La seduzione del potere

Awfully familiar stuff about persons who take pride in the career over their family and power corrupting, the film is however quite well acted, which brings it above par of its type. Alan Alda and Meryl Streep are both excellent, and although Melvyn Douglas won an Oscar in the same year as this film for 'Being There', he deserves it more here. The acting bridges on being melodramatic from the rest of the cast, but it is hard not to call this a well acted film with those three great performances. There is also some insight into American politics, but the film does assume a bit more than just a basic understanding already, and therefore there is a chance that viewers not familiar with American politics will wind up confused. The music choices are rather poor, and there is one very silly sequence put to square dancing music. Overall though, this is a reasonable film. It does have its flaws, but it has excellent acting to compensate. It might not show anything new or explain everything well, but it is certainly adequate entertainment for its running time.

Strong drama of morals and ambition. Alda has written himself a showcase part and does very well in the lead providing a strong center to the picture and he's aided by two superior actresses, one, Meryl Streep, on the way up and the other Barbara Harris always under-appreciated. Meryl is vulnerable and appealing but Barbara Harris is the treasure, giving the film's best performance and providing the heart that would be missing with her contribution. An incredibly skillful actress who was too unique for Hollywood to utilize properly she speaks volumes without saying a word through subtle facial expression. Also notable is Melvyn Douglas giving another of the marvelous supporting performances that were a staple of the twilight of his career.

Well-acted, occasionally well-observed drama which fails to deliver on its early promise. Joe Tynan is a forthright U.S. Senator, the latest young liberal hotshot, who jeopardizes his long-term marriage and home-life by initiating an affair with a civil rights activist. He's been carrying on with this also-married woman in various hotel rooms on the road, though Tynan's unhappy wife has more on her mind than his infidelity: she wants a life away from the political arena. As Tynan, Alan Alda, who also scripted, opens the film pressing Congress to pass a bill that would create a million new jobs in a distressed economy. One may watch this sequence and feel he's come upon a recent Congressional hearing via C-SPAN. Unfortunately, Bill Conti's animated music reminds us this is just a political lark--a vehicle for Alda, then a hot property from television's "M*A*S*H"--while the film's poor color and visual composition give hint this theatrical release was made on a limited budget. Alda becomes a Presidential hopeful practically off-screen, while his constituents bray in the background and play trade-off with each other's wives at Washington parties. This is all quite trenchant, and Tynan's face-off with a bigoted fellow senator is topical, but Alda's screenplay isn't really interested in the inner-workings of Capitol Hill. He's too anxious to get his character into bed with honey-voiced Meryl Streep (third-billed), who is shown to be a smart and savvy lady--though one who is just as unable to control her desires as Tynan. We don't learn much about the Streep character's situation, however the actress's sneaky, intricate force wheedles its way through and she just about walks off with the picture. Melvyn Douglas is surprisingly frittered away as an elder Senator, while Barbara Harris as Joe's wife isn't allowed to showcase her fringe assets (that dazed-and-dreamy voice coupled with the wobbly retorts). Alda is, of course, ideally cast for the lead, and his pained, sensitive expressions are contrasted quite well with his pent-up exasperation. The movie ultimately doesn't offer much because Alda can't stick with one scenario long enough for the picture to take-off as a whole. The film's overall design is dreadful, and director Jerry Schatzberg shows no style whatsoever, yet those little pinpoints scattered about show that not much has changed in Congress (nor in our country) in the last 31 years. ** from ****

The perfect precursor to what Aaron Sorkin and company so wonderfully wrought, Alan Alda and Jerry Schatzberg's intelligent and telling political drama/romance is more like the made for TV movie genre than first run feature. That having been said there's little to take to task here and much to be grateful for including some great character actor turns by Rip Torn and Melvyn Douglas (watch for the gumbo eating/policy thrashing scene) and some shrewd Washington insiders' observations. Somehow, it's hard to imagine Bush, Cheney and the neo cons having nearly half the fun.

Streep anchors the proceedings, investing a level of sophisticated theatricality that gives this film its necessary edge. Her robust good nature at proclaiming, "He's my Daddy!", while piloting a small plane, suggests both her southern belle roots as well as her tenacious appetite to be THE woman behind THE man.

Whatever happened to the rabbit was high on my list of questions and thoughts at the conclusion of The Seduction of Joe Tynan, but that's not actually a good thing. Sure, Alda, Streep, Douglas, and Torn all give solid performances which lifts the material above its inherent quality, but only so much. There's the Washington story which is well written and mostly solid. Then there is the family story which does not work as well. Much of the dialogue in this section feels clumsy and at times unnatural. The direction is fine but it's the script here that let's Joe down and leaves the viewer with an unremarkable film.