Adrian Sibley’s generally rewarding documentary on iconic Irish actor Richard Harris gets a lot of help from the onscreen memories of the three personable Harris boys (director Damian, actors Jared & Jamie), less from the man himself, or rather from the uneven output that shortchanged the obvious talent. Luckily, Harris was an interesting guy off-screen, not only acting on stage and in music (‘MacArthur’s Park’ that most unlikely of mega-hit 45-rpm singles), but as a young athlete and public roister with fellow generational-shift actors Peter O’Toole, Albert Finney, Alan Bates, et al.* After down decades in the ‘70s & ‘80s, Harris shot back to form in Jim Sheridan’s THE FIELD/’90 and, of course, in the first two HARRY POTTER pics. Yet even in his 1960s prime, hard to care about prestige Harris mediocrities like CAMELOT/’67 and CROMWELL/’70.* Instead, see what might have been via his Hollywood breakthru in the little remembered HAWAII/’66 which goes unmentioned here.
SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY: *Between WWI & II, the Brits seem to have missed out on a couple of evolutionary cultural & social shifts, especially in the acting profession, so Harris and the 1950s gang brought in The Method, Working-Class social anger and ‘beat’ attitudes on dropping out into public view all at once.
DOUBLE-BILL/LINK: All these mentioned above: https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2009/06/this-sporting-life-1963.html https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2012/11/camelot-1967.html https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2008/05/cromwell-1970.html https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2008/05/hawaii-1966.html
ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: *Co-star Vanessa Redgrave is her usual batty self reminiscing about CAMELOT. Does she really think she brought back on-the-set live singing in film musicals? Odd when Rex Harrison famously did just that in MY FAIR LADY/’64, the previous Lerner & Loewe film adaptation.
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