Blue Sky

I have admired Jessica Lange's acting ability for years. She is able to convey a bimbo-like image with such intelligence and strength, an achievement that few actresses could pull off well. It's easy to see from BLUE SKY why Lange was chosen to play Blanche Dubois in the TV version of "A Streetcar Named Desire." She plays in this Oscar-winning role an emotionally unbalanced wife and mother named Carly, the type of woman that makes small-town wives fend for the safety of their marriages. She is very sensual, sometimes obnoxious, and definitely a show-stopper. Tommy Lee Jones is a nuclear scientist employed in the military during the early sixties, fearful of another meltdown. He also has to secure his wife's sexual appetites, which could easily get out of control, especially around a libido-driven sargent played by Powers Boothe. The nuclear storyline, almost a backdrop,gets in the way of the meat of the plot, that of the sensuous Lange and the two daughters. I'm not saying the actors in this film don't have power, they most certainly do, but they seem to be caught in a run-of-the-mill soap opera coloured by nuclear testing. Jessica Lange does have an award-worthy part to play, but it belongs with more powerful material, reminiscent of something like "Streetcar."

1994 was a year of weak female performances, but Jessica Lange's Oscar-winning turn in "Blue Sky" is a real sight to behold. She stars as the alcoholic wife of a well-to-do military nuclear engineer (Tommy Lee Jones). Jones knows of a cover-up by the military to keep nuclear testing in Nevada a secret in the early-1960s. This testing has no visual effect on anything in the environment (thus the name "Blue Sky"). Needless to say this is an intriguing film that is somewhat based on true testing which took place in sparsely populated areas of Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico in the late-1950s and early-1960s. However, this film almost never saw the light of day. It was produced in 1991, but sat in an Orion Pictures vault for over three years. The film was finally released to generate revenue for the soon to be disbanded Orion. No one was ever clear on why the film was not initially released in 1991. Many speculate that director Tony Richardson's AIDS-related death may have had something to do with the studio's reluctance to release the film. This is just speculation, there is no proof of that. Its inability to get released is a bit of a mystery though. I mean a film with Jessica Lange and Tommy Lee Jones should have no trouble being released in my mind. Anyhow, this is Jessica Lange's greatest role. Tommy Lee Jones and Powers Boothe also give great supporting turns. 4 out of 5 stars.

The film is about the relationship of husband and wife, their troubles and how they cope with it. It also had a side plot about underground nuclear testing, which I don't think was that powerful or had that much of an impact for it to carry though as the finale, which also seem to be wrapped up uneventfully.

But the main story is their troubled relationship, and how through good, bad and worse they get through it with each other's support. Jessica Lange's performance as an unstable woman was amazing, not over the top in which it would have been typically done, but was portrayed truely and its fine nuance conveyed the subtle change in her mental state.

You get the sense that we are meant to walk away from this film thinking it was something really special. Lange even won an Oscar for playing the bi polar slutty housewife.

I can't help but feel that it all falls apart, especially in the second half. Things get wrapped up far too quickly and easily, nothing though is really resolved, especially in a realistic manner.

In the end it's another film that leaves you wanting to watch something good.

wow! Jessica Lange is so good in this movie it is embarrassing! She owns the screen in every one of her scenes. Tommy Lee Jones to his credit- lets her be the star of the movie. Though the plot is a little implausible- just like David sent off Bathsheba's husband to certain death- to seduce her- the army didn't reckon with the power of a strong and slightly crazy woman. The teenagers in the film add to its poignancy. On the surface the Marshall family seems dysfunctional- but actually- with love they function very well.