South Pacific

This is what many cultured people should call "a true desecration of a classic." They ruined this musical from what it was supposed to be! Glenn Close is obviously far too old to be playing a twenty-something year old. She's a decent singer but her singing was terrible for this role. The filmmakers obviously needed to cast someone much younger who could sing. A young woman could carry this role convincingly, Glenn Close could not. Glenn Close was not at all convincing in this role because she was too old. Harry Connick Jr. was probably the best part of this whole desecration. He can carry a tune, but his singing is not the greatest.

Overall this movie was utter nonsense, and they trashed it up even! Why do filmmakers think that they can remake classics? These days filmmakers are stupid in thinking that they can modernize classics and turn them into trash in order to please the stupid people. If you are a purist for musicals, do not see this movie for your own good.

While I had high hopes for this remake of South Pacific,I regret to say it fell far below My expectations.With a strong cast (including the much too old Glenn Close) I at least expected this film to be an improvement over the original Rosano Brazzi version.

The first problem was the cutting down of the supporting characters. Poor Jack Thompson,who was brilliantly cast as Capt. Brackett had all of his best moments left on the cutting room floor,Bloody Mary was unfairly deprived of "Happy Talk" and Robert Pastorelli's Billis did not get his wonderful scene in Brackett's office following the "diversionary tactics".

Secondly,the rearanging of the score blunted the emotional impact of some of Hammerstein's most heart wrenching moments. Having Cable sing "Carefully Taught" alone in his his Hospital room instead of to Emile blunts the songs impact. The same with Emile's "This Nearly Was Mine". For these songs to work they need another presence in the scene.

As for the acting. Glenn Close does her best but falls short of Mitzi Gaynor's on the money portrayal,Rade Serbedzija gives us a fine,sympathetic Emile and Equals,if not exceeds Brazzi's portrayal.Harry Connick is a great choice for Joe Cable and sings and acts his role well.Unfortunately the score was not recoreded lushly enough and some of the other vocals are a bit weak (Serbedzija's singing for example comes no where neat the immortal recording of Ezio Pinza.)The supporting cast does what it can whith their condensed roles but if would have been nice to have them fleshed out more. This film could have been a masterpiece if all the pieces were assembled properly,instead its a watchable but far from perfect screen adaptaion of a much better musical play.

The choice to scale up the age of Nellie Forbush to allow her to be played by 50-something Glenn Close was one which could have backfired on the makers of this update; it is to her credit that she performs and sings in the role very well.

As Emile, Rade Sherbedgia is perhaps a little too high-voiced for the demands of the songs, but his portrayal of the lonely islander is touching and effective. As Bloody Mary, Lori Tan Chinn looks more like the part of the greedy trader than did Juanita Hall in the 50s film, and her singing of Bal'i Ha'i is excellent. I did miss Happy Talk, which is omitted completely from this version, but the songs that remain have been arranged with style and come across very well (particularly This Nearly Was Mine, Younger Than Springtime, and I'm In Love With A Wonderful Guy).

Harry Connick jnr. completes the main cast as young Lt. Cable, resembling and sounding like a young Sinatra. The character continues to be totally unsympathetic but he is better overall than John Kerr had been in the earlier version. I don't think this film is bad at all, despite the numerous negative comments I have heard: it is perhaps more realistic than the colour-filtered world of Joshua Logan's film, but perhaps that new slant is for the better.

This version of South Pacific is not half bad....that's the good half. The other half is bad, very bad indeed.

You'll notice straight away there are actually black people in the navy and no one wears tighty-whities or midriff bearing t-shirts. Amen for that! But, hey, who had the bright idea of casting Glenn Close as a twenty-somthing? Oh yeah....GLENN CLOSE. Much too old for Nellie. I'd believe she's in her late thirties at the youngest. When she sings "Cockeyed Optimist" the pancake layers of white concealer is woefully apparent. (She and the other navy women wear these khaki slacks which are really unflattering to the hind region!) And what about the character of her love interest, Emile? This guy looks like the spazzed out postal worker who delivers my mail on a daily basis. I wouldn't believe for one minute he's wealthy or dashing!

Luther seems like a dude who just took a nasty fall out of 1984 and unwittingly stumbled into a reality show called "World War II". You almost feel sorry for him.

Most disappointing of all, however, was Bloody Mary. Everyone take cover and duck! She sounds like Roseanne Barr after an all nighter alcohol and heroin binge. Her singing voice? It's slightly better, with the attributes of a cat being painfully executed. Overall she just screams, "Am I Pacific-Islander enough? Am I offending as many people as I can?" How 'bout them lips on Cable?! There was a semidramatic close-up during the Bali Hai number where I thought those things were gonna come through the screen and smother me alive!

With that being said, let's not dwell any longer on the negative. As aforementioned, some aspects of the musical were well done. No weird purple and orange lighting, mostly good vocal performances, and better costumes made this worthwhile. Also, I noticed the musical numbers were sequenced differently (probably to make it faster paced). Even with the unfortunate absence of Stew Pot, I would watch it again!

Seldom does one get a chance to see a musical in which EVERYONE'S VOICE SHOULD HAVE BEEN DUBBED--and most of the charm has been so diluted as to be invisible.

And that's just one of the shortcomings of this awful, uninspired remake of 'South Pacific' with some hopelessly miscast performers trying hard to look convincing in singing roles beyond their scope. Once again, the great original score of Rodgers and Hammerstein is rendered by such inept orchestrations and weak voices that it makes you wish there was a Society for the Protection and Integrity of Original Broadway Musicals.

Glen Close is not only physically miscast, her voice lacks the rich quality the song numbers deserve. Likewise for her male co-star, utterly lacking the continental charm of either Ezio Pinza or Rossano Brazzi. I have never seen a worse Bloody Mary than the actress who does her own singing (as opposed to Juanita Hall in the '58 movie) but to no avail whatsoever, throwing away the beautiful 'Bali Hai' in a shameful manner. It's hard to work up any enthusiasm for Harry Connick, Jr.'s rendition of 'Younger Than Springtime', another beautiful song that deserves to be sung in full-bodied fashion by a singer-type like Vic Damone in his prime.

Absolutely the worst movie musical remake in memory, with nobody up to the demands of either the script or the vocals. Mercifully, Rodgers & Hammerstein are not around to watch this travesty.

And I thought the 1958 movie was bad enough...