Couch Festival – June 2005
Who's Your Daddy?
By Jennifer Hearne

Every year when the occasion of Father's Day returns, I am always reminded of June 1987, when my friend Brian and I sprinted from Sears to Hallmark looking for something special for dad: the kind of gift that would say "although I have shown you the most base disrespect by treating your home as little more than a hotel, I'd like you to know that I used my lunch break to pick up this great last minute gift!"  Brian was always hoping to find just the right step-dad card; a gentle reminder to reassure his mother's husband that "You're not my dad!  You're just the guy my mother married."  Desperate, we settled for cheesy offerings from the Ziggy collection. Ziggy always seemed to be saying, "Let's just forget my hopeless shortcomings for one special day!"

Yes, Father's Day is a splendid time (especially when you can remember it), an opportunity for countless families to honor the man who steadfastly provides their room and board by giving him the one thing that truly says, "Thanks for all you do!": the widescreen version of Armageddon on DVD.
 
When I consider all the great "father figure" films that will be overlooked in favor of testosterone driven blockbusters, it makes me wax nostalgic for all the times I could have presented my father with an essential library of dad flicks had I only thought of it in time. It seemed only fitting that this month's couch festival should be a celebration of famous father figures.
 
Everybody knows the do-the-right thing dads: Ted Kramer (Dustin Hoffman) in KRAMER VS KRAMER, Atticus Finch (Gregory Peck) in TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD and Calvin Jarrett (Donald Sutherland) in ORDINARY PEOPLE.

There are the goofy dads like Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase) in the VACATION movies and the affable but overwhelmed dads like Frank Beardsley (Henry Fonda) in YOURS, MINE AND OURS and Caractacus Potts (Dick Van Dyke) in CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG.  

And then there are the "bad" dads: "bad" like Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey) in AMERICAN BEAUTY, who lusts after his daughter's best friend or "really bad" like Don Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando) in THE GODFATHER, who can make life hell for anyone who disrespects the family.  Everybody seems to know these traditional dad flicks - they're the ones that the video franchises will be showcasing in June.  

But what about the non-traditional dads; the kind who are really fundamentally good, but misunderstood, like the immortal Big Daddy Pollitt (Burl Ives) in CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF.  These are my favorite of all the film fathers; the eccentric, the unusual, and the "only human" dads you must revisit.
 
Topping this month’s list of peculiar patriarchs is the title character in 2001's THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS. 

Gene Hackman had already entered the pantheon of essential father flicks as the dutiful son forced to stand up to a demanding dad in 1970's I NEVER SANG FOR MY FATHER, originally a play about a widower whose pride pushes away his offspring when he needs him most.  Melvyn Douglas's performance as Tom Garrison, the self-sabotaging, vulnerable father, is painfully precise (BT readers should know that Douglas would later earn an Academy Award for 1979's BEING THERE) - the climactic confrontation scene between the older and younger Garrison turns I NEVER SANG FOR MY FATHER into a powerful tearjerker.  Hackman's underrated Gene Garrison, the conscientious adult child burdened by the guilt of institutionalizing his parent makes him one of the better dramatic sons of the silver screen.  

As Royal Tenenbaum, however, Hackman is easily one of the best "worst" cinema fathers of all time.  After "two decades of betrayal, failure, and disaster," Royal Tenenbaum has the audacity to con his emotionally scarred family into believing he is dying of stomach cancer in order to move back home.  The move is necessary only because he has been evicted from the hotel room he has been occupying since he left them.  Writer/Director Wes Anderson allows a narrator (Alec Baldwin) to tell the Tenenbaum's quirky tale in storybook presentation. The Tenenbaum offspring is complicated: a family burdened by genius.  Each member is given such succinct but serious introduction that if you are not paying attention to the first ten minutes, you will be unable to wholly appreciate the rest of the film.  Estranged for 22 years, Royal has never divorced Etheline Tenenbaum (Anjelica Huston). When his cancerous ruse is exposed by the new man in Etheline's life (Danny Glover), it appears that Royal has irrevocably destroyed what little faith in him the family had left.  

The only thread Royal can grab to redeem himself are the grandchildren who enjoy his verve: supposedly "terminally ill," Royal has taught them the joys of shoplifting, jaywalking and riding garbage trucks.  The grandchildren genuinely like him and he reciprocates.  Apart from this love, there is only one truly positive quality that Royal possesses: with his utter lack of respect for anything sacred Royal provides a necessary humor to an otherwise humorless family.  Proving it's never too late to change, Royal Tenenbaum sets out to pay his dues.  He and sidekick, Pagoda (Kumar Pallana) take honest jobs as elevator hops.  Royal finally divorces Etheline.  And he tries to reconnect with his dysfunctional children after son Richie (Luke Wilson) attempts suicide.  When Royal selflessly saves the lives of his grandchildren, the family warms up to him for good.  The final shot of the splendid ensemble cast brings to mind an Edward Gorey painting of an exquisite, eccentric family finally at peace with themselves: they uniquely are "The Royal Tenenbaums."
 
In 1965's A THOUSAND CLOWNS Jason Robards turns an unconventional uncle into the best father a boy never had. 

Robards first played Murray Burns on Broadway, and then enlightened cinema audiences with his onscreen portrayal of the man who is not a person, but an experience.  Murray is devoted to living the kind of life most people put off until it's too late.

A former writer for a stale kiddie show, Murray Burns has been happily unemployed for five months and is content to "own his own days and name them".  Guardian to his sister's child (a sister who communicates only "by rumor") Murray's ability to parent his nephew (Barry Gordon) is under scrutiny (a nephew who has been granted so much free will he hasn't even picked out his own permanent first name; for the duration of the film we know him as "Nick").  Shortly after social worker Sandra Markowitz (Barbara Harris) meets Murray, the idealistic young woman jumps ship to take part in Murray's healthy anarchy.  Her exasperated personal and professional partner, Mr. Amundson (William Daniels), finds Murray's nonconformity dangerous; the subsequent recommendation that Nick be taken out of his uncle's custody puts Murray on an immediate quest to find work.  

With only two days to clean up his act, Murray revisits his former colleagues and we are treated to their different opinions of his libertine lifestyle.  Intentional or not, writer Herb Gardner uses these viewpoints to create some evenly divergent political metaphors via his characters.  Disapproving social worker Mr. Amundson admits that he is not as spontaneous or imaginative as Murray but is a fair man whose motivation is to properly do his job.  Murray's brother Arnold (Martin Balsam), a highly paid executive, admits he is a worker bee but likes it - he has a family to support and is merely striving to be the best Arnold Burns he can be.

Initially high on Murray's antics, Miss Markowitz sobers up in time to realize Murray lacks maturity.  Twelve year old Nick simply thinks his uncle is turning into a bum.  Gardner supports his protagonist by affording Murray Burns a passionate declaration of all his hopes for Nick: that he resist becoming a "nice, dead person", that he "stay awake and know who the phonies are" and that he "give the world a little goosing once you get the chance;" ultimately he wants Nick to know "the reason he was born a human being and not a chair."  When the negative aspects of his parenting cannot be ignored, Murray concedes that his nephew needs to be a kid (instead of a straight man) in time to take the high road - by returning to his old job he honors the wishes of both Nick and Miss Markowitz thus reaping the rewards of surrendering maturely without giving himself away.  

Robards continued to put his burdened dad-frown to good use in movies like SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES, PARENTHOOD, and MAGNOLIA.  But his portrayal of Murray Burns in A THOUSAND CLOWNS will forever inspire new generations of free thinkers.
 
Writer/Director Paul Schrader's impressive body of work always smacks of a "no-shit" approach to life as seen in films like TAXI DRIVER, RAGING BULL, AMERICAN GIGOLO and PATTY HEARST.  Hard to believe, but Schrader's early family life was so blanketed that he did not see his first film until the age of eighteen.  A strict Calvinist environment, perhaps one like his own, provides the backdrop for a dutiful father searching for his missing daughter in Schrader's wakeup call to sheltered Midwestern parents: 1979's HARDCORE.

As Jake Van Dorn, a successful businessman living a clean, no nonsense life in Grand Rapids, Michigan, George C. Scott gives us a well intentioned but totally naive protagonist.  Although religious, here is a man who will stop at nothing to protect his offspring.  An early, key scene in Van Dorn's office shows him rebuffing his female interior designer. We see that Van Dorn keeps up a polite, reasonable facade but is really a stubborn man who insists on getting his way.  When Van Dorn's daughter Kristin (Ilah Davis) disappears from a Calvinist field trip to Southern California, dad assumes she has been kidnapped and is hopeful that LAPD and hired detective Andy Mast (Peter Boyle) will find her.  When Mast produces a sordid film starring the previously virginal Kristin, Jake's world is shattered.  Scott's sincere anguish drives this film.  From this point on, Jake's quest is totally absorbing.

Being the ultimate dutiful dad, Van Dorn goes undercover in Hollywood to find his daughter; his stubbornness becomes a strength as he takes on the sub-culture of hardcore porn.  Scott is absolutely right for his role as a hot headed avenger - when Van Dorn catches Mast in the middle of an afternoon tryst with a porn star he is so disgusted he not only fires the detective but throws Mast out of his own apartment.  Van Dorn's noble quest is his own until he finds an ally for hire in a lost-cause street girl named Niki. Niki is a convenient amalgamation of porn star/prostitute/junkie/ and "connect" (she seems to know who controls Kristin and where to find her).  Niki seems pathetic and drug addled as she tells Van Dorn that she is a "Venusian" who worships the Goddess of Love.  Van Dorn sounds just as wacky trying to explain the TULIP doctrines of Calvinism to her.  

The realization that their religions sound crazy to each other makes for one of the most tender and wisest scenes in HARDCORE.  

Schrader enjoys rubbing our noses in the seedier aspects of urban life and in HARDCORE he really goes all out.  As Van Dorn's tactics to open closed doors becomes more and more extreme (he poses as a porn filmmaker, finds the guy who screwed his daughter and appropriately kicks the tar out of him), Schrader takes his protagonist into the realm of snuff films and the slave trade.  As Van Dorn gets closer and closer to finding Kristin, Schrader's aggrandizement of the porn world has his protagonist literally knocking down walls of bondage sets to maximize his depiction of this underground, sexual "hell."

When we actually get to see Kristin, it is in a quick, disturbing shot totally incongruous with the innocent snapshot dad remembers - now she literally looks like the devil's daughter.  HARDCORE wimps out at the end - father and daughter have one conversation that neatly wraps up the ordeal, causing the entire film (which, save for George C. Scott's brilliant performance, had come dangerously close to resembling a television movie of the week albeit too seedy) to slip from notable feature film into the abyss inhabited by made-for-cable dramas.  Fans of George C. Scott however, should deem this essential.
 
Director John Boorman's clever casting of son Charley as the lost golden boy in 1985's THE EMERALD FOREST seals its fate as one of the most noteworthy, albeit overlooked, father/son films.  The premise of THE EMERALD FOREST should have guaranteed its success: a Western father (Powers Boothe) spends nearly a decade seeking the son he lost in the rainforest only to discover that the fair-haired boy has been lovingly raised by an indigenous people in danger of extinction.  Based on a true story, THE EMERALD FOREST, with its gorgeous cinematography and profound cautioning against those who would seek to profit off the destruction of our planet, scores high on my list of films that make the world a better place.  If you dismiss its message, however, the 20 year old movie disintegrates into an only so-so action flick.  
 
A father/daughter collaboration of highest honors goes to Ryan O'Neal and daughter Tatum in 1973's PAPER MOON.

After Addie Loggins (Tatum) buries her mama, funeral attendee Moses Pray (Ryan) is enlisted to drive the child to her next of kin.  Early on, Addie discovers she has the same natural instinct for a con game as Moses.  Together the unlikely pair preys on Depression-era widows as they journey through the Midwest.  Addie and Moses are not one dimensional - Addie has a conscience as evidenced by her need to view the president as a hero and her desire to con only those who can afford it.  Moses is predatory but vulnerable to heartbreak - he's a con man, selfish but not cruel and he reaps a major dose of bad karma before film's end.  Directed by Peter Bogdanovich and adapted from the book, Addie Pray, PAPER MOON proves both a triumph of comic timing and an achievement in casting (it is impossible to imagine anyone else in any of the roles).  Filmed in black and white and now 32 years old, PAPER MOON is still one of the funniest films ever made.  Madeline Kahn as Miss Trixie Delight contributes to the hilarity.

Onscreen the chemistry between Tatum and Ryan was pure, enduring magic, enough to land Tatum the Academy Award. Offscreen Tatum remarked that what should have been the happiest time of her life was marred by her father's jealousy.
 
"Let's get steak." suggests Murray Abramowitz (Alan Arkin) as he drives his children through posh neighborhoods in 1998's THE SLUMS OF BEVERLY HILLS.  A past-his-prime divorcee whose kids keep him young, Murray is a devoted but penniless dad who loves his kids enough to keep them in the Beverly Hills school district (even if it means sneaking in and out of cheap apartments and taking handouts from Murray's older brother Mickey).  Murray's kids are wise enough to keep dad in good spirits - they listen repeatedly to his version of a family myth that portrays him as the kind of dad who can brag, "I'm their father!!!!" - even when they figure out whose story is really being told, they care enough about their father to play along.  Rich Uncle Mickey may have money but he also has a spoiled, errant daughter that he can't control.  The Abramowitz kids know they don't have much but they do have a dad who lives for them.  Writer/director Tamara Jenkins imbues her characters with a lot of human frailty - when one of Murray's meltdowns results in an ugly gesture towards Mickey's daughter Rita, the episode is handled with believable sensitivity.  Murray is not a bad father, he's only too human.  Fans who eschew traditional Ward Cleaver dads will appreciate the complexities of a character like Murray.       
 
For fans of director John Ford, our final entry proves a better gift for an all American dad than any recent blockbuster.  One of the most fully realized Westerns of all time, 1956's THE SEARCHERS, rates high as an essential "dude flick."  John Wayne is at his brute force best as Ethan Edwards, an avenging uncle in search of a niece kidnapped by Indians.  Ethan is a complicated, mysterious man with as much prejudice as bravado.  During their five year quest, Edwards morphs into a father figure for bastard Indian nephew, Martin Pawley (Jeffrey Hunter).  Ethan openly despises Indians (justified initially by the massacre of his family) so much that we are left to guess how it was that Ethan found Martin as a child and why he eventually names him as heir.  When Ethan finally finds his niece (Natalie Wood), he is so disgusted by her assimilation to her captors that he mortally dismisses her.  By film's end the principle characters have changed sufficiently so that the viewer may find multiple meaning in the title.  Unless you're a John Wayne fan, THE SEARCHERS is an acquired taste.  John Ford fans will appreciate the gorgeous landscapes, elegantly choreographed cowboys, fleshed out characters, and the far-reaching influence this motion picture had on future filmmakers.  THE SEARCHERS was one of the first films ever to record a "making of" diary which is included on both the DVD and VHS releases.  John Wayne enjoyed this role so much that he christened his son Ethan.  
 
Next month: the couch gets a tie dyed slipcover as we embark on a SUMMER OF LOVE, a look at flower children in film!!