La competencia

I loved 'The Competition', though the characters and situations were predictable and stereotyped, (i.e. domineering teachers and butthole conductors) mostly because it told me that there are many people interested in music and 'behind the scenes' of what it means to devote your life to music. Most of all, the movie piqued my interest in Prokoviev, so that I now collect his music. Not bad for the price of a movie ticket!

To begin without thanking the principals for awesome piano faking would be horrendous, likewise to not applaud their training by Jean Evensen Shaw. There is a precision to what they do, with Amy and Richard to be sure but with all of them, that is astounding. It's a sweet tale but also an insight into the cruel world of music competition where the real hero this time around has to be Ludvig himself. If you have music and performing in you; if you have been classically trained; if you believe in love; then you will in turn love this movie and its music.

The Competition (1980)

The Main Cast:

Richard Dreyfuss (Paul Dietrich) Amy Irving (Heidi Joan Schoonover) Lee Remick (Greta Vandemann)

Two concert pianists, played by Richard Dreyfuss and Amy Irving, fall in love at a prestigeous competition they are finalists in, but there is much more to the story than that. The film gives an insight as to what takes place in those competitions during which the participants must be aware of and protect themselves from the "competitive edge" of the other pianists. The acting by the entire cast and the directing is exceptional, but what is more exceptional than that is the fingersynching of the actors while appearing to actually play the piano. The late Lee Remick is outstanding as Amy Irving's teacher. A thoroughly enjoyable film with great acting, script, direction and music. A tip of the hat should go to Jean Evensen Shaw and her assistant Dorothy Hull for tutoring the actors about where, when and how to place their fingers on the keyboard. But, since nothing is ever perfect, I can still imagine James Mason, who wasn't in the movie, rapping the knuckles of a few of the pianists because of poor hand position. Richard Dreyfuss was the worst. Amy Irving was perfect! She had her hands always above the keys and did a stellar job of fingersynching the playing of Sergei Prokofiev's Piano Concerto #3, which is actually played by Daniel Pollack. The 5 minutes and 25 seconds Amy Irving spent at the piano during the performance of that piece was one of the highlights of the film. I can't praise this film too highly. However, the end left something to be desired, although not as much as one would think. But I would be remiss in my praise if I didn't at least give the lion's share of the credit to Joel Oliansky for all the hard work he and his crew put into the making of this film and getting it to the public.

I managed to watch this on Amazon streaming movies. The central characters are world-class pianists and even though they didn't play their own piano selections they faked it really well.

Richard Dreyfuss (actually 32) is Paul Dietrich and Amy Irving (actually 26) is Heidi Joan Schoonover. They had met at some random event some time back but now find themselves as competitors in a world-class piano competition. We know there is more than a spark of mutual attraction but while Heidi is more social and relaxed Paul feels he has to be totally focused to win the competition, because of that outlook he often acts like a real jerk. Maybe deep down he is a jerk. But a lovable one.

My understanding is this didn't do well at the boxoffice 40 years ago but viewed today it comes off really well. Both Dreyfuss and Irving shine in their respective roles. The music is nice.

This is 2020 and what is socially accepted has changed, drastically in some cases. Near the end at a party celebrating the winners one contestant, a young man, grabs the butt of an attractive 40-something woman who walks by with her date or husband. She just turns to him and smiles.

First the flaws: the extraneous characters of the various competitors are pretty blatant stereotypes, not offensive, but not particularly compelling either. The time spent on them would have been better spent on further development of the relationship between Paul (Richard Dreyfuss) and Heidi (Amy Irving) two pianists facing off in the same competition who fall in love while preparing for it. Secondly, the "contemporary" music...it was released in 1980, but all you hear in bars and at parties is disco music. It makes everything seem a little too quaint and cute to be real.

Moments of greatness: The clashes and arguments that ensue between Paul and Heidi make it obvious why they fall in love, but it happens very quickly. Which is fine in a standard romance, but that isn't what this movie is. These two people are complex individuals with various insecurities and desires that make the love story so great, so interesting and so real. But the ending feels strange...a lot happens before the film's resolution, and leaves me feeling that the characters haven't been explored enough. The movie's shining moment is during the second half of the competition, when Paul has already played and Heidi proceeds to blow him out of the water. Irving's performance onstage is totally convincing, and Dreyfuss conveys an incredible amount of emotion and intelligence simply in his reactions to the piece.

The tension here is incredible, and very, very real. A good movie--one that dares to show its characters in an unglamorous, real way few movies have