Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Days 226-227: Growing Quite Fonda Jane

Continuing our retrospective on stars who have more than one film nominated for Oscar in the 1970s, we come to one Jane Fonda. Jane, daughter of Henry Fonda, had come to prominence in the 1960s and at the 1972 Oscar Ceremony won her first Best Actress Oscar for playing a high-class call girl in the movie Klute. By the late 1970s, a period in which both these nominated films were released, Fonda was only making films relating to serious issues and here we saw her try to evade the Nazis and care for soldiers who'd be wounded in Vietnam. It was interesting for me to go back and watch these films as I'm only aware of Fonda through her exercise videos and her comeback in ropey movies such as Monster-in-Law and Georgia Rule. What I found was an actress who gave extremely big performances that weren't necessarily suitable for the roles she was playing.

First up we have Fonda portraying playwright Lillian Hellman, in a film based on a chapter in the author's book Pentimento, in which we see her tortured relationship with childhood friend and titular character Julia. The film sees Lillian and Julia take different paths in life with the latter journeying to Vienna to complete a medical degree while the former attempting to write a play at the same time as living with famed author Dashiell Hammett. After serving some time in Europe, Julia become involved in the battle against the Nazis and is injured in a blast at an apartment building. Lillian, having arrived in Paris, attempts to make contact with her friend but finds the task difficult. Eventually, Lillian hears from Julia, who wants to meet her in Berlin and asks for her help carrying an item across the border. The two eventually meet in a cafe, however their meeting is tense due to Lillian's nervousness surrounding the mission she's been given. Lillian later discovers Julia has had a daughter and sets out to find the child in order to give it a better home.

Interestingly the story of Julia is one that has been criticised as pure fiction and many have claimed that Hellman never had a childhood friend nor did she have to endure the tricky ride from Paris to Berlin that she did here. I found the majority of the film to be fairly melodramatic and lacking in any really compelling form of storytelling. I thought that Fonda's performance as Lillian was completely over-the-top and I didn't really find her that believable, or indeed likeable. I found that the scene on the train took far too long and I was really bored by the time that Lillian had to execute the mission she has been given. When she was on screen, I felt that Vanessa Redgrave's Julia was the complete antithesis of Fonda's character in that she was calm and reasonable. In fact I would've liked to have seen a lot more from Julia, though in fact Redgrave only appears in a handful of scenes which is a shame. I'm surprised then to learn that Redgrave won the Best Supporting Actress award for her role in Julia, as she didn't make much of an impression on me at all. Similarly Jason Robards, as Hammett, won the Best Supporting Actor award with his role being confined to a couple of scenes in which he attempted to calm down the hysterical Lillian. What I did enjoy was the style of the whole piece, it was well-shot and Georges Delerue's score was fairly memorable. The problem was that the lead character was neither that compelling nor particularly likeable and part of me would attribute that to the fact that director Fred Zinneman felt utter hatred towards Hellman by the end of their working relationship together. One fun Oscar-related fact is that Julia saw the film debut of a woman by the name of Meryl Streep, who we'll be talking a lot more about from here on in.

One year later, Fonda starred in Coming Home a film in which she played Sally Hyde, loyal wife to Marine Captain Bob. As Bob journeys to Vietnam, Sally changes aspects about her life - she buys a new car, stops straightening her hair and gets a new apartment near the beach. Sally also starts working as a volunteer at the VA Hospital where she meets an old school acquaintance in Luke Martin, who lost the use of his legs in Vietnam. Luke has since become a depressive who lashes out at everyone around him, but Sally's presence in his life sees him being lifted from his depression. As their relationship grows, Sally and Luke find themselves attracted to one another but Sally is forced to meet up with Bob in Hong Kong. However, on her return, she finds out that Luke has been released from hospital and now has his own apartment. But the death of one of the hospital's patients has a profound effect on Luke who decides to start protesting the war. Sally tries to stand by him, but Bob's return from the war sees her torn between the men in her life.

I have to say I really enjoyed Coming Home however, once again, I felt that Jane Fonda overplayed her role as Sally, for which she won the Best Actress Oscar at that year's ceremony. In fact, her performance was really the only negative in a film that had a lot to say about the Vietnam War and why people were protesting it. While Hal Ashby's political views were somewhat overtly portrayed, I never found the film to be particularly preachy and the fact that the film's hero was incredibly flawed was a good move. Best Actor winner Jon Voight was absolutely excellent in his role as the depressive Luke with the actor successfully portraying Luke's transition from angry cripple to inspiring public speaker. The supporting performances were equally as good with Bruce Dern giving a great turn as Bob, the archetypal military man and the complete opposite of Luke. I also enjoyed Penelope Milford as Sally's friend Vi, who was portrayed as a freeing influence on Sally but at the same time had moments of drama due to her brother's death. One of the reviews I read of Coming Home said that the soundtrack was overly explicit, but I personally felt every track added to the mood of the film. From 'Hey Jude' and 'Ruby Tuesday'  to 'Born to Be Wild' and the excellent 'Just Like a Woman' this was a bumper collection of 1960s rock classics and I enjoyed every one of them. On the whole Hal Ashby's film had a lot of great moments, performances and songs but again was let down by an OTT performance from Fonda.

After watching these two films, I have to say I'm not overly taken by Fonda's style, but at the same time I feel it's quite harsh to judge an actress by two films alone. Fonda will pop up again in the 1980s and I'm willing to give her acting another chance but these two films led be to believe that her acting style was often melodramatic and didn't really lend itself to the tone of the film in which she appeared.

Up next we journey abroad to watch an alternative style of film to the mainstream American movies we've been watching up to this point.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 220: Hard-Working Folk

The biopic has long been a favourite of Oscar and barely a year goes by without at least one true life story being nominated for Best Picture. Though this tradition started early, with Disraeli at the 3rd Oscar ceremony, I'd say that the 1970s really ushered in the generation of biopics which we'd recognise today. This is true of Bound for Glory which follows the journey of American folk singer Woody Guthrie from his humble beginnings in Oklahoma to his fight for equality in the workforce. I don't believe that Guthrie is as big a name in the UK as he is in the States and therefore I don't feel that the film evokes the same sort of feelings as it would for an American audience. The story itself sees Woody leave his family and go on the road to California to find a better life for himself, however he doesn't get off to a particularly good start when he stows away on a train only to be kicked off. Eventually he ends up in California and works as a fruit-picker and sign painter until his talent for singing and song writing is picked up by renowned local singer Ozark Bule. Bule secures Guthrie a gig at a local radio station in which his stirring anthems inspire low-paid workers to join unions, but at the same time Woody winds up the bosses who pay their workers very little. Woody's wife eventually joins him in California but is unhappy when he won't tow the line and regularly leaves her to spread the word elsewhere. Woody also irritates his boss when he continues to sing his protest songs which aren't loved by the new sponsors of the station. Eventually, Woody is recruited by a national station but he decides in the end to go out on his own and spread the word himself.

I really struggled to get into Bound for Glory and it took me a good 45 minutes before I was fully immersed in the story. The first half of the film, concerning Woody's life in Oklahoma and his journey to California, was meandering at best and was saved by some excellent cinematography. Indeed, cinematographer Haskell Wexler won the Oscar for Cinematography, partly due to the fact that was the first film ever to use Steadicam. This new invention was probably best utilised during the scenes on the train as Woody is forced to become a stowaway due to the fact he has no money. The second half of the film features the majority of the plot, including Woody's recruitment by the radio station and his attempts to rally the workforce to campaign for better money. The film's score, which also won an Oscar, and songs were its other big strength and some are still stuck in my head several days after watching the movie. I personally found David Carradine to be captivating in the lead role and he really carried the film during some of its slower moments. The rest of the cast did their jobs well with Ronny Cox being the perfect mentor to Carradine's wide-eyed novice. Overall this really is a film of two halves - one a meandering road trip and the other a biopic of a singer that really is a lot more famous in America than he is in the UK. But I can't say I didn't learn a lot from watching the film and I think that the biopic element of Bound for Glory definitely did its job.

Next time we have two films from a director who has been heavily influenced by his work in the theatre.