Wolf (1994) dir. Mike Nichols
Starring: Jack Nicholson, Michelle Pfieffer, James Spader, Christopher Plummer

*1/2


By Alan Bacchus

As evidenced by the general ambivalence of audiences at the time of its release, never mind that few people talk about ‘Wolf’ in either Jack Nicholson’s career or Mike Nichols’, its no surprise there are no special features on the new Blu-Ray disc. Even the HD transfer is dull and unimpressive. Its one of the worst films in both Nicholson's and Nichols' careers.

It’s an extremely dull opening act and a forgettable unimpressive introduction to the werewolf. Will Randle (Nicholson), high power literary editor, is driving home at night in his car under painfully obvious and unironic studio process driving shots when his car swerves out of the way of a animal lying on the ground. Will examines the creature, thinking it's dead when it suddenly comes alive and bites him. Of course a werewolf has bitten him and he will eventually start to exhibit signs of canis lupus behaviour - heighten senses, immense strength and of course excessive hair growth.

By day, Will's publishing company employer is currently under threat by another rival company for a takeover. While Randle is wrestling with his newfound animalistic behaviour he's forced to negotiate equally treacherous hostility in the workplace. His good buddy Stuart (James Spader) goes behind his back to snatch his job sending Randle into his new wolf-like rage.

The parallels of corporate politics and vicious predatory instincts of the wooded hunter animal is not lost on us. It’s just about the only interesting aspect of the picture. Casting Jack Nicholson is a curiosity. While we expect Jack to be in full “Jack’ form, overacting and chewing the scenery, he’s actually a subdued and quiet. And I'm not even sure it works. His wife even cheats on him with James Spader’s character (like we didn’t see that coming). For better or worse, Jack actually blends into the background.

Wolfmen are one of the more venerable of Hollywood genre monster characters. Like Vampires, and Zombies, it represents a physical manifestation of the inner Freudian nature of ourselves, expressed literally. The dull performance of Jack is part and parcel with Nichols’ overall treatment of this salacious subject matter as poker-faced serious. Take the scene which has Randle visiting the Indian healer and animal-possession expert played by Om Puri. At this point Randle is so self-aware of his predicament, he appears to take it all in stride without pause.

By the second half of the picture when the corporate story runs dry and the romantic story with Michelle Pfieffer’s literary heiress character is brought forward, the film slowly drowns itself into its own pool of cinematic excrement. The final act which builds up to a series of action scenes between the two rival wolf characters is atrociously choreographed, acted, designed and directed. Mike Nichols is a great filmmaker, and he’s earned his share of missteps, which is why he and everyone involved quickly threw this one in the closet.

"Wolf" is available on Blu-Ray from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

The Graduate (1967) dir. Mike Nichols
Starring: Dustin Hoffman, Anne Bancroft, Katherine Ross, Murray Hamilton

****

Oh to be Mike Nichols in the late 60’s, like Orson Welles in late 1930’s, a revered stage director, brought to Hollywood and given the biggest toybox in the world to play in. After ‘practicing’ his skills with “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” in 1966, Nichols at the height of his creative talents was shit hot and birthed the great masterpiece, “The Graduate” – a time capsule of American 60’s progressiveness and a benchmark for the Hollywood changing of the guard.

Benjamin Braddock arrives home a college graduate. His parents are joyful, not because they’re happy he’s back but because he has achieved what they’ve always wanted of him. But they are not content with this, expectations are further heaped on Ben to go to graduate school and push forward with his career. Typically Ben feels the pressure and is caught frozen and overwhelmed with doubt.

And so, when the wife of his father’s business partner, Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft), comes onto him, he gives in to her sexual demands. They start an affair ‘just because’, which we all know will end badly. The rift comes in the form of Mrs. Robinson’s daughter Elaine (Katherine Ross) whom Ben’s parents have been pushing Ben to date. He gives in and goes out with Elaine, instantly sparking a chemistry which infuriates Mrs. Robinson. Her efforts to separate the two do not phase Ben as he embarks on a mission find Elaine at Berkeley steal her for good.

I think every romantic comedy made in the 90's and beyond owes a debt to the final act of “the Graduate”. As Benjamin Braddock races against time, scouring the Berleley campus for Elaine’s whereabouts the film gathers speed and momentum for its wedding-crashing finale. Same goes with the youthful self-expressionistic indie-film ilk of Wes Anderson, “Juno” “Away We Go” et al . Specifically Mike Nichols’ use of Simon and Garfunkel as a tonal reference point for the film with today’s eyes looks as fresh now as then. While the emotions of Benjamin and Elaine run from extreme highs to lows, the poignant music and lyrics route our interpretation of those emotions in it’s own subdued hyper-reality. Listening to “Mrs. Robinson” during the frantic chase finale lightens up what, for Benjamin, is a harrowing and desperate search. And the despair Ben feels for his soulless sexual affair for Mrs. Robinson achieves tonal perfection with the song, "The Sound of Silence".

The casting is so good, we don’t even release Benjamin and Elaine have the fastest courtship in cinema history. Just one date and we believe how Ben could propose to her (really, who wouldn’t propose to Katherine Ross after one date??) and how Elaine could actually settle for the neurotic and arrogant Ben. Chemistry sears the screen when they finally meet – which only occurs at the halfway point, prior to which it was Anne Bancroft’s picture.

Bancroft needs only a few words and a look of her eyes to express everything about her character. She is simply awesome as Mrs. Robinson, the original desperate housewife. The look on Bancroft’s face in the kitchen reacting to Ben’s conversation with her husband is priceless. The conversation is framed and focused on Bancroft in the foreground reacting only. And watch carefully her oh-so-quick glance down the barrel of the camera as she exits the scene. The seduction scene is played out carefully by Nichols and his actors and the dialogue as written by Buck Henry are the exact words which would have come out of these characters' mouths if they were real people. And so, despite the absurdity and quirkiness of the filmmaking every crucial moment in rooted in genuine real world emotion.

“The Graduate” represented a benchmark shift in studio Hollywood toward a more personal aesthetic like the French New Wave. Hollywood stripped away the old cumbersome production code and leaned on the creative minds such as Mike Nichols to tell us familiar stories in untraditional ways. Though untraditional for a studio film, at the time “The Graduate” is and always has been highly accessible and loved by all who watch it. Enjoy.