@mtgzz.UUCP (Mark R. Leeper) (09/21/87)
THE RACE FOR THE DOUBLE HELIX
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1987 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule review: Made-for-TV BBC film gives a more
rounded view than does Watson's book THE DOUBLE HELIX. A
very fine film with a lot to say about the discipline of
science research.
For years the issue has been hotly contested. How good is British
television really? I think everyone agrees that some of the best things on
American television came from Britain. It is hard to beat programs like I,
CLAUDIUS, but they are just a few occasional good programs. Certainly
British television has its share of stupid situation comedies that do not
get seen over here. Well, it seems to me that their good programs are so
good that their bad television shows can easily be overlooked.
Around the middle of September I start thinking back on what was the
best film I have seen the previous summer. I had pretty well determined it
was to be De Palma's UNTOUCHABLES this year when just under the wire I saw
something better. And it was a made-for-TV film, made by the BBC for
British television. The film ran on the Arts and Entertainment cable
station and was called THE RACE FOR THE DOUBLE HELIX. It featured superb
acting by Jeff Goldblum as James D. Watson and Tim Piggot-Smith as Francis
Crick. Watson and Crick are the two unconventional scientists who worked
out the structure of DNA.
The film is about many things. Among other things, it is about a
conflict between two approaches to science. You can go for the gold, or
glory in the truth and doing things the right way. The first approach is
personified by Goldblum's Watson, a boorish Yank who is a duomaniac. His
goals are to get a girl and a Nobel Prize. Anything in life that does not
further his attempts at one goal or the other is not to be tolerated.
Espousing the other point of view is Rosalinda Franklin, to whom science is
a turn-the-crank operation of putting enough work into your goal, going from
square one to square two, to square three,...until you have achieved your
goal without once making an intuitive leap. The film is about the politics
of science and the viewer comes away with an education in how those politics
work as well as one of how the structure of DNA was determined. It is the
story of how three men won a Nobel Prize based greatly on the work of one
woman who neither got a piece of the prize nor, because she was a woman, was
she even allowed to join the men in the lounge of the building where they
worked.
THE RACE FOR THE DOUBLE HELIX is a powerful, excellent film. If this
sort of thing gets shown often on the BBC, I may pack my bag. Rate it a +3
on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
ihnp4!mtgzz!leeper
mtgzz!leeper@rutgers.rutgers.edujohansen@agrigene.UUCP (Eric Johansen) (09/22/87)
In article <3072@mtgzz.UUCP>, leeper@mtgzz.UUCP (Mark R. Leeper) writes: > > THE RACE FOR THE DOUBLE HELIX > > It is the > story of how three men won a Nobel Prize based greatly on the work of one > woman who neither got a piece of the prize nor, because she was a woman, was > she even allowed to join the men in the lounge of the building where they > worked. My impression from the comments written at the end of the movie was that the sole reason Rosalind Franklin did not receive the Nobel prize along with the 3 men was that she died of cancer before the prizes were awarded. Apparently the Nobel prize rule specifically exclude posthumous awards. > > THE RACE FOR THE DOUBLE HELIX is a powerful, excellent film. If this > sort of thing gets shown often on the BBC, I may pack my bag. Rate it a +3 > on the -4 to +4 scale. > I agree, this was an excellent movie.
perkins@bnrmtv.UUCP (Henry Perkins) (09/22/87)
Mark Leeper's review of THE RACE FOR THE DOUBLE HELIX didn't go
far enough in praising this film. Among other things, the
editing was superb. I usually take advantage of my Beta HiFi
VCR's capability of playing at 2x normal speed (with sound) to
shorten the transition from scene to scene. I couldn't do that
with THE RACE FOR THE DOUBLE HELIX; I had to back up and advance
at normal speed to avoid missing significant action or dialog.
In all the many transitions to scenes weeks/months/years later
the editing was very tight.
One very interesting point I noted is that the film was made with
the assistance of all the characters portrayed except for James
Watson and Rosalind Franklin. Franklin died in 1958, five years
after they determined the structure of DNA and four years before
the Nobel Prize was awarded for the research. The rules of the
Nobel committee do not allow posthumous awards. I don't know
Watson's status.
--
{hplabs,amdahl,ames}!bnrmtv!perkins --Henry Perkins
It is better never to have been born. But who among us has such luck?
One in a million, perhaps.pell@boulder.Colorado.EDU (Anthony Pelletier) (09/23/87)
(Henry Perkins) writes: >I don't know >Watson's status. >-- >{hplabs,amdahl,ames}!bnrmtv!perkins --Henry Perkins > Jim is still the director at Cold Spring Harbor, wher he spends most of his "creative energies" re-arranging the trees on the grounds. To his credit, he has a true "green Thumb" (i.e. w/respect to $) and has built the place up rather remarkably. tony Mol. Etc. Bio Boulder, Co.
roy@phri.UUCP (Roy Smith) (09/24/87)
In article <2563@bnrmtv.UUCP> perkins@bnrmtv.UUCP (Henry Perkins) writes: > I don't know Watson's status. Jim Watson is still alive and is currently the Director of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, on Long Island. -- Roy Smith, {allegra,cmcl2,philabs}!phri!roy System Administrator, Public Health Research Institute 455 First Avenue, New York, NY 10016
leeper@mtgzz.UUCP (Mark R. Leeper) (09/28/87)
In article <431@agrigene.UUCP>, johansen@agrigene.UUCP (Eric Johansen) writes: > In article <3072@mtgzz.UUCP>, leeper@mtgzz.UUCP (Mark R. Leeper) writes: > > > > THE RACE FOR THE DOUBLE HELIX > > > > It is the > > story of how three men won a Nobel Prize based greatly on the work of one > > woman who neither got a piece of the prize nor, because she was a woman, was > > she even allowed to join the men in the lounge of the building where they > > worked. > > My impression from the comments written at the end of the movie was that > the sole reason Rosalind Franklin did not receive the Nobel prize along > with the 3 men was that she died of cancer before the prizes were > awarded. Apparently the Nobel prize rule specifically exclude posthumous > awards. I was just talking about how small her reward was. Being a woman restricted her from the lounge, not the Prize. Certainly women have won Nobel Prizes. Not getting it may have been just bad luck on her part. (Or her cancer might actually have been related to her work, as it was with Mdm. Curie. That is just a speculation.) But to have been treated as a second class person because she was a woman, to not have been allowed in the same lounge as the men, was inexcusable. The second best scene in the film, and one of the few places where Watson is shown sympathetically is when he comes looking for Franklin in the lounge, is told that it is men only and asks "What have you got, toilets here or something?" The best scene, incidentally, was "Little Boys" and "Where's the water?" is right up there. But other people will have to see the film to know what those are all about. PBS should pick up RACE. Really a good film. Mark Leeper ...ihnp4!mtgzz!leeper