Alex e a Cigana

It's not a complex political thriller, and it's not a supernatural mystery drama, nor is it advanced finance/accounting - but it's still quite confusing. Maybe I need to see it again, no idea. I saw it many years ago, in German (thanks to the "wisdom" of synchronization). I remember it as a muddled, pointless comedy melodrama, though there wasn't much to laugh or chuckle to here.

But the real problem I had with this strange 70s movie is the casting of Genevieve Bujold as a gypsy: it is pure insanity. Haven't these Hollywood dopes ever seen real gypsies? In the U.S. the term "gypsy" may signify or imply "cute" so maybe they thought they should cast a cute actress such as Bujold undoubtedly is. They dyed her hair so heavily that it's blacker than black - but it didn't help. It can't. She is about as gypsy-looking as Robert Redford would be Italian-looking if they dyed HIS hair (he was the original choice for Michael Corleone in "The Godfather", believe it or not).

I live in Serbia and see gypsies every day. They'd laugh at this movie.

I've read a couple of disappointing reviews about this movie, and I simply don't agree. This is a fine little cute movie to keep you entertained and interested up to the last scene. A reviewer from Serbia calls the Hollywood people 'dopes' for casting Genevieuve Busold as the gypsy girl. I understand there are a lot of gypsies in Serbia, but he -the reviewer- fails to realize that the point of this film is not to show a real gypsy (this is not a documentary, and even so, if they wanted that would be real easy) but to depict characters and personalities. The film succeeds very well on that, and Busold, as also Jack Lemmon, are excellent in their roles.

A middle-age conservative man falls in love with a free living gypsy girl. When she runs away he becomes obsessed with finding her. What story can be simpler and so interested, in the same time?

I watched this movie back in 1978 when I was living in Canada, and I still remember it very well. Since then, I am looking forward to watch it (somehow/somewhere) again.

If you want to see real gypsies you can opt for a Koustouritsa film, but that's not my piece of cake. As a matter of fact, I prefer Hollywood movies to European crap cinema.

California bail bondsman Alex and the modern-day gypsy he gets of jail on $30K bail after she tried to kill her husband are two very volatile people, and that's the trouble: it's one too many. Genevieve Bujold plays the fortune teller who has a long, colorful history with Jack Lemmon, ably-cast as a cigar-smoking, middle-aged burn-out. Screenwriter Lawrence B. Marcus, adapting Stanley Elkin's novella "The Bailbondsman", takes a past-and-present look at their relationship that is not uninteresting. Years before, Alex became enamored of the virginal gypsy girl after rescuing her from her angry family; today, he's exasperated with her unpredictable behavior, lashing out at her for trying to skip town (and handcuffing her to the bedpost while they make love). This character portrait has a couple of strong scenes but suffers overall from the terrible, often offensive dialogue and from John Korty's pushy direction. It takes a real hack to make a nuisance of Lemmon and Bujold, and neither star comes out of this debacle looking good. Henry Mancini's score--plaintive plucks on a Spanish guitar--underlines the 'introspective' moments, hoping (one presumes) to create sentiment out of the pathos. * from ****

Jack Lemmon was one of those actors that always gave you the value of what you paid for the price of admission to whatever performance you saw him do. This little film, released in '76 is a story of a guy who gets involved with a Gypsy woman who has other agendas and spends the majority of his time in the story, trying to reconcile her with his own non-Gypsy values and somewhat straitlaced views. Genevieve Bujold, always lovely and a great performer as well, brings the persona of the Gypsy woman the screen with energy and vigor. James Woods, in his pre-"Angry young man" days has a part which balances Lemmon's role and the unforgettable veteran Greek character actor, Titos Vandis plays a Gypsy king.

I don't know what the facing reviewer had in mind because Gypsies come in all sizes, shapes and flesh tones. But, not knowing what you're talking about has rarely stopped people from voicing opinions that are not always congruent with the facts available. As an anthropologist, I not that the Gypsies are a marginal people whose culture historically has placed them in the periphery of most of the societies in which they have lived, and as such, the Gypsies culturally definitely dance to the tunes of their own drummers. This little film catches much of irony of that marginality which characterizes these amazing people.

All is all, this is a delightful albeit not terribly memorable film. No VHS or DVD listed as being available and not likely to be one, but if it crosses your TV screen on the late night show it's certainly worth watching.

"Alex & the Gypsy" is one of Jack Lemmon's more obscure films....and after seeing it, I can understand why. He and his co-lead, Geneviève Bujold, play characters that I simply didn't care about at all...and judging from the paltry overall score of 51, I assume I'm not alone on this.

Alex (Lemmon) is a bailbondsman who is practically broke. So, it's hard to imagine him bailing Maritza (Bujold)...even with their history as lovers. Regardless, he's determined not to lose his business, so he follows Maritza everywhere so she doesn't abscond...because if she does, he'll be out $30,000.

Both Alex and Maritza are very unlikable. They seem amoral and nasty...and so it was really tough to care about them or their problems. Additionally, the film probably wouldn't sit well with more PC-types, as the term 'Gypsy' is considered pejorative today....and it has several really nasty racial epithets. Overall, a film with a rambling and hard to understand plot...about people who seem like jerks.