IN MEMORIAM

John Schlesinger - Renowned Director Known for Looking at Life’s Underbelly (1926-2003)

By Sara Michelle Fetters

It is always a sad day when the risk takers pass on from this plain. They are the ones we can’t help but watch, the ones we know will at least try and do something different or innovative up there on the big screen. More so, they are the ones unafraid to put a mirror up to society, willing to rub salt into the gristle of life’s most egregious wounds.

Such a man was the great British director John Schlesinger. His early days spent helming stage productions and television documentaries; Schlesinger was renowned for his unapologetically human look on life’s lesser creatures. He once said, “What I tend to go for, and what interests me, is not the hero but the coward...not the success, but the failure.” It is just that sort of interest and pursuit that led him to win a Best Director Academy Award for “Midnight Cowboy”.

With a career spanning drama to comedy, romance to horror, Schlesinger knew how to bring the best out of all those around him and brought an assured level of quality and class to everything he touched. And if his career unfortunately ended on a sour note with the abysmal one-two punch of “An Eye for an Eye” and “The Next Best Thing,” his litany of successes far out weighs a misfire here or there.

The following are ten of the director’s films I most admire. While not all are available on DVD, they can still be found in one form or another on home video and are definitely worth checking out.

Billy Liar ééé1/2 (1963, Anglo-Amalgamated Productions, Criterion Collection DVD)

Schlesinger’s second film cemented the filmmaker as a true cinematic pioneer of the human condition. The great Tom Courtney stars as Billy, a young man with a dreary life who spends most of his time daydreaming about a land where he is the hero. A surprising and heartfelt film, filled with unexpected consequences.

Darling ééé1/2 (1965, Anglo-Amalgamated Productions, VHS only)

Julie Christie won her only Academy Award, while the film itself went on to win two more awards and receive nominations for Best Picture and for Schlesinger’s direction. I surprisingly potent romance, “Darling” is an existentially entertaining froth of a romance swirled amidst the swinging morays of the 1960’s.

Far From the Madding Crowd ééé (1967, MGM, VHS only)

Lush, picturesque take on the Thomas Hardy novel has grown in appreciation since its less-than-renowned release during the later half of the ‘60’s. Not entirely successful, worth a look if only for the impassioned performance of Terence Stamp as the beleaguered Sergeant Troy. An elegant – if long – curiosity piece to be sure. MGM released a wonderful widescreen VHS version during the late ‘90’s which is worth tracking down.

Midnight Cowboy éééé (1969, United Artists, MGM DVD)

Schlesinger’s first American film is also his most famous and is the only X-rated film to win the Oscar for Best Picture. What is most amazing is that this examination of big city underbelly Americana has not lost any of its power or passion even after three-plus decades. Profound and devastating, it is also the one movie – maybe more so than “The Graduate” – that Dustin Hoffman will always be remembered for.

Sunday, Bloody Sunday éééé (1971, Vectia Productions, MGM DVD)

Nominated for four Academy Awards, including Schlesinger’s third nod for directing, the Brit’s follow-up to his American debut is still one of the most intriguing and devastating looks at homosexual/heterosexual romance and relationships ever put to film. Peter Finch and Glenda Jackson, also both nominated for Oscars, amaze in deep, complex characters in a film that refuses to take the easy way out.

The Day of the Locusts ééé (1975, Paramount Pictures, VHS Only)

Crazy, unfocused, strangely hyper-realized, Schlesinger’s wild look at 1930’s Hollywood is a mixed bag to be sure. But with Conrad L. Hall’s amazingly sublime – and Oscar-nominated – camerawork and astounding performances by Donald Sutherland and Burgess Meredith (whom was also nominated for an Oscar), “Locusts” is a famous film that has be seen to be believed. Trivia note: Sutherland’s character is named Homer Simpson, leading one to wonder if there isn’t maybe a slight connection to a certain famous animated television clan.

Marathon Man éé1/2 (1976, Paramount Pictures, Paramount DVD)

By no means is this shifty little thriller starring Dustin Hoffman and an Oscar-nominated Laurence Olivier a great film. But Schlesinger knows how to ratchet up the tension, and it’s worth at least a single viewing if only for the legendary dentist interrogation scene. You’ll never look at your tooth doctor the same ever again. Is it safe, indeed.

The Falcon and the Snowman ééé (1985, Orion Pictures International, MGM DVD)

Based-on-fact thriller concerning Soviet spy and CIA employee Christopher Bryce and his tragic friendship with drug pusher Daulton Lee, the film never quite reaches greatness but is still never less than compelling from start to finish. Both Timothy Hutton as Bryce and, especially, Sean Penn as Lee give blistering performances. In the case of Hutton, this may be the best acting job of his entire disappointing career.

The Believers ééé (1987, Orion Pictures International, MGM DVD)

Surprisingly graphic and unrelenting horror film about child abductions and sacrifices in modern-day New York, anchored by Martin Sheen’s commanding performance. Nothing more than genre fodder, to be sure, but elegantly creepy and unsettling genre fodder all the same. Gave me the willies for nights after, that alone gets it to rate high in my book.

Cold Comfort Farm ééé1/2 (1995, BBC Films, Universal DVD)

Schlesinger’s last great film, “Cold Comfort Farm” is a sprightly amusing turn of the century comedy filled with simply delightful moments. Returning to one of his favorite periods, 1930’s England, the director turns a trifle of film into a momentously entertaining comedy, and also forced the world to take note of soon-to-be-rising star Kate Beckinsale. A glorious film and one of the ‘90’s best pure comedies; definitely a must-see and rousing coda to Schlesinger’s distinguished career.

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