via IMDB
"Get this. 'Each room is an event, an excursion into unprecedented luxury. Step outside and the adventure continues with your own private terrace ..."
"You don't think it really looks like that, do you?"
"(shrugs) It's right here. There are pictures."
"You hear that, Jack? Pictures. Welcome to the road, Dorothy. You're about to lose your virginity."
When is a movie timeless? I know when it's memorable. I know when it's unforgettable. But when is it timeless? How often is that possible, when you have a story and characters that can be played in any era while still retaining a hook, a wow factor that can be turned up or down but never suppressed in any era. The Fabulous Baker Boys, starring Jeff Bridges, Michelle Pfeiffer and Beau Bridges, with writing and direction by Steve Kloves, is a stunning example of quintessence.
Jack and Frank Baker (Jeff and Beau, respectively) have been playing pianos together 15 years professionally and more than twice as long in general. Frank's a husband and father, handles the bookings and what not and appears to have absolutely no pretenses. As he reminds Susie Diamond (Michelle), Jack and possibly himself, nobody promised fun and they are getting paid.
"Okay, let's hear it. We trashed the Avedon and the Luau Lounge. What's our beef with 'Feelings'?"
"Nothing. ... Except, who cares? I mean, does anybody really need to hear 'Feelings' again in their lifetime? It's like parsley, okay? ... take it away, nobody's going to know the difference."
"'Feelings' is not parsley."
"Frank, to you, 'Feelings' may be goddamn filet mignon. To me, it's parsley. Less than parsley."
"Look, 'Feelings,' despite what you may think of it, has always been one of the bright moments in the show and a consistent crowd pleaser. Consequently, we have an obligation to play it. If we didn't, the audience would be disappointed."
"They weren't exactly crying their eyes out on, uh, New Year's Eve."
"... You passed over 'Feelings'?"
"Yeah. ... Oh, and, uh, "Bali Hai" went out with the bathwater, too."
"... (empty chuckling) I see. The cat goes away for a night and the mice take over the orchestra."
"Hey ... I ain't no mouse."
"That's right. You're parsley."
Something I really liked about The Fabulous Baker Boys is that it didn't bog the characters down with a lot of superfluous relationships. We never meet Frank's wife and children, or any members of the Baker family beyond the brothers. Jack's personal life, beyond his relationship with Susie, is depicted with a refreshing amount of simplicity. He lives with his aging Black Labrador, Eddie, and mentors the upstairs neighbor girl, Nina (Ellie Raab). Jack also possesses what can be called "Chekhov's hands," commonly put to use on the piano but also appreciated by a one-nighter and eventually Susie.
I also got a big kick out of how Kloves treated the kitschier aspects of the amateur to low-level famous milieu. Yes, we can laugh at Blanche/Monica (Jennifer Tilly) for poorly singing and dancing to "The Candy Man." We can also laugh at the other auditioning singers, including four separate women singing "I'm So Excited"*. But it wouldn't be out of the ordinary to smirk at Frank's defense of "Feelings," his pseudo-sincere onstage patter (especially when Jack surpasses him with a surprise admission of his love**) or the accouterments ranging from the "Miracle Hair" to the always-protected poster for the act to the garage full of shot glasses.
*The script's final draft included a bit where twins sing "I Gotta Be Me." And "I'm So Excited" happens to be what Melanie Chisholm sang when she auditioned for what became The Spice Girls.
**It's a running joke between my youngest brother and I. "Knock knock." "Who's there?" "I am. And I always will be." To deliver it right, you need either cheesy smiles or solemn delivery.
Since The Fabulous Baker Boys is so timeless, it's hardly surprising that Jack's got something resembling ambition. He wants to play authentic jazz, which of course means playing in smoky-looking clubs with black people. The situation is unbecomingly trite, Janet Maslin wrote in her New York Times review, and I agree with her. It's luckily a footnote in the dreams vs. reality conflict, depicted so much better among Susie-Frank, Jack-Frank and Jack-Susie.
"... But I stayed at the Hartford one time. ... You should see the rooms. All satin and velvet. And the bed. Royal blue, trimmed in lace clean as snow. ... Hard to believe sleeping in a room like that don't change your life. ... But it don't. The bed may be magic, but the mirror isn't. You still wake up the same old Susie. ... I didn't always. You know, I mean ... if I liked the guy ..."
That last draft of the script concluded with Jack and Frank's last scene. The movie itself ends with Jack and Susie before her rendition of "My Funny Valentine" plays over the credits. Who could blame Kloves? Pfeiffer received nothing short of love letters for her performance as Susie and I wholeheartedly agree. The legend is justified -- I mean, for the "Makin' Whoopee" scene alone -- although I'm biased. Ever since I was a little boy, Michelle has been my model for a certain type of woman. A cover of People, perpetually eye-catching, capital-m, capital-s Movie Star.
She may be a Movie Star, but Michelle is also a first-class Actress. Susie is a magnetic character, both in-universe and from my perspective. It's not hard to understand why she was a comparative success as an escort, or with audiences or (in spite of themselves) the Bakers.
Michelle and Beau Bridges have a pretty easy "old married couple" chemistry which is just right for Susie and Frank's relationship and also fits with the less is more attitude that helps The Fabulous Baker Boys succeed. Michelle also obviously has to click opposite Jeff Bridges, or Susie and Jack's relationship would be meaningless. To borrow the tagline from New York, New York, a love story is like a song. It's beautiful while it lasts.
"'Fucking,' she says 'fucking' in front of an entire room of people."
"I apologized."
"Did you hear?"
"'Fucking.'"
"Look, they were on their third Mai Tai by the time I got out there, anyway."
"'Fucking!'"
"For Christ's sake, I said it, I didn't do it."
Recommended.
Thoughts:
-- Frank's going to teach piano. Jack's going to play the clubs. Susie's singing commercial jingles. I'd say their stories will probably end there, but it's not too odd to think she'll cross over into fame. "Intuition."
-- Box Office: Grossing over $18 million on an $11.5 million budged, this ended up at No. 60 for the year. According to Box Office Mojo, it opened at No. 6 and was apparently the victim of not receiving a wide enough release. The film had sell-out business on the coasts and in Chicago, according to Kloves.
-- Awards Watch: Oscar nods but not wins for Michelle, the script, the editing and Grusin's score. Michelle and Dave also represented the film at the Golden Globes (she won -- in the drama category, he didn't) and the BAFTAs (neither won). The score did pick up a Grammy, though. In addition to her many awards from critics organizations, Pfeiffer was also nominated for an American Comedy Award. So was Beau Bridges, who won Best Supporting Actor from the National Society of Film Critics. At the ACAs, she lost to Meg Ryan, he lost to Rick Moranis (for Parenthood).
-- Critic's Corner, the film: "... a movie in which '80s glamour is being defined," Pauline Kael wrote. Maslin: "Has style and sultriness to spare." "It doesn't do anything very original, but what it does, it does wonderfully well," according to Roger Ebert. "The brothers dignify these human cliches," Rita Kempley wrote. "Jeff Bridges ... (gives) his best work to date."
-- Critic's Corner, Michelle: "(She) quite simply has one of the roles of a lifetime," wrote Roger Ebert, before comparing the "Makin' Whoopee" scene to Rita Hayworth in Gilda and Marilyn Monroe in Some Like It Hot. "... (it) isn't merely singing ... and I didn't want her to stop." Rita called Michelle "more Bacall than Bacall." Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: "She's the sexiest presence in movies today and an exceptional comic and dramatic actress, to boot." Mike D'Angelo, The Dissolve: "It's remarkable how she can make a lengthy, here's-my-psyche-in-a-nutshell monologue sound natural and impromptu, while still coming across as delectably movie star glamorous."
-- If the story is true that Madonna turned down the role of Susie (on the grounds the plot was "too mushy"), then I'll bet she was or might still be pissed about it becoming one of Michelle's signature roles. According to IMDB, Susie was offered to/considered for Debra Winger, Jodie Foster, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Brooke Shields. The first three, maybe. Brooke, no. 20th Century Fox apparently wanted Bill Murray and Chevy Chase (as Jack and Frank, respectively, I'm assuming), which certainly would have been interesting. Dennis and Randy Quaid also apparently passed, but to be honest, I can't see them doing well with the roles.
-- You could do worse than a triple feature of this, New York, New York and La La Land.
-- Once again, we have a movie whose title is easy to parody. Besides the show, The Fabulous Baker Brothers, there's "The Fabulous Baker Boy" (Will & Grace), "The Fabulous Faker Boy" (The Simpsons), "The Fabulous Ewing Boys" (Dallas), "The Fabulous Belding Boys" (Saved by the Bell), "The Fabulous Baker Girls" (American Dreamer), "The Fabulous Frazier Girls" (Evening Shade) and "The Fabulous Robinson Sisters" (Who's the Boss?), to name a few.
-- Next Up: Fat Man and Little Boy. The Bear is on deck. I'm holding out a sliver of hope that I can finish The Films of 1989 this month. If not, well, bonus material for the inevitable book. No matter what, The Films of 1985 starts in February.
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