Movie Review: The Last Tycoon, starring Robert De Niro, directed by Elia Kazan, based on the novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1976)

Some of the cast of The Last Tycoon. From left to right: Tony Curtis, Leslie Curtis (Tony's real-life wife playing his movie wife), Ray Milland, Robert De Niro, Jeanne Moreau, Robert Mitchum, and Theresa Russell.

Robert De Niro and Jack Nicholson size each other up in The Last Tycoon, 1976. This is before they play ping pong.

Robert De Niro, generating zero chemistry with co-star Ingrid Boulting in The Last Tycoon, 1976.

Director Elia Kazan’s last movie was his 1976 adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s unfinished novel The Last Tycoon, starring Robert De Niro, with a screenplay by Harold Pinter. The movie is proof that all the talent in the world can still produce a bad movie.

There are so many things wrong with The Last Tycoon that it’s hard to know where to start. Perhaps making a movie of an unfinished novel was not a good idea. I haven’t read Fitzgerald’s The Last Tycoon, also known as The Love of the Last Tycoon, so I don’t know how faithful the movie is to his writing, but it sure feels like it was based on an unfinished novel. The Last Tycoon is set in Hollywood in the late 1930’s, and the titular character is Monroe Stahr, who is the head of a film studio. (Stahr was loosely based on real-life movie mogul Irving Thalberg.) The film follows him as he works on movies and seeks out a beautiful young woman who reminds him of his dead movie star wife. 

Unfortunately, Robert De Niro is miscast as Stahr. Monroe Stahr is a boring character, and it’s a disservice to cast one of the silver screen’s most exciting performers in that role. Stahr was too much of a blank slate for me to ever feel invested in his emotions. There’s no dramatic tension to the movie, and whatever lingering tension there was comes to a screeching halt during the way too long love scenes between De Niro and Ingrid Boulting, as the girl who reminds Stahr of his dead wife. The scenes between Boulting and De Niro are just not that interesting, and they don’t have any chemistry together. Theresa Russell plays the other main female character, and while Boulting and Russell are both very beautiful to look at, they are not very good actresses. On a positive note, I did love Stahr's beautiful red Packard convertible.

Kazan seemed determined to include every famous person he could find in the cast, which makes watching The Last Tycoon slightly more interesting. The supporting cast includes Tony Curtis, Robert Mitchum, Ray Milland, Dana Andrews, Jeanne Moreau, Donald Pleasence, John Carradine, Jeff Corey, Anjelica Huston, Peter Strauss, and, oh yeah, Jack Nicholson. Yes, Jack Nicholson and Robert De Niro made a movie together in 1976. Unfortunately, it was this turkey.

I couldn’t figure out the tone that The Last Tycoon was going for. There are times when it seems to want to be a comedy. On their first date, Stahr takes Boulting’s character to see a trained seal at a restaurant. Am I supposed to laugh at De Niro’s interactions with the seal and his trainer? Is the scene where a movie editor dies during a screening supposed to be humorously ironic? I have no idea. I blame Harold Pinter for this. 

Another weird moment is when we see the movie-within-a-movie that Tony Curtis and Jeanne Moreau have been working on. It’s very obviously a pastiche of Casablanca, as Curtis plays the piano and bids Moreau adieu. She even sings part of the song he’s playing. It’s almost high camp, but not quite. I really think it’s supposed to be serious. Also, Casablanca wasn’t released until 1942, which is several years after the time period of The Last Tycoon. Curtis also has a scene where he confides to Stahr that he can’t get it up anymore, but he knows that Stahr will have a solution for his problem. I don’t remember what the hell Stahr tells him, but it works for Curtis. Of the random celebrity cameos, Robert Mitchum gets the most to do as another powerful producer at the studio. It is fun to watch Mitchum and De Niro together, as they both played the same role in the two different versions of Cape Fear. Hell, it’s always fun to watch Robert Mitchum. Ray Milland doesn’t have much to do other than hang out with Robert Mitchum and look like a more bald version of Jimmy Stewart. Dana Andrews has a couple of scenes as a beleaguered director whom Stahr releases from a movie. Despite his real-life battle with alcoholism, which he overcame in the late 1960’s, Andrews looks super handsome and not much different from his heyday as a leading man in the 1940’s. 

So, what about Jack Nicholson? Does he swoop in to save the movie from terminal boredom? Does he demand to order toast from the studio commissary? Isn’t it super exciting that The Last Tycoon pairs up two of the greatest actors of the 1970’s? Well, even the scenes between De Niro and Nicholson are dull. Their characters are adversaries, as Nicholson plays a Communist who wants to unionize the screenwriters at De Niro’s studio. Both Nicholson and De Niro seem to be operating at half-speed during their first scene together. It doesn’t help that the dialogue is super boring. And I don’t know if Nicholson is trying to do an accent or what-his character is from Tennessee-but he doesn’t have his usual Jack Nicholson vocal cadences. It’s terribly frustrating to watch two exciting, dynamic actors play boring people. In their other two scenes together De Niro totally overacts Stahr’s drunkenness, as he challenges Nicholson’s character to a game of ping pong. Yep, De Niro and Nicholson face off in a movie over a fucking game of ping pong. Opportunity wasted!

The last scene of The Last Tycoon, where De Niro/Stahr breaks the fourth wall and looks directly at the camera as he tells a story about watching a girl burn a pair of gloves-a story we’ve already heard once before in the movie-is a real “what the fuck?” moment. 

The Last Tycoon was an unfortunate waste of talent, and a sad ending to the great directing career of Elia Kazan.

Movie Review: Two Weeks in Another Town starring Kirk Douglas (1962)

Movie poster for Two Weeks in Another Town, 1962. If only the movie was as cool as this poster.

Kirk Douglas and Cyd Charisse in Two Weeks in Another Town, 1962.

Irwin Shaw, author of the novel Two Weeks in Another Town.

Two Weeks in Another Town was the third movie to pair actor Kirk Douglas with director Vincente Minnelli and producer John Houseman. Unfortunately, it is also the worst of the three movies. Admittedly, the completion is steep, since the first two were The Bad and the Beautiful, and Lust for Life, both of which feature Oscar-nominated performances from Douglas. Two Weeks in Another Town, released in 1962, was based on Irwin Shaw’s 1960 novel of the same name. The novel is about a former actor who rejoins the movie world at the behest of a director for whom he did his best acting work. Shaw, a successful playwright, short-story writer, novelist, and screenwriter, knew a lot about Hollywood and those who inhabited it, so he was well-qualified to write such a book. I’m a big fan of Shaw’s writing, but Two Weeks in Another Town pales in comparison to his great works, like the novel The Young Lions, or his short stories. Too many years have passed since I read Two Weeks in Another Town for me to give it a full review, but some of the shortcomings of the novel also become shortcomings of the film. It’s a flawed book and also a flawed movie. 

Kirk Douglas plays the lead role of former actor Jack Andrus. In the book, Andrus has moved to France and stopped acting because of an accident that damaged his face. In the movie, Douglas has an inconsistent scar on the side of his face, but the reason he hasn’t acted in years is because of a nervous breakdown. He’s been playing shuffleboard at a mental hospital. Andrus gets a telegram from Maurice Kruger, played by Edward G. Robinson, asking him to come to Rome and take a small part in a film. Kruger is an alcoholic, skirt-chasing director for whom Andrus made several of his most famous movies. In a clever in-joke, when Kruger shows an old movie that he and Andrus made together, we see clips from The Bad and the Beautiful. So Andrus, against his better judgment, goes to Rome. When he gets to Rome, everyone is an asshole to him. And overacts terribly. From Kruger and his harpy of a wife to the moody leading man, played by a young George Hamilton, (before he got his tan) to Andrus’s ex-wife, crazily played by Cyd Charisse, everyone is out to get Jack Andrus. Andrus might not be the most likable guy, but you end up rooting for him just because everyone else is so nasty to him. Kirk Douglas does the best he can with the part, and he looks super handsome in his early 1960’s suits and tuxedo, but he can’t carry the picture all by himself. And while Douglas was no stranger to chewing the scenery, everyone else’s acting is so histrionic and over the top that they seem to be making a totally different movie than the one Douglas is acting in. 

Part of the problem with both the novel and the movie is that there’s no dramatic tension. Will Andrus be able to successfully oversee the dubbing of the dialogue to Kruger’s movie? We don’t really care, because the stakes feel so low. Andrus doesn’t care about getting back into the movie business, so we’re not really invested in whether Kruger’s movie comes in under budget or not. 

Thankfully, Irwin Shaw didn’t have anything to do with the writing of the screenplay, because there are some super klunky lines. My favorite might have been Edward G. Robinson saying to Kirk Douglas, “You and I made some good ones, yes, and a couple of great ones. Looked like there was a federal law prohibiting us from doing anything wrong.” Oof. Another winner is Robinson saying “All women are just pure monster.” Lots of subtlety there.

In his autobiography The Ragman’s Son, Kirk Douglas tells us part of the reason why Two Weeks didn’t work. As Two Weeks entered post-production, a new studio head took over MGM, Joseph Vogel. Vogel decided that MGM would only make family pictures. “He decided that the film would be edited differently-he was determined to make a family picture out of what we had shot….When I saw them emasculate the film, I wrote to Vogel, even though I was just an actor in it. I implored him, argued with him, told him that if he had wanted to make a family picture, he never should have made Two Weeks in Another Town.” (The Ragman’s Son, by Kirk Douglas, p.315) I don’t know if keeping the more explicit footage would have helped the movie, but it sure couldn’t have hurt. 

For me the best part of the movie was when it finally spilled over into full-blown camp at the climax of the movie, as Douglas and Cyd Charisse wail at the top of their lungs as Douglas drunkenly drives his convertible at high speeds.  Of course, it’s all done with rear projection shots, which just makes the whole scene even more ridiculous. 

If you’re a fan of ridiculous old movies about the making of old movies, then Two Weeks in Another Town might be just the movie for you. I’d advise everyone else to stay away.

Movie Review: Kirk Douglas and Lana Turner in "The Bad and the Beautiful" (1952)

Lana Turner and Kirk Douglas in "The Bad and the Beautiful," 1952. Understatement of the day: wow, she was beautiful.

Barry Sullivan, Lana Turner, and Dick Powell in "The Bad and the Beautiful," 1952.

“The Bad and the Beautiful,” directed by Vincente Minnelli, is a look at a callous movie producer who makes great films but destroys the lives of those around him. Kirk Douglas is perfectly cast as the producer, and garnered his second Best Actor Oscar nomination for the movie. As Douglas himself once said, “I’ve made a career out of playing sons-of-bitches.” And Jonathan Shields, the character Douglas plays, is certainly a son of a bitch.

“The Bad and the Beautiful” is told largely in flashback form, as director Fred Amiel, (Barry Sullivan) leading actress Georgia Lorrison, (Lana Turner) and author James Lee Bartlow (Dick Powell) meet in producer Harry Pebbel’s office. (Pebbel is played by Walter Pidgeon.) Pebbel tells them that Shields, who is living in France and hasn’t made a movie in years, wants them to work with him one more time on a new project. As they all wait for the trans-Atlantic phone call to be connected, they each tell their memories of Shields, and how he screwed them over. However, Pebbel is quick to point out when each of them have finished their stories that Shields’s bad behavior actually helped them to become the successes they are. 

The acting in “The Bad and the Beautiful” is superb, with strong performances from all of the leads. Kirk Douglas had the perfect blend of seductive charm and arrogance to pull off the role of Jonathan Shields. Lana Turner was excellent, and her scenes with Douglas crackle with dynamic energy. Turner, always known more for her gorgeous looks than her acting talent, shows that she was much more than just a pretty face. Turner also looks beautiful throughout the film, making the title quite apt. Barry Sullivan gives a nice performance as Shields’s early friend who is soon left by the wayside. Walter Pidgeon does a good job as Pebbel, who gives the slick-talking young Shields his first real job in the movies, and Pidgeon projects his usual air of calm authority. Dick Powell is also excellent as Bartlow, the cynical and jaded author. Powell had a very interesting movie career. He began as a musical star in light comedies during the 1930’s, starring in movies like “42^nd Street,” (1933) and “On the Avenue” (1937). When it seemed as though his days as a romantic leading man were numbered, he tried to broaden his image. While he lost out on the lead in “Double Indemnity,” (1944) he landed the role of private detective Philip Marlowe in “Murder, My Sweet,” also known as “Farewell, My Lovely” (1944). That role led to many more dramatic roles, as Powell made the successful transition to dramatic actor. Powell starred in many TV shows during the 1950’s, and also directed five films during the mid-1950’s. (One of those was the ill-fated “The Conqueror” starring John Wayne as Genghis Kahn.) Powell’s second wife was the actress Joan Blondell, and his third wife was June Allyson. Powell died of cancer in 1963, at the age of 58. Gloria Grahame took home the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role as Rosemary, even though she’s only onscreen for 9 minutes. But it’s an excellent performance, no matter the length. Grahame’s stormy personal life would soon overshadow her fine acting ability, though. Grahame was married four times. Her second marriage was to the director Nicholas Ray, who had one son, Anthony, from a previous marriage. Ray and Grahame also had one son together before divorcing in 1952. In 1960, Grahame married her former stepson, Nicholas Ray’s son Anthony. Grahame then had two sons with Anthony Ray. Weird.

“The Bad and the Beautiful” set a record for most Oscar wins for a film that was not nominated for either Best Picture or Best Director, winning 5 of the 6 Oscars it was nominated for. Douglas was the only one to come home empty-handed, losing out to Gary Cooper in “High Noon.” It’s surprising that Minnelli wasn’t nominated for his excellent directing. Fresh off his success with 1951’s “An American in Paris,” Minnelli created vivid compositions with rich black and white photography. It’s odd to see a Minnelli film in black and white, since he’s so known for his rich color palettes. Minnelli and star Kirk Douglas must have enjoyed working together, as they would later team up for two more movies, 1956’s “Lust For Life,” which starred Douglas as Vincent Van Gogh, in one of his best performances, and 1962’s “Two Weeks in Another Town.” There’s a good amount of humor in “The Bad and the Beautiful,” which makes it a delight to see, even today. There’s a parody of a fussy English director, which is a jab at Alfred Hitchcock, amid other Hollywood in-jokes. 

There are no tales of outrageous behavior from the set, as producer John Houseman wrote in his autobiography, Unfinished Business, “I have never produced a film on which there were fewer problems.” (P.319) Kirk Douglas, in his 1988 autobiography The Ragman’s Son, spends just a page on the movie, writing, “When they announced that Lana Turner was the ‘beautiful,’ the paper were filled with ‘When these two get together…’ I was ready for it. But she was going with Fernando Lamas, who was terribly jealous. He was always around. Nothing happened. I liked Lana, and I thought she did one of her best pieces of acting in that picture.” (P.171) Given Douglas’s reputation as a ladies’ man, I think Fernando Lamas was very smart to not let Lana spend any time off-set with Kirk. 

If you’re a fan of movies about Old Hollywood, or any of the leading actors, you’ll definitely enjoy “The Bad and the Beautiful.”