The Old Man and the Sea

21 March 2014

The Old Man and the Sea 1990

• Director: Jud Taylor
• Based on the book by Ernest Hemingway
• Cast: Anthony Quinn, Gary Cole, Patricia Clarkson, Alexis Cruz
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Anthony Quinn – Jungle Fever, Zorba the Greek, Lawrence of Arabia, The Guns of Navarone
• Patricia Clarkson – Shutter Island, Elegy, Good Night and Good Luck, Six Feet Under, Dogville, Station Agent, Far from Heaven, The Pledge, The Green Mile
• Why? Remembered liking the original, seen when I was very small.
• Seen:  March 16, 2014

       Hemingway is not my favourite author and fishing bores me but I liked the original when I was a kid so I had hopes for this one.

       Nope. Didn’t like it. Here’s a list: the old man talking to himself is phony, irritating and not necessary.  We get the picture without it.  It’s a TV film and the breaks for adverts are obvious, abrupt and annoying.  The music doesn’t work at all – it’s light-hearted at the wrong moments and melodramatic otherwise.  The side story of the American writer with writer’s cramp and an ignored, disgruntled but loving wife – clearly Hemingway and whichever wife he was married to at the time – adds nothing to the story.  Altogether the film is pretentious, trite and boring.

       The big fish and the sharks are a bit cool and the sunset at the end is pretty. I’m fond of sunsets.

1 ½ * of 5