Just because there are big names in front of the camera (Joanne Woodward, George C. Scott) and big names behind it (Anthony Harvey, directing his first film since LION IN WINTER; written by James Goldman, author of LION IN WINTER; exec produced by Paul Newman/John Foreman Co.) does not make this film any less of an amateurish effort. If it had been made as an indie production, critics and audiences would treat it with derision. As it is, audiences must have laughed it off the screen when it first came out.
The actors do their best and the production values (photography, sets, etc.) are fine. But as a film – or even as a story – there's nothing there. Cervantes tilted at windmills because "they might be giants." He was an idealist and also a looney. So is Justin Playfair (the George C. Scott character), who thinks he is Sherlock Holmes. There are some scenes of utter embarrassment: Ms. Woodward preparing for dinner; the parade of people walking through midtown New York in the dark of night; and especially the ending (in a Pathmark Supermarket), among others, that leave you asking, "WHAT were they thinking?" In the end, we hear nothing except that idealism should be contagious. And that parable has been told many times before and in far more interesting (and entertaining) ways.
The actors do their best and the production values (photography, sets, etc.) are fine. But as a film – or even as a story – there's nothing there. Cervantes tilted at windmills because "they might be giants." He was an idealist and also a looney. So is Justin Playfair (the George C. Scott character), who thinks he is Sherlock Holmes. There are some scenes of utter embarrassment: Ms. Woodward preparing for dinner; the parade of people walking through midtown New York in the dark of night; and especially the ending (in a Pathmark Supermarket), among others, that leave you asking, "WHAT were they thinking?" In the end, we hear nothing except that idealism should be contagious. And that parable has been told many times before and in far more interesting (and entertaining) ways.