The Sun Also Rises

I remembered being transfixed as a callow youth by this study of the lost generation energetically going about the business of slow self-destruction, so when I noticed a rare showing on some obscure satellite channel I decided to see whether my memory of it was really so at odds with most of the reviewers on this site. Well, as far as Hemingway adaptations go it's a complete clunker, no doubt about it, injecting soap opera elements into his classic first novel with such disregard for the source material that you feel like wincing at times.

But as an entertainment in its own right it's fair to say it stands its ground thanks to some extremely atmospheric location shooting. Like a party guest trying to appear more interesting than they know they really are, it boasts a faux sophistication that almost has you fooled at times, only to blow the disguise by inserting some incredibly dull piece of dialogue or a dumb plot twist. Hemingway's book is more about a condition of life than a narrative, so in one respect it's virtually unfilmable – but if you're going to have a go you should at least stay faithful to the author's vision.

Having said that, watching this TV movie all those years ago did prompt me to seek out and read the book, so it has some value as far as I'm concerned.

As TV movies go, this version of "The Sun Also Rises" isn't the worst. However, the liberties taken with Hemingway's work were both unnecessary and destructive. Oh, did I mention the acting is terrible? Jane Seymour, as Brett, tries her very hardest, and it shows, but it's not enough: she's just not talented enough to slog through dialogue this bad and retain a modicum of grace (and let's not talk much about the "period" costumes, OK? Not every woman of the 20's dressed like an Arabian vampire with black turbans, alright?). Hart Bochner, on the other hand, is in every way jarringly unconvincing. He's too young, too matinee-idol-ish, to portray depressed, self-destructive, castrated veteran Jake Barnes. I admit to having missed the beginning, as I saw it on TV - did they cut out the fact that he was wounded that way? Omissions like that, changes to such a well-known work of great literature as "Sun," would seem to be heretical, but once you've heard Hemingway's subtle and sparing dialogue dismissed for more obvious tripe, and the few great, memorable lines from the book - "isn't it pretty to think so?" "Send a woman off with one man . . . and sign the wire 'with love.'" - hopelessly destroyed by Bochner's wooden speech and expressions, nothing will ever seem shocking again. Entire lifelines are altered to further banish subtlety, most shockingly Bill's (didn't love his sitcom acting style either), but also to a small extent Cohn's, Romero's, and even Jake's.

Not a complete waste of time, but if you love the book, then each mistake, omission, alteration, and Bochner-ed line will make you cringe. Just read the novel, and forget this.

The filmmakers built up the part of Brett's Russian admirer for Leonard Nimoy, and added a murder -- not trusting the Hemingway plot to hold the audience. I actually liked Hart Bochner's world weary hero, and Jane Seymour isn't bad. Robert Carradine is absolutely marvelous -- one of our most underrated actors. The movie gets the period pretty well, and the real locations help a great deal. But Leonard Nimoy ........ oh. my. God. He is truly terrible. He disdains to trouble himself with any sort of Russian accent, and his mustache twirling turn is phony baloney every step of the way. I have never looked at him the same way since. This is basically a project designed to say, loudly, that Hemingway's novel cannot be dramatized. That's pretty much its message, forget the Lost Generation stuff, even though the script does treat of the horribleness of WW1 and its aftermath. Considering how awful this travesty is, I don't think its makers are in any position to criticize the original material. I await another Sun Also Rises adaptation that stays true to the original, as this does not, gets the period (as this does and the 20th Century Fox film does not) and gives us a Jake and a Robert Cohn this effective, and a Brett a little more so. Seymour, as I say, isn't bad (she gets Brett's privileged Englishwoman dimension down pat), but she's not ideal. Gardner had the hormonal quality Brett needs, but couldn't do the upper class Englishwoman thing one bit.

This is one of my favorite movies on the planet. The movie is set in Paris in the 1920's. I enjoyed how the character's visited various clubs where live Jazz was performed by African Americans. Seeing the Jazz musicians reminded me that in the 1920's African Americans were treated much better in Paris than in the United States. I think Hart Bochner is absolutely gorgeous and plays his role as Jake Barnes very well. I love the wardrobe in this movie, the suits Jake wore and the Chanel dresses that Jane Seymour wore. In this movie I saw glamor, sadness, hopelessness, hope, comedy, and tragedy. As I said before it is one of my favorites I watch it at least twice a year. I give it two thumbs way up!

I liked this mini-series. As was previously mentioned, a mini-series is often a better format for a novel than a movie because mini-series aren't restricted to 120 minutes. I thought Jane Seymour was great in this movie. The rest of the cast was merely good. But despite the lack of experience of the young cast, at least their youth made you believe they were only a few years removed from the war. Well, the editors said I have to have 10 lines to get my comment posted. So I also liked Leonard Nemoy in this movie. I like the background music playing in the bars. And the scenery in the movie. Given Hemmingway's sparse prose, this is the sort of detail that doesn't come across in the book, but makes the movie well worth watching.