The Films of Warren Beatty: All Fall Down, starring Warren Beatty, Eva Marie Saint, Brandon De Wilde, Karl Malden, and Angela Lansbury, directed by John Frankenheimer (1962)

Warren Beatty in All Fall Down, 1962. Author Ellis Amburn used this photo for the cover of biography of Beatty, The Sexiest Man Alive.

Warren Beatty’s third film, All Fall Down, from 1962, is not that great. The movie boasts an impressive pedigree, as it was produced by John Houseman, directed by John Frankenheimer, and also stars Eva Marie Saint, Angela Lansbury, Karl Malden, and Brandon De Wilde. The script was by playwright William Inge, famous for plays like Picnic, and Bus Stop. Inge adapted All Fall Down from the novel of the same name by James Leo Herlihy, who would go on to write the novel Midnight Cowboy. Inge was an important benefactor in the early career of Warren Beatty, as he had also written Beatty's first movie, Splendor in the Grass, and Beatty's first and only Broadway play, A Loss of Roses. All Fall Down is an offbeat story about a dysfunctional family. If the movie were made today, it would be a quirky indie movie, and it would probably be played for more laughs. 

Beatty plays a callous ladies’ man with the improbable name of Berry-Berry Willart. No, really. And by the end of the movie you will be very sick of hearing other characters say the name “Berry-Berry.” His name is mentioned about every third line. Lansbury plays another one of her overbearing mother roles, just as she would play Laurence Harvey’s overbearing mother in Frankenheimer’s The Manchurian Candidate, released later in 1962. Like her character in The Manchurian Candidate, Lansbury’s mother in All Fall Down seems to have an unhealthy obsession with her son Berry-Berry. There’s even a moment in All Fall Down where it looks like she is about to kiss her son on the lips, but she just gets very close to Berry-Berry and then runs away. This prefigures a famous moment in The Manchurian Candidate when Lansbury’s character kisses her son on the lips. This one moment tells us all we need to know about their relationship. Another similarity between the two films is that Lansbury is playing characters much older than herself, as she was not old enough to be the mother of the men who were playing her onscreen sons. In real life, Lansbury was just three years older than Laurence Harvey, eleven years older than Beatty, and nine years older than Elvis Presley-whose mother she played in Blue Hawaii, from 1961. (There are no Freudian overtones in Blue Hawaii, however.) 

The story of All Fall Down is told from the point of view of Berry-Berry’s 16-year-old little brother, Clinton, played very well by Brandon De Wilde, whose most famous role was the little boy in Shane. De Wilde played a very similar part the following year in Hud, where he plays little brother to Paul Newman’s amoral Hud. Both Berry-Berry and Hud are completely selfish people, leaving a trail of emotional wreckage behind them. 

Beatty as Berry-Berry is very much in James Dean mode, as he was in his first movie, Splendor in the Grass, which is a much better film than All Fall Down. Beatty broods, and though Berry-Berry attracts women like flies, he quickly discards them in very hurtful ways, often using physical violence. It’s rather ridiculous how easily women are attracted to Beatty in the movie. All it takes is one look at Beatty for them to suddenly offer to bring him along on a vacation with them. Of course, Beatty was a stunning physical specimen in 1962, with his full head of dark hair, piercing blue eyes, and full lips. But it gets tiring to see women fall all over themselves for him. One woman even says to him, “If I were a young man as handsome as you are, I would go to Hollywood and try to get into movies.” Berry-Berry is very similar to the role that Beatty had just finished playing, the gigolo Paulo in The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone. There’s nothing redeeming about Berry-Berry’s character, even though his parents hold him up as the ideal son. 

Things start happening in All Fall Down when the daughter of a family friend, Echo, played by Eva Marie Saint, comes to town to stay with them. The first time she stays with them, Clinton falls deeply in love with her, even though she’s a much “older woman” of 31, who has never been married. When Berry-Berry meets Echo the second time she stays with the family, he literally doesn’t have to say a word to her, he just takes her hand in the backyard and they go off somewhere to make out. And Clinton is heartbroken at this turn of events. Karl Malden plays the ineffectual alcoholic father, and does the most he can with the part. But he is incapable of offering advice or wisdom to his two sons. (Malden and Marie Saint famously worked together before in On the Waterfront.) Berry-Berry and Echo start dating, his mother claims she is happy for them, Berry-Berry gets Echo pregnant, they have an argument, he leaves, and she drives off grief-stricken and dies in a car crash. We don’t really know if the car crash is an act of suicide or not, but my guess is that it probably was. Side note: given their ridiculous names, what on earth would Berry-Berry and Echo have named their baby? One shudders to think. Clinton then almost shoots Berry-Berry, but decides not to, leaving Berry-Berry to deal with the fact that he’s a jerk who ruins every significant relationship in his life. The end. Not an especially uplifting movie. 

So that’s the movie, an overheated pseudo-Freudian mishmash, with some teen angst thrown in for good measure. One of the oddest moments in the movie is the scene where Echo tells Lansbury’s character how her former boyfriend killed himself-carbon monoxide poisoning, which is the same way that screenwriter William Inge would kill himself eleven years later. Ugh. 

Behind the scenes, Warren Beatty rubbed everybody the wrong way from day one of rehearsal, and no one except for Karl Malden really liked him. Beatty’s penchant for Method-y brooding annoyed the other actors and won him no friends. To be fair to Beatty, at the time he was making All Fall Down in the summer of 1961 he was getting a lot of media attention as the “Next Big Thing,” but none of his movies had been released yet. Splendor in the Grass, Beatty’s very first movie, wasn’t released until October, 1961. Beatty may have been feeling a lot of pressure to live up to his publicity hype. And his fellow actors had not had a chance to see him act on screen, so they had no idea who this guy was. Beatty might also have been intimidated by the success of his fellow actors, who had all been in the business for a long time. At the time Beatty was making All Fall Down, he was a man who was famous, but not because of anything he had actually accomplished. He was famous because he was Shirley MacLaine’s kid brother, and because he was having very public romances with Joan Collins and Natalie Wood. (Beatty was accused of breaking up Wood’s first marriage to Robert Wagner.) Beatty was famous because of his personal life, not because of any talent he showed as an actor. This must have annoyed Beatty considerably, since he is ironically a very private man who doesn’t like discussing his personal life. This mistake early in his career of letting his private life become so public perhaps set the tone for the rest of his career. Also, Beatty had a tendency to date women at the absolute peak of their fame. Had he wanted less publicity about his private life, he should have started dating women who were not in show business. 

After an amazing start in movies in Splendor in the Grass, Beatty appeared in two duds in quick succession, The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone, which was released in December, 1961, and All Fall Down, which was released in April, 1962. Beatty then took a long break from movies; turning down everything he was offered, including the part of a young John F. Kennedy in PT 109. (Cliff Robertson ending up playing Kennedy.) Given all that we now know about Kennedy’s sexual life, Beatty probably would have been an ideal choice. After All Fall Down, Beatty didn’t appear onscreen again until Lilith, released two and a half years later. Beatty didn’t make another hit movie until 1967’s Bonnie and Clyde, which finally confirmed his talent as an actor and producer.

Concert Review: Glen Campbell at Mystic Lake Casino

On Friday night I saw Glen Campbell at Mystic Lake Casino on his Goodbye Tour. As most people probably know, Campbell has Alzheimer’s disease and is retiring from performing at the end of this tour. It was a little sad to see Glen having to read song lyrics from a teleprompter, but his voice is still excellent, and his guitar playing is still amazing. I was blown away by Glen’s guitar solos during hits like “By the Time I Get to Phoenix,” and “Gentle On My Mind.” His playing looks so effortless, and yet every note of his solos fit the songs so perfectly.

I first came to know Glen Campbell’s music through John Hartford’s song “Gentle On My Mind.” When I was 15 I discovered Elvis Presley’s version of the song and I thought, “This is an amazing song.” Somehow that led me to explore my Mom’s record collection, where I found Glen’s “Gentle On My Mind” album. Once I heard Glen’s version I liked it much more than Elvis’s. I was obsessed with Glen’s version, playing it over and over until I knew all of the words. Oddly enough, I didn’t scour my Mom’s record collection well enough to find John Hartford’s original version of the song-I didn’t hear that until much later. Now I have two favorite versions of that song, Glen’s and John’s. I was entranced by the poetry of those complicated lyrics, and the complex relationship the narrator of the song had with the woman who would always be gentle on his mind. After hearing “Gentle On My Mind” so many times I wanted to hear other Glen Campbell songs, and his Greatest Hits CD was a staple of road trips taken with both my Mom and my Dad. The songs that Glen Campbell sings are a big part of America to me, I guess in part because they name-check so many different American cities. I’ve seen Glen live at least 5 times over the years. The shows have varied in quality-definitely the best one was seeing him at the Minnesota State Fair. I also saw him at Orchestra Hall in 2003 just a day or two before he was arrested for DUI.

If Glen Campbell had never sung a note he would still go down in music history as one of the most important session musicians of the 1960’s, a part of the legendary “Wrecking Crew” that performed on numerous albums during that decade. Campbell played on records by Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin, and was a touring member of the Beach Boys. Campbell finally became a solo star in the late 1960’s thanks to his high, soaring tenor vocals. (His All-American good looks and charm on stage and screen also helped.)

Campbell was backed by a very good band, made up of mostly his children, who gave great support to their father. He seemed to miss the most lyrics on the new songs from his last album, “Ghost on the Canvas.” But Campbell’s voice remains wonderfully expressive-there were some moments during the concert where he hit some great high notes. His vocals on "Wichita Lineman" were amazing. Campbell remained in high spirits throughout the show, showcasing his usual good humor. And his guitar playing is still a joy to hear. All in all, the concert was a great way to say goodbye to one of my favorite performers.

Happy 75th Birthday Warren Beatty!

Today is Warren Beatty’s 75^th birthday. I wanted to write a little post about Beatty, since he’s one of my favorite actors. He’s made some truly great movies, beginning with his first starring role in “Splendor in the Grass,” and on to other classics like “Bonnie and Clyde,” “Shampoo,” “Heaven Can Wait,” “Reds,” “Dick Tracy,” “Bugsy,” and “Bulworth.” Of course, there have been some failures in there too. (“Ishtar,” and “Town & Country,” among others.) Beatty quickly decided he wanted to be a producer as well as a leading man, and his first producing credit was for “Bonnie and Clyde.” From that point on, Beatty has usually been heavily involved in all of his film projects. Very seldom is Beatty just an actor for hire. In fact, Beatty is the only person other than Orson Welles to garner Oscar nominations for Acting, Writing, Producing, and Directing for the same film. Welles achieved this distinction for his classic film “Citizen Kane.” Beatty actually accomplished it twice, for both “Heaven Can Wait” and “Reds.” (Beatty won his only Oscar for “Reds” for Best Director.) Beatty gained fame early in his life for both his talent and for his strikingly handsome good looks. But he proved that he was more than just a pretty face with his great performance in “Bonnie and Clyde.” Beatty is excellent at light comedy, and he’s able to inject even the most serious of roles with some comic moments. For example, the scene in “Bugsy” where Beatty tries to simultaneously throw a birthday party for his child while also conducting business with his Mob associates is sublimely ridiculous. “Heaven Can Wait” is probably my favorite Warren Beatty movie, it’s such a funny, sweet film and Beatty gives a great performance in it. It also has James Mason as an angel, which is pretty awesome.

Warren Beatty the man is something of a contradiction. On the one hand, he’s a very private man who doesn’t talk much about his personal life, but on the other hand, he has also led a very public love life by dating so many famous women. The picture above, taken from the New York Times Book Review, shows Beatty with some of the women he’s been linked with over the years. Another contradiction in Beatty’s personal life is that he was known as a Don Juan during his bachelor days-which lasted until he was 55-but for the last 20 years he’s been known as a model of stability as Annette Bening’s husband.

Beatty has a reputation as a perfectionist, and he’s made very few films. Since starring in “Splendor in the Grass” in 1961, Beatty has made just 22 feature films. In this way, he’s the opposite of Clint Eastwood, who just keeps churning out great movies. Beatty is currently rumored to be at work on a movie about Howard Hughes. I really hope the rumor is true, as I would be very interested to see any movie that Beatty makes. And I also hope it’s true so the dreadful “Town & Country” isn’t Beatty’s last movie. He’s so much more talented than that awful movie. Here’s hoping that over the next few years that Warren Beatty adds some more great movies to his impressive filmography.

Concert Review: Hugh Masekela at the Dakota Jazz Club

On Wednesday night, I saw the South African jazz musician Hugh Masekela at the Dakota Jazz Club. It was a great concert. I’m not that familiar with Masekela’s music, I’ve really only heard his big 1968 hit “Grazin’ in the Grass,” and seen a YouTube video of him live with Paul Simon in the 80’s. But my Mom saw Hugh when he was at the Dakota about a year ago, and she said it was just a fantastic show. So when he came back, I figured I should go. (My Mom and my wife also attended the concert on Wednesday.) Masekela plays the flugelhorn, and when he isn’t doing that he’s either singing or playing percussion instruments and dancing around the stage. He really puts on a show. (Sidenote: I took the photo above with my IPhone.)

I’m not sure exactly how I would describe Masekela’s music. Maybe South African world music mixed with jazz. But, as Duke Ellington once said, “There are two kinds of music. Good and bad.” Masekela’s music is definitely good music. His tone on the flugelhorn is still rich and pure. His singing is very expressive, as his voice ranges from high, haunting tones to low, powerful moans. The band that he had with him was absolutely amazing, especially his young guitar player. The band was guitar, bass, keyboards, drums, and a percussionist. They were all really good players. I can’t tell you the name of any of the songs that Masekela played, but they ranged from a South African song played when a bride goes to meet her husband on her wedding day to more jazz inflected pieces.

Masekela clearly still enjoys performing and playing music, and he was in a good mood throughout the 1 hour and 20 minute set. He joked about how cold it was the last time they came to play at the Dakota, and that he was glad it was warmer this time. I really enjoyed the concert, and sometimes it’s a lot of fun to see someone in concert that you’re not that familiar with. I definitely had fewer expectations than when I go to see one of my very favorite musicians like Elvis Costello in concert. And while Elvis Costello certainly more than exceeded my expectations, sometimes it’s nice to go into a concert with not much idea of what it will be like. For me there’s a nervous energy surrounding concerts of a musician I really like. Will my seats be good? How will they sound? What if they’re sick? What if they don’t play my favorite song? These thoughts don’t keep me from enjoying the concerts, but they certainly go through my head. Sometimes it’s nice to say, “I don’t know much about this person, but they seem interesting, so hopefully they’ll put on a good show and I’ll enjoy the music.” Hugh Masekela certainly put on a great show, and I really enjoyed the music.