El valor de un hombre

1st watched 2/6/2010 - 7 out of 10 (Dir-Martin Ritt): Well executed drama about the life of a young man and how he became an adult thru his various experiences. The movie is based on some of Earnest Hemingway's stories and is somewhat autobiographical(which it seems like most of his stuff is). Anyway, this one is about a 19-year old boy named Nick Adams, played by Richard Beymer of West Side Story fame, who runs away from home in an attempt to get to New York and become a newspaper writer. He has no idea what he's getting into but he knows his experiences will help him somehow be what he wants to be. He eventually makes it there(after a couple of adventures with various characters), but is turned down by the newspaper companies saying he needs more experience of the work and life kind. He then ends up volunteering for the Italian army as an ambulance driver(mostly for the life experience but also because a pretty girl initiates the request) and gets more than he ever expected. People die near him, he falls in love and loses her to death, he gets wounded and all of the sudden you have a very experienced man by the time it's all over. The acting is first-rate throughout the whole movie and the direction is perfect for the story -- letting us follow it without too much added un-necessary touches. It's done very simply without much of a soundtrack either making it like we're watching life unfold before our eyes. The story overall is not that uplifting but it's real -- which is usually pretty hand to find in American productions. An overall very well made movie that keeps you interested throughout with many well laid-out characters on this Hemingway story turned to film.

This film attempts to compile all or most of Hemingway's Nick Adams stories into one complete whole. The effect is a coming of age story that ends on a bitter/semi-sweet note. Along the way you see a series of stories populated by well known actors and actresses.

There is a sequence that reminds one of Farewell to Arms (wounded ambulance driver falls in love with nurse, who eventually dies in his arms).

There is the overbearing, controlling, religious mother and the anguished father (who eventually takes his own life).

There is the hard boiled newspaper editor, who gives sound hard boiled advice.

I liked the movie, but I am unsure whether I would recommend it to someone else.

Hemmingway's life represents the trials and tribulations of the silver spoon set of the WW1 and WW 2 eras. You can tell about a man by whom his friends are. He used to hang out with F Scott Fitzgerald and other upper middle class (or upper middle class wannabes). These people wrote about heroic struggles of others who were also silver spoons, and amazing as it might seem, these stories appealed to the great masses of both American and world readers. Why? Because everyone who is not of that class certainly aspires to it in most instances. And if you are to be of that class, then you must understand the profound problems of those in that class as well. You will not see any Angela's Ashes or Streetcar Named Desire lives in these writings. No, these are people who have the option of going to a war or leaving it as they see fit, of entering into a life of deprevation for a period of time, and then abandoning it when it becomes tiresome or boring. The other 95% of us have to play the cards we are dealt; we can not just get up and leave if we don't like the way things are turning out. That is the plight of those in the working class, and even the middle class. God forbid we should mention the poor. Hemmingway was a very competent writer, and his Young Man saga is satisfying at many levels. The acting here is so-so, but the production values are excellent. Coming of age is difficult for all classes, and everyone has passed through it before, and everyone will pass through it in the future. Hemmingway does capture that one basic idea well.

Beautifully produced version of Hemingway's saga of his early journey towards manhood. Amazing supporting cast is a mix of veterans and rising talent of the time with assured direction. The entire cast does well but there are a few standouts. Paul Newman does good character work as a punch drunk has-been boxer, Eli Wallach has some fun with his conscripted soldier and Arthur Kennedy offers his usual thoughtful work as the lead's goodhearted but dominated father. Also kept an eye out for a blink and you'll miss her appearance by Sharon Tate in her screen bow.

The problem lies in Richard Beymer in the lead. He's not bad but he's just sort of there lacking the charisma to anchor such a pageant over its extended running time. Someone with the ability to hold the camera's gaze is needed, either Steve McQueen or Albert Finney who were the proper age at the time would have been better casting. As it stands the film is good but missing the key element that would have made it more.

To be quite honest, not everyone will be taken with this movie, particularly if they are not already familiar with the Hemingway stories. These stories were written sporadically, but most readers of the collected Nick Adams tales have not found it difficult to see in them an arc of a young man's life, from his hell-raising days in the thick woods of Michigan, through to his growing maturity in World War I. The problem, of course, is that the story format makes the whole thing highly episodic: like a photo album of significant moments.

To some extent, the movie manages to blend this away, although at cost to the integrity of the original stories. Still, it is such a help to see these stories made visual that any objections are overcome. Further, the performances of the many distinguished actors involved -- above all, Paul Newman as the punch-drunk Battler -- are truly distinguished.

I liked this movie thoroughly, although it needs to be said that "The Killers" (1946), from another of the Nick Adams stories, is undoubtedly better as an adaptation. Still, it's hard not to admire the audacity of those who put together "Adventures." It's probably about as good as it could be.

It is really very irritating, at any rate to those who know the originals, that the Region 1 version is still censored, and for absolutely no discernible reason.