Stand By Me

 SPOILER ALERT! The plot will be discussed!

Stand by Me (1986), which shares its title with the great Ben E. King song, was directed by Rob Reiner and is based on a story by Stephen King (two kings make a great pair here). The tale takes place in the summer of 1959 in the form of a reminiscence by the narrator who is The Writer (Richard Dreyfuss). He thinks about the first time he saw a dead body after reading about a death in the newspaper. Even though it’s been many years since he was twelve years old, the memory has haunted him his whole life.

The main characters are young boys who are in a transition period between being children and becoming adults. The Writer is the grownup Gordie Lachance (Will Wheaton). They play cards in a tree house as kids will do, but Chris Chambers (River Phoenix) and Teddy DuChamp (Corey Feldman) smoke cigarettes, showing they are rebelling against childhood norms. The screenplay is effective as they engage in trashy put-down comments which fit their age group. The Writer notes that “finding new and preferably disgusting ways to degrade a friend’s mother was always held in high regard.” The Writer comments that Teddy acted crazy for a reason because his violent father almost burned off the boy’s ear once. Chris, their leader, came from a “bad” family also, and according to The Writer, was expected to have a “bad” life (unfortunately true for the actor River Phoenix, whose early death was a shocker). The film suggests that external factors can abnormally thrust children out of their carefree innocence.

One of the boys’ crew, Vern Tessio (Jerry O’Connell) enters the treehouse with news. While searching for where he buried his coins under the house porch, Vern overheard from his brother, Billy (Casey Siemaszko) and his pal, Charlie Hogan (Gary Riley) the location of a young dead boy, Ray Brower, who went missing. The older teens stole a car and that was why they were near the train tracks where they found the dead boy. Since Billy and Charlie are staying clear of the police, the younger boys think they can get credit for finding the body. Youths enjoy pretending to be heroes and these boys sing the title songs of old TV shows that told cowboy stories, which shows that desire.

As the kids concoct alibis to free them up for their quest, The Writer notes that his mother (Frances Lee McCain) and father (Marshall Bell) were traumatized by the death of Gordie’s older brother, Denny (played in flashback by John Cusack) in a car accident, another initiation into the harshness of the world. Gordie’s dad is disappointed in Gordie for not having friends as admirable as Denny’s pals. So, these boys have something to prove to themselves, let alone others, that they are not losers.

Chris catches up with Gordie on their way to meet the other boys. He took his dad’s handgun, and Chris accidentally fires off a round into a trash can behind a restaurant. The firearm holds adult fascination for the boys, but its explosive deadliness also is frightening, which again stresses their cusp of adulthood predicament. The boys encounter Chris’s older brother Eyeball (Bradley Gregg), and Ace Merrill (Kiefer Sutherland), who overpowers the younger boys and steals the New York Yankees cap Denny gave to Gordie. That act is particularly hurtful to Gordie who loved his brother, and Ace’s theft is a desecration of Gordie’s memory of Denny. The preteens wish they were older and bigger so they could defend themselves (a foreshadowing), which stresses their in-between stage of growth. (There is a short later scene where Ace and the other teenagers drive a car and knock mailboxes off their posts with a baseball bat. Subsequent scenes with these older boys show that the next stage of maleness is full of rebelliousness, egotism, obsessions over sex, foolishness, and danger).

The boys follow the train tracks with their gear and are supposed to travel around twenty or thirty miles, quite a stretch for these youths. They act like adventurous men, but are not responsible enough to remember to bring any food. Vern says he remembered to bring a comb, which is funny, but also stresses immaturity. A locomotive approaches, but Teddy wants to play “dodge train,” waiting for the last moment to get off the tracks. He pretends he is meeting the enemy at Normandy on D-Day. The scene is reminiscent of playing “chicken” in Rebel Without a Cause, where the adolescents head to a cliff in cars and are supposed to jump out at the last minute. Here is the same combination of adult male bravado and youthful recklessness. Teddy’s father, who was a hero in the war at Normandy, went insane, possibly due to war trauma, and is now in a mental institution. There may be a subconscious desire to prove his bravery so he can measure up to his father’s war heroics. Chris saves Teddy from himself by pulling him off the tracks.

The young boys flex their rule-breaking potential by scaling a junkyard fence despite the warning not to trespass. They use the water pump there to hydrate and then goof around. The child in each of them still watches The Micky Mouse Club, but their budding manhood focuses on Annette Funicello’s breasts. Gordie loses the coin toss, and he has to go to the store nearby for food. The grocer recognizes Gordie as Denny’s brother. He also lost a brother, only in Korea. He quotes the Bible that says death is there amid life. Tragedy seems to be something that we never outgrow.

The grocer talks about what a great football player Denny was. That remark triggers a dinner table memory where Gordie’s father is obsessed with Denny and his ball playing. Denny goes out of the way to talk about how good a writer Gordie is, but the father ignores the praise for his other son. Older males, like Mr. Lachance and the grocer, don’t see writing as masculine, so they focus on the athletic, muscular nature of sports.

By the time Gordie returns to the junkyard, the owner, Milo Pressman (William Bronder) has returned, and the rest of the boys are on the other side of the fence. Gordie runs with all his might and climbs over the barrier just in time to escape the junkyard dog, Chopper. The animal was supposed to be this fearsome creature, but he turns out to be not that threatening. The Writer says it was his first revelation about how myth did not measure up to reality, another growth moment.

After getting upset when Pressman recognizes him and ridicules his father, Teddy says he is spoiling his friends’ fun. But the maturing Gordie says maybe they shouldn’t be treating their journey as a “party” since they are going to “see a dead kid.” So, this journey is a symbolic one, a rite of passage which leads away from childhood.

Chris gives Gordie a speech, similar to the one Ben Affleck gives Matt Damon in Good Will Hunting, about how Gordie has to use his brains and take academic courses while his pals are in shop classes. Chris realizes Gordie’s writing potential, unlike Gordie’s dad. Chris says, “God gave you something, man, all those stories you can make up.” He says that it’s like God is telling Gordie not to lose those tales as he grows up. (And he doesn’t since it is the grown Gordie who is telling this story). Chris is more of a father figure here and is actually more mature than Gordie’s real dad. At the same time, Teddy and Vern talk about who is stronger, Superman or Mighty Mouse. These contrasting conversations further stress how these boys are in a maturity transition.

The boys come to another challenge as they approach a trestle. To not go far off their route they must cross it without any room to avoid a train that might be coming. Vern loses his comb, which is sort of a child’s safety blanket. They start to walk over the tracks when Gordie spots the smoke coming from the stack of an approaching train. Chris and Teddy make it to the other side. The overweight Vern is not as quick as the others and Gordie tries to urge him to move faster. They jump off onto the dirt embankment, just in time to avoid the train. They have leapt over another hurdle on their perilous road to adulthood.

At a campfire, the boys want Gordie to tell a story. His tale is about a heavy boy who has sustained ridicule for his size. The town calls him Lardass (Andy Lindberg). He gets his revenge at a pie eating contest before which he consumed a bottle of castor oil and a raw egg. After eating several pies he initiates a cascading vomiting scene to exact his revenge on the nasty citizens. The story fits the mindset of these boys, and vicariously allows them to feel justice since they, too, feel like outsiders. But, Teddy’s demons rise again and he wants a better ending where Lardass goes home and kills his father, and then joins the Texas Rangers. His reaction shows his pathology which has sprung from his divergent feelings about his father.

After falling asleep, howling coyotes awaken the boys. They take turns standing guard, and despite Teddy’s acting like a military sentry, and Vern’s exaggerated startle response to every sound, the scene is disturbing since they are pointing Chris’s handgun. The next scene depicts the outcast feelings of Gordie and Chris. Gordie has a nightmare where he pictures himself at the grave of his brother and his father tells Gordie it should have been him in the casket. He wakes up and joins Chris, and suggests to his friend he can also take college classes. Chris says that the community considers his family dangerous lowlifes, and presume they are guilty instead of innocent if a transgression takes place. He stole the school milk money, implying that being law-abiding would not better his family reputation because of the residents’ prejudices. But he gave the money back to the teacher who showed up with a brand-new skirt she had been eyeing. Chris begins to cry since he found out how crushing it was to find that even a schoolteacher can be so devious. It is an example of losing innocence and moving toward cynicism concerning life’s realities. Chris says he wishes he “could go someplace where nobody knows me,” which would allow him to live without others unfairly judging him.

There is a scene where Gordie is alone sitting on the train track rails. A doe comes out of the forest, pauses, and the boy and the animal exchange looks. Stephen King said that the story is about discovering the world, and this moment is magical for Gordie, since he says he never shared it with anyone before. It appears that Gordie is feeling a oneness with nature. Since it is a young deer, perhaps it is on the same journey of learning about life. Both are shedding their past lives.

The older boys led by Ace find out about the dead boy from Billie and Charlie. Ace decides that they will get the praise for finding the missing boy. On their drive, Ace races against a group of boys in another car. When a truck hauling lumber heads straight at him, Ace refuses to exit the lane. The trucker goes off the road to avoid a collision, losing his cargo. Ace says, “I won,” as if beating death is a contest. Ace’s toxic masculinity will most likely grow stronger as he gets older, and the scene shows the destructive road men may travel down because of the macho attitudes that society fosters.

Meanwhile, the kids, abandoning the safety of the train tracks that can represent civilization, cut through a forest as a shortcut. In literature, writers have used forests as the places where unlawful or dangerous activities take place (think The Scarlet Letter, Tess of the D’Urbervilles, The Princess Bride). They misjudge the depth of a river they cross and find themselves in water up to their shoulders. Teddy starts to be mischievous and dunks Vern. Chris tells him to “act your age.” Teddy rightfully says he is acting his age. The boys, except for the anti-party Gordie, start dunking each other. They are in a perilous situation which calls for adult thinking, but they are still playful children in that place. When they discover that leeches have attached themselves to their bodies, the serious nature of their quest sobers them up as they pull the creatures off their bodies.

They finally find the body of the Brower boy off the side of the train tracks they reconnect with after their shortcut. The boy was hit by a train. The Writer says the boy was not asleep, not sick, which is what the boys experienced in their previous youthful life. He is dead, which ushers them into the next stage of their maturity. Encountering this brutal end of a life prompts Gordie to question why bad things happen to some people. After all, they dodged trains twice on this trip, but Brower couldn’t escape the danger. The low self-esteem that Gordie’s father instilled in the boy causes Gordie to tearfully tell Chris (they have now exchanged sorrowful confessions) that he deserved to die instead. Chris consoles his friend in a compassionate parental way (unlike Gordie’s real dad) by telling him he’s wrong, and accurately states that Gordie has a life ahead of him being a writer.

At that moment, Ace and his gang show up and threaten to beat up the youngsters if they don’t give up the body. Chris will not back down. Ace starts to cross that legal line that the remote forest removes, and pulls a knife. As he is ready to cut Chris, Gordie shoots off a warning shot from the gun, playing its part as the equalizer, which Chris brought. Gordie aims his wild card weapon with a steady hand at Ace, who decides to fold. But, Ace issues a warning about the boys’ futures (a foreshadowing).

After besting the older boys, the younger ones probably feel the quest was what was important and they no longer have the need to get credit for finding the body. They leave it there and decide to make an anonymous phone call to have it found. They head back to their town, which, according to The Writer, “seemed smaller.” They have grown up some on their journey and things aren’t as large or magical when one revisits a childhood place.

The Writer says that Gordie and Chris didn’t see as much of Vern and Teddy as they grew up. Many of us lose track of friends who we bonded with when younger as life’s situations place us on divergent roads. Vern settled into the grownup world, getting married, having four kids, and working as a forklift operator. Teddy couldn’t get into the military because of his vision defects and ear injury, courtesy of his father. He was also in jail a few times. Some sins of the father can’t be erased from the marks they leave on the children. Chris did escape the judgment of the town, going to college and becoming a lawyer. But he went into a fast-food restaurant, tried to break up a fight, was stabbed in the throat, and died. He couldn’t escape that knife that threatened him in his youth. It was his death that Gordie was reading about that initiated the memory of finding the body. The Writer, the adult Gordie, has a boy of his own now, as the cycle continues, is finishing typing the memoir we have been hearing. He had not been in touch with Chris for over ten years, but he knows will miss his best friend “forever.”

The last lines he types say that he never made friends like the ones he had when he was twelve, and asks, “Jesus, does anyone?” Don’t we all hold onto those days when we shared our early years with precious others while we were in that state of becoming?

The next film is Donnie Darko.

Whose Life Is It Anyway?

SPOILER ALERT! The plot will be discussed.

 The question in the title of the film Whose Life Is It Anyway? (1981) revolves around the question of suicide. It is considered a sin in some religions and against the law in many places because it involves the taking of a life. But, the counter argument is that it should be the choice of the individual, if that person is deemed rational, and if performed so no one else is harmed. This movie presents the discussion of whether or not to keep an individual alive artificially if the quality of life under those circumstances is intolerable to the individual.

 

The story centers on the character of Ken Harrison (Richard Dreyfuss, giving an Oscar-worthy performance). His young life is made meaningful by his work as a creator of modern sculptures. The first shot is of him putting the finishing touches on a large piece situated on a building. He is joyful and playful as his girlfriend, Pat (Janet Eilber), says he produced a big pile of “sticks,” and he jokes as he says he used her as a model. That ecstatic feeling is demolished in a moment as he drives away and a truck runs a traffic light, causing his sports car to crash under the massive vehicle. 

 

The ambulance evacuates Ken to a hospital emergency room. He has multiple fractures, a collapsed lung, and injuries to his spleen and kidneys. The attending physician, Dr. Michael Emerson (John Cassavetes), immediately yells at the almost unconscious Ken that he has to “Fight!” With that one exhortation the film establishes the conflict that will develop between Ken and Emerson as to how to deal with these tragic circumstances. As Emerson and the surgeon look over the x-rays, they conclude that the most serious injury is a neck fracture, and the surgeon says that realistically the best they can hope for is quadriplegia. Emerson’s primary goal however is that he wants the man “alive,” despite the immense deprivations involved.

 

Ken deals with his awful condition by using humor, which is many times dark, because it allows him and the audience to tolerate the situation. When the nurse asks if she can get him something, he asks for a “martini,” and says he thought everyone in intensive care got “gin” instead of water. He is brought into his room inverted and says he would recognize Pat anywhere by her “shoes.” He tells Pat that they’ll have to tell those holding a scheduled dinner-dance that the two of them will “be late.” Even though this joking is a safety device, it keeps him from facing the dire position he is in and does not allow him to confront his true feelings, at least not until later. 

 

The image of his recent sculpture is displayed and its physical completion contrasts with Ken’s current bedridden state which suggests that the piece of art will be the last work he will ever finish. Six months have passed. Nurse Rodriguez (Alba Oms) introduces him to a new nurse, Mary Jo Sadler (Kaki Hunter). He continues to make jokes, including ones that are sexually suggestive, such as saying he used to dream about “being massaged by two beautiful women.” He uses this humor to compensate for his current lack of ability involving intimacy. But his sadness creeps in when Rodriguez says they don't want him on the floor, and he says that being had on the floor would be “incredible,” but more likely “improbable.” He says that he went skateboarding with a lovely nurse the night before, but he was the skateboard. He is rolled over and hints how lovely it is that Mary Jo is rubbing his ass, but it’s really only his ankles. He kids about not wanting the fantasy destroyed, but the sad thing is that he can’t feel anything, so the only pleasure he can have is in his imagination. Pat visits, and we discover she also uses her body for artistic purposes since she is a dancer. She tells him she still loves him, but what joined them is no longer there. 

 

John, the Jamaican orderly (Thomas Carter), is compatible with Ken since John offers no sentimentality. While he trims Ken’s beard he says he wants to see him tap dance. Ken voices that he wished he could at least masturbate, let alone have encounters with women, which is what John can do. It shows how much we take for granted until we are deprived of those joys of everyday life. John has a band, and he mimics playing the xylophone, pretending Ken’s body is the instrument (artistic imagination stressed again). He says the patient’s knee needs some “tuning.” His playfulness is a welcome diversion for Ken, who vicariously enjoys hearing about another artist's pursuits. 

 Dr. Clare Scott (Christine Lahti) next visits Ken and she presents an upbeat demeanor as she talks about increasing his physical therapy so that he can lead a more “normal life.” Ken sees no purpose in her plan, and sarcastically asks if it will mean “I can resume my basketball career?” Ken realistically sees that he will never be able to regain what for him was “normal.” She is able to come up with a comical comment saying that he is too short to play basketball which makes him smile and pull back on his edgy attitude. Ken heard that Emerson was doing rounds and he asks if the doctor will be doing it while “walking on water.” Ken obviously thinks that Emerson makes god-like decisions that do not allow for the patient to determine his own treatment.

 

On his rounds with third year medical students, Emerson comes across a man of fifty-six years of age who just died. He questions the intern to make sure everything was done to save him. Emerson is an “extreme measures” sort of doctor. When one of the students yawns, Emerson is outraged that he isn’t sick that they lost a man under seventy years of age. He calls death the “enemy,” and that if they care more about patients than money then they should feel ill when the enemy has won. 

 

Nurse Mary Jo tries to give Ken a drink that he clearly doesn’t want, as he says it looks like somebody “already drank it.” He turns his head and knocks the liquid all over himself. He tries to kid about how a person “who can’t move a muscle” can still make a mess. She is flustered and embarrassed by her actions and moves him around quickly to end the incident. He says something about being like Charlie McCarthy, the puppet in a comedy routine, because that is how powerless he feels. He makes another dark joke by asking, “How did the quadriplegic cross the road? He was stapled to a chicken.” This gallows humor is the only way some can deal with the unthinkable. She then pushes him to the side too far and he almost falls off the bed. He keeps saying how it was not Mary Jo’s fault and it was “just an accident.” He is there because of an “accident,” but it doesn’t make what happens any easier to accept. Not only the patient but also those that care for him feel defeated by what has happened. 

 

Emerson shows up and the humiliated Ken doesn’t want the student physicians to see him so compromised. Emerson examines Ken’s neck movements and tells him “You’ll be fine.” Ken’s response is “Are you kidding?” These two are definitely not on the same page. Emerson says that he is approaching discharge, which Ken wants probably so he can have some autonomy, but then he finds out he will be going to a rehabilitation facility. Ken is sarcastic when he says, “You just grow the vegetables here. The vegetable store is somewhere else.” When he asks directly for the first time if he will ever regain the use of his limbs, Emerson says he will not. Despite the shock of this reality, Ken thanks the doctor for his “honesty.” However, the doctor says that people learn to accept things. But that generalization, like many, is not always true.

 

Dr. Scott and Dr. Emerson prescribe an increase in Ken’s sedatives, and when Scott brings the Valium, he says he doesn’t want it. He wishes to hold onto his anger and freedom which includes being noisy if he so desires. He tells her just because they can’t fix him that “does not mean I’m the one that has to get tranquilized.” It's as if they want to cover up their being uncomfortable with their lack of success by quieting him down. He says point-blank that all he has left is his “consciousness” and he doesn’t want “that paralyzed as well.” He is trying to hold onto what’s left of his individuality. 

 

At lunch, Scott is becoming Ken’s advocate and tells Emerson that Valium isn’t emergency medicine, and she questions how it will help Ken. Emerson, acting all-powerful here, says that Ken isn’t ready to accept his predicament yet, and the sedatives are to calm him until he is ready. He adds that it is their job to get him to accept his new life. Emerson, although meaning well, does not take into account the feelings, ideas, or wishes of the patient. He gets a syringe of Valium and prepares to inject it into Ken. Ken says he no longer wants to live, and Emerson, unable to accept that, says it is Ken’s depression talking. Ken specifically tells Emerson not to inject him, but Emerson ignores his request under the reason that it is medically necessary. Ken is outraged at this violation of his freedom. Emerson says he is just like Ken when he is sculpting, because he, too, refuses to give up on a project. But Ken rightly points out the difference between manipulating an inanimate object and a person, accusing Emerson of treating him like a “lump of clay.”

 

While he is sedated, Ken has memories of how he sketched and sculpted renditions of Pat. These images show how their lives intertwined and were full of movement, which just accentuates his current anguish as he looks at his unresponsive hands. When Pat comes the next day he refers to himself in the past tense, and says that he is no longer the person she loved. He wants her to leave and not come back because he wants her to have a real life with someone who can love her back. He says if their roles were reversed he would leave her “flat.” Most likely he is being cruel to be kind. He argues that when she visits every day it hurts him because it is a reminder of “what I will never do again.” Her presence is “torture” to him, despite her loving intentions. So, instead of providing him with positive feelings, her visits have the opposite effect. Ken will not even allow her to kiss him goodbye. She is upset and when she grabs her things to leave, she knocks over the vase of flowers she always brings and it crashes on the floor. It is a symbol of how their love has been dashed to pieces. 

 

Emerson scheduled Ken to see Mrs. Boyle (Kathryn Grody) and again Ken has no choice in the matter. He jokes that if he doesn’t see her, Emerson will “dissolve” the woman and “inject” her into him, as he makes a reference to how the doctor gave him the sedative without Ken’s consent. He tells Boyle he “used to be” Ken Harrison, as he now feels he is only a ghost of his prior self. She tries to counter his decision to not have any more treatment by noting how other artists who were nearly blind or crippled still did not give up. Boyle says he will be able to read and write with machines and express his artistic vision through teaching and creating poetry. He says you can’t just switch artistic abilities. He says his imagination “spoke” to him through his “fingers,” which cannot happen anymore. He is sarcastic and says he wants the first book he reads to deal with how to sculpt without hands, and be “Self-Taught.” She is ready to leave saying he isn’t ready for the present discussion, and he says she should treat him like a human being who wasn’t paralyzed and get angry at him for his rudeness instead of hiding behind professionalism. It is a form of condescension that makes him want to end his life even more.

 

Ken becomes so exasperated that he has a breathing spasm and John whisks him away to get some help. Ironically, he can’t die without the help of others, whose own impulses are to save him. John gets Ken to laugh at a joke, which allows Ken to enjoy living, if only for a moment. Scott shows up and Ken notes she has “amazing breasts.” She is a bit embarrassed, and he is funny when he says it isn’t the usual thing to say when only one of the persons is in the bed. He makes an interesting point about how relaxed a woman can be when there isn’t “a man around.” The implication is that he is not a sexual threat or someone to desire, so she is free to not be self-conscious. However, it just reinforces the loss of his own sexuality. He sees the sadness in his overcompensating with suggestive banter because of his body’s inability to perform sexually. He says the only reason her moral view of not letting him die bests his view is that “you’re more powerful than me. I am in your power.” It has nothing to do with the merits of the situation from his perspective. 

 

Ken requested the automobile insurance company’s lawyer, Carter Hill (Bob Balaban), to talk with him. He wants Hill to get him discharged from the hospital so that he can die by ending medical assistance. He can’t feed himself or drink without help, and it was noted earlier that he requires kidney dialysis. Hill is reluctant to accept the request, but Ken says that if lawyers represent those they know are guilty, then he should have the same rights of representation as “an axe murderer.” (It is interesting that Dreyfuss plays a lawyer representing Barbra Streisand’s character who is trying to prove she is mentally sound in the film Nuts).

 

The unsure Hill tells Ken that he wants to meet with Emerson first before representing Ken. But Emerson’s one-sided way of looking at things moves Hill toward arguing for Ken’s hospital discharge. Emerson says his duty is to preserve life which he feels outweighs Ken’s individual wishes. He says that Ken is in a state of depression and is incapable of making decisions about his life and death, and he shows hostility toward Hill’s participation in the matter. Hill says he will bring in his own psychiatrist to get an objective opinion as to Ken’s state of mind. Hill tells Ken that if Emerson can get two psychiatrists to agree that Ken is mentally unbalanced then Ken's hospitalization becomes an involuntary commitment. Others always seem to be deciding Ken’s fate.

 

Emerson meets with psychiatrist Sandy Jacobs (George Wyner) about Ken’s case as Scott walks in. Emerson’s old-fashioned belief is that wanting to commit suicide automatically means that a person is of unsound mind. Scott is outraged and she says, “Aren’t we talking about his life here.” Emerson says Ken’s decision violates medical responsibility. Thus, we have the basis for the title of the movie. Scott argues that Ken has lost his “privacy” and his “dignity,” and she wonders if she would want to go on living if she was in his position. So, she says just because Emerson disagrees with Ken it doesn’t make the patient mentally incompetent. She says that Emerson is not just acting like a doctor but also like a “judge.” The film does show how the legal and the medical worlds are sometimes at odds with each other. Seeing that Scott is partial to Ken’s thinking, Emerson threatens Scott with an autopsy if Ken dies and Emerson suspects there was an assisted suicide.

 

In the dialysis unit, Ken jokes with a young girl named Lissa (Abigail Hepner), saying he will be playing for the Boston Red Sox at the shortstop position. He then says actually he will just be wearing red socks. He is thrilled to hear that her treatments are being cut back and he probably sees a full life ahead for her. The short scene contrasts how medical treatment for some is hopeful and for others, hopeless.

 

Jacobs meets with Ken, who is very clever as he points out that medical knowledge about his condition helps him make a decision, but it’s still his decision. He likens doctors telling him what to do with a sculptor trying to determine what a client should buy. Jacobs says that Ken’s intelligence works against him because it shows he has more reasons to keep living. Ken points out the Catch-22 aspect of Jacobs’s argument, noting it states because he is intelligent enough to make decisions it shows he is too smart to warrant death. While they talk, Jacobs tidies up and folds a towel, and Ken points out the man’s obsessive-compulsive tendencies. It is funny, as the layman Ken becomes the diagnostician. 

 

Ken then has an interview with Hill’s psychiatrist, Dr. Barrows (Mel Stewart), and he continues to demonstrate his wit (as to tests, Ken assures him he is “rotten” at running the hundred-yard dash) and anger (mad about how conspiring doctors stick together while requiring him to prove he is sane, a difficult task for anyone). Barrows, like the other “professionals,” retreats when Ken responds in a perfectly normal emotional way instead of dealing with him on a basic human level. 

 

Scott goes to see Pat and observes the works of art Ken has created, which most likely makes her understand what he no longer can accomplish. Statues are immobile, but they can capture a moment of movement which Ken has done concerning Pat’s dancing talent. Pat holds up a piece of a hand. In a way it symbolizes his situation. Ken’s body is now like one of his works, frozen in time. Scott says that she is there to talk about a way to help Ken. But Pat has taken Ken’s words to heart. She talks about him as the “late Ken Harrison.” She is wrapping up his business affairs concerning selling and storing his work, as if it is part of an estate of someone who has passed away. She is also getting ready for a date, so she has accepted his demand that she move on. To Scott, Pat seems cold at first, but Pat says the real Ken is in his art, not in what remains in the hospital. She respects Ken and that is why she honored his wishes. She says if Scott respects the man, “Then just let him do what he wants to do.” 

 

Scott visits Ken after hours and she tells him that she went to his studio and admired his sculptures. She was going to place one of the works in his room but he says that instead she can have any one of the pieces she wants. She just so happens to really like the hand and she brought it with her. Ken says it is the best one, but not his. It is a representation of Michelangelo’s painting in the Sistine Chapel of God creating life. While they laugh because Scott is embarrassed about not recognizing the piece, the incident points to how the creation of something out of imagination is how an artist is god-like. She points out that he seems to be enjoying himself and he admits feeling human for the first time in a while, but he is sure he wants to end things. The film implies that there may be moments of enjoyment, but in the long run, such an extremely limiting life would be intolerable to someone who experienced existence so completely.

 To provide him with one of those fun instances, Orderly John and Nurse Mary Jo sneak Ken into the basement where John’s Jamaican band, The Rebel Rockers, perform for him and he smokes some marijuana with them. When a security guard hears them and the band runs out, the stoned Ken asks the guard, “Isn’t this dialysis?” It is an example of how well the script makes the heavy moments palatable with some comic relief.

 

Hill tells Ken the next day that he will represent him, and he says that instead of a competency hearing he wants to apply for a writ of habeas corpus. As Hill says, “It is against the law to deprive anyone of his liberty without due process.” So, if due process has not been provided, the person, or “body,” must be relinquished. Ken voices his variation on Shakespeare’s play title by saying, “All’s well that ends,” leaving off the final “well” to stress that his “end” will make things “all well” for him. 

 As he is wheeled into a room at the hospital for his hearing, John and Rodriguez will not wish him luck because they don’t want him to die, while others, such as Mary Jo, do. Even his own lawyer, Hill, said it was a case he wouldn’t mind losing. The disparity in opinions mirrors the population in general as to the split feelings about suicide due to incurable medical reasons. Judge Wyler (Kenneth McMillan) presides over the informal meeting. Emerson testifies that it is impossible to suffer such extensive injuries without mental trauma, and he concludes, although he is not a psychiatrist, that Ken is clinically depressed. Hill stresses that despite Emerson’s experience, he is not officially trained to justify his impression of Ken. The psychiatrist Barrows states that Ken is reacting in a normal manner to his circumstances, and is not clinically depressed. The attorney representing the hospital, Mr. Eden (Ward Costello), asks if Barrows thinks Ken is making the right decision to end his life. Even though the psychiatrist does not have to answer that question, he volunteers that he believes Ken is wrong in what he is trying to do. That, however, is a subjective impression, and does not contradict Barrow’s earlier statement that Ken is acting in a rational manner. Again, the question is who gets to choose concerning Ken’s life or death path? 

 

Wyler says he would like to ask Ken some “noninflammatory” questions. Ken’s sharp comment is that he would prefer “a hanging judge.” Wyler sees himself in that role no matter which way he rules, since Ken is in a no-win situation. It’s just a matter of which way to lose is worse. The physicians who side with Emerson’s opinion say that Ken is “not capable of making an informed, intelligent decision.” Ken refutes that decision, basically saying it has been used to support the doctors' desire to keep patients alive. Ken says he is already dead and wants that recognition. Ken argues against Wyler’s assertion that Ken is legally alive because life must “include the idea that it be self-supporting.” He states that he isn’t asking anyone to end his life, only to leave the hospital so he can die naturally. He emphasizes that his freedom of choice is being denied. But the decision to end his life comes so unnaturally to many people that they can only conclude that it is not a coherent decision, and they want no part in playing a role in what will lead to the end of a person’s existence, especially one that shows so much intelligence and wit. 

 

For Ken, staying in the hospital just to maintain his mind without any ability for him to control his life is an act of “cruelty.” He argues that is especially true for him because his work as an artist was the most important part of his life and only having his mind intact without being able to utilize his imagination has turned his consciousness into his “enemy,” which “tortures” him. He loved experiencing women and now he can’t tolerate their presence because it is so punishing not to be able to respond to them in any fulfilling way. He states he is in a state of “outrage” that they can decide to continue this hell just “because you cannot see the pain,” as it is in the mind and not the body. He says that he would like the same mercy one would show a mutilated animal on the road while at the same time not asking anyone to resort to an act of violence. Otherwise, in about five years Ken implies that they will see how they have damaged him irreparably.

 

Wyler needs time to deliberate and when he returns he cites cases that would allow for choosing one’s own destiny. He also states that if Ken is clinically depressed then he would not be able to make a rational decision. Wyler concludes that Ken is a brave and thoughtful man and is capable of making an informed choice. He rules that Ken should be allowed to end his hospital care. Ken is grateful while those who have become close to him have mixed reactions. Emerson says Ken can stay at the hospital without treatment so he can be around familiar surroundings and people until he passes away, which Ken agrees would be easier for him. But Emerson admits that he hopes Ken might change his mind.

 

John wheels him into his room and inserts some dark humor by pulling the sheet over Ken’s head, making him look like he is already a corpse, which makes Ken laugh. After John leaves, Scott enters and she strokes Ken’s face, but when she moves in to kiss him, he turns his head, pleading that she not continue, since it only emphasizes what he wants but can never have. She leaves in tears, and Ken is alone as the sounds of the hospital surround him, showing how life can go on for others. The last shot is of Michelangelo’s hand of God that perhaps here suggests that sometimes one’s life should be in one’s own hands.

The next film is The Stunt Man.

Nuts

SPOILER ALERT! The plot will be discussed.

Given the current revelations about sexual assault and harassment occurring in the world of show business and politics, I decided to analyze this 1987 film which explores warped male actions toward a woman and by doing so reveals a great deal about how many men perceive females.

Martin Ritt was a good choice to direct this motion picture since he explored female empowerment in Norma Rae. This story opens with women herded like cattle in jail cells awaiting arraignment. They are literally incarcerated, but they are also symbolically imprisoned by men for not playing the female roles that men have delineated for them. That digressing from the outwardly appropriate norms of behavior particularly fits the main character, Claudia Draper (Barbra Streisand). She is a high-priced call girl who has been arrested for the first degree manslaughter of one of her clients. As she is led to the courtroom, the male prisoners yell out suggestive remarks, and we see Claudia recalling how she had a visual sexual assessment when she walked through a classy restaurant. The two views show how men, no matter the social situation, universally treat women in a sexually demeaning fashion.

We get a hint of Claudia’s problems with her parents when she demands that the court address her by using her married name, Draper. She is aggressive vocally and argumentative, interrupting preliminary court proceedings and questioning the actions of the expensive lawyer hired by her mother, Rose (Maureen Stapleton) and her stepfather, Arthur Kirk (Karl Malden). The judge and the lawyers ignore her as if she is not to speak unless spoken to. The prosecutor says that the psychiatrist gave the opinion that Claudia is incompetent to stand trial because she doesn’t understand the charges against her and can’t participate in her own defense. What the male-dominated system is doing is preventing her from having her day in court. She does not behave in the proper demure and submissive fashion dictated by the men in charge. Thus, they must remove her from society. She could have continued to perform as a prostitute as long as it wasn’t brought to the attention of polite society. But, as soon as she attacked a male, who was abusive toward her, the situation is brought into the light of day, and the ruling males must then punish her for revealing harmful male tendencies.

Because Claudia would not agree to a charge of criminally negligent homicide, her lawyer argues that she should be considered incompetent. The irony here is that the family and the lawyers appear to want to protect Claudia from having to go to prison. In their minds they are acting in her best interests, but they do so by presupposing that she is not innocent of the crime of which she is accused, but instead proposing that she is mentally unstable. They assume that her lifestyle and nonconformist behavior requires the need to separate her from other “normal” people. Claudia’s response is to punch out her defense attorney.

A public defender by the name of Aaron Levinsky (Richard Dreyfuss) happens to be in court during Claudia’s arraignment. He doesn’t want to have anything initially to do with the case after the assaulted defense lawyer quits. But the judge assigns him to Claudia’s case. After a quick review of the records, and because the judge bullied him into taking the job, he decides to challenge the motion to designate Claudia as incompetent to be tried. On his way to question Claudia at the jail, we see colored lines painted on the floor informing people where to get to different locations. It may appear helpful, but it also shows the linear, regimented thinking of how the established authority enforces control over others. Levinsky runs into the state appointed psychiatrist, Dr. Morrison (Eli Wallach), and verifies that Morrison said in his report that Claudia acted “flagrantly sexual.” This phrase condemns Claudia for breaking the rules that men have established about how a woman should act publicly when it comes to sex. This attitude is affirmed by the Latino psychiatrist who says that Claudia is passionate, which is okay in the bedroom, but not outside of it.

In Levinsky’s first meeting with Claudia, she shows contempt for psychiatrists (although Streisand plays an admirable one in The Prince of Tides). She is initially quiet, but when Levinsky asks if she can talk, she says what role does she want her to play. Should she juggle, dance, do card tricks? She says, “What kind of show do I have to put on for you?” Her statement points to the way men force women to play the roles they dictate for them, as opposed to trying to understand the person behind these fronts. She is basically saying that the traditional expectation of men is to have women amuse and entertain them, which denies who they are as complete persons, with their own personalities and aspirations. Claudia immediately delves into Levinsky’s personal life, asking about being married and if his wife is good in bed. She puts her legs up on the table in front of him and spreads them. In a way, she is exaggerating what men expect of women sexually, and is testing Levinsky to see how he will react. He admits to his sexual inclinations and is not like Morrison, who Claudia sees as sexually inauthentic. Levinsky is honest in his responses about how his marriage has had its problems. Claudia wants to expose how the upright appearances of men are deceiving, because under the veneer of respectability lies the selfish need to objectify and possess women to satisfy lustful urges no matter the damage done to the females they desire. Her argumentative ways and in-your-face- sexual references make the audience uncomfortable, which in a way, indicts the viewer for having accepted the male prescribed norms of how women should behave.

When Levinsky mentions that her mother cares about what happens to her, Claudia curses her mother. We again get an indication that there was something in Claudia’s upbringing that points to Claudia not believing Rose is the motherly protector she seems to be. Despite Claudia’s wanting to put everything out in the open, she is not ready to reveal the secrets about the harm done to her in her childhood. She does win Levinsky over as he concedes the possibility that the psychiatric impression that she is incompetent is wrong. She is then willing to go over her case with him. In a subsequent conversation with the prosecuting attorney, MacMillan (Robert Webber), Levinsky says that he has an aunt who is crazier than Claudia, and she is the president of her PTA. Levinsky is acknowledging Claudia’s argument that supposedly proper behavior can be deceiving. A later scene in the psychiatric ward makes this point as Levinsky is fooled by a woman who is a patient, but who pretends to be a visiting psychoanalyst, and who is more insightful than the “legitimate” psychiatrists. Levinsky says the woman seemed so “normal.” Like One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and The Shawshank Redemption, here again we have the inmates making more sense than those in charge. Thus the title of the film may be asking who are the people who are really “nuts.”

We get a scene which reveals Dr. Morrison’s phony pretense of wanting to help Claudia. In a session with her he says that she needs treatment because everyone has impulses, but that society requires that the individual control them. “Control” is the operative word here. His putting her in restraints at various times and sedating her is symbolic of the male urge for domination over the female. At no time does he really try to understand Claudia as an individual with a problematic history. He just wants her to comply with what he sees as the proper female pattern of behavior. She is flirtatious with him in order to try to get him to admit his repression of carnal impulses which surfaces as vindictiveness toward an overtly sexual woman. He says he wants to put “order” in her life, but she says that there is no order in life. She essentially believes that disorder is the norm and people try to impose order on the world. Some overcompensate out of a fear of chaos with that urge to control others (like the character of Beth in Ordinary People?). Claudia suggests that Dr. Morrison is one of those zealous control freaks, and may be why he works in a prison, the idea of putting people in cells being particularly appealing to him.

Levinsky’s visit to Claudia’s apartment is revealing. He sees pictures of her mother, which shows she has not totally written her parent off. She has many books, which indicates her intellectual side. There is also a stuffed animal, implying that she retains a childlike quality, and maybe the wish to recreate a better childhood. There is also a Jack-in-a-box toy, which suggests Claudia’s penchant to surprise others with her blunt nature to upset the status quo, but which shows that there may be a vulnerable, youthful side to her inside. Levinsky goes through her clothing to pick out an outfit for Claudia’s court appearance. He has not asked her permission to go through her things, especially her underwear, and in this way, he is acting like a controlling male. She is angry at him for his transgression. He realizes his mistake, and has the decency to apologize.

Levinsky’s impropriety triggers the memory of the man she killed, Allen Green (Leslie Nielsen), and we get the story of why Claudia was arrested. Allen, who appeared to be upstanding, goes through her clothes, acting as if he owns Claudia because he has purchased her sexual services. He wants to stay after having sex and becomes angry and possessive when she has another appointment. He then is verbally abusive, and says she is acting like his wife. He displays the dual attitudes many men have toward women. On the one hand they want females to act socially respectable in public, as a wife is supposed to appear, but they secretly want them to surrender to masculine sexual manipulation. However, they then condemn them for acting slutty. Allen, like many other men, have created the prostitution business to indulge their sexual fantasies, but are ashamed of their unholy drives, and then project their guilt on the women they sought to indulge them. When Claudia resists Allen, he becomes violent, trying to exert his controlling power, and is angry at being rejected. He tries to strangle Claudia, and in the struggle, the bathroom mirror is broken. Claudia is able to grab a shard, and stabs Allen in the carotid area, killing him (possibly an act of vengeful reverse penetration?).

Claudia’s mother testifies that her husband left them and she married Arthur Kirk around the time that Claudia was five years old. Claudia began to exhibit rebellious behavior, including cutting her hair off (to make herself appear less attractive?), but also being promiscuous. Claudia also stopped wanting to kiss or touch her mother. So, she showed conflicting feelings about wanting affection. Claudia, trying to protect her mother despite her anger toward her, denies Levinsky the chance to question her. When her stepfather takes the stand, he acts like he tried to help the young Claudia get over her fear and vulnerability after being abandoned by her father. He says he tried to reward good behavior by giving her money. Thus we see how little girls are trained to get rewards by acting the way the male role model expects. While Kirk is on the stand, Levinsky sees Claudia making illustrations of people who have no mouths. He quietly says the words “speak no evil.” He knows that despite Claudia’s frankness, she and her family are hiding something. He asks Kirk that if he was what he called himself, Claudia’s “champion,” why did she exhibit what Kirk would consider to be abnormal behavior. Kirk can’t explain it, since he always doted on her, including giving Claudia baths. Levinsky now sees what is going on and presses Kirk on this behavior, and the stepfather becomes very defensive when Levinsky wants to know at what age did the bathing stop. Claudia finally blurts out that it went on until she was sixteen years old. We get flashbacks of young Claudia in the tub showing anxiety as the bathroom door handle turns. Kirk would slip money under the door to let him in. We now see how she was abused as a youth and that the money for sexual favors primed Claudia for a career as a prostitute. Rose says she didn’t know, but Claudia says, “No, you didn’t want to know.” Her mother’s self-denial allowed the abuse because she would not face the ugliness of her husband’s aberration.

Claudia, when she takes the stand, says that women legally prostitute themselves all the time. She knows women who married rich men they disliked so they could drive Mercedes cars. Even though she doesn’t admit it, her mother, Rose, may have married the well-to-do Kirk for financial security. At least Claudia is honest about what she does, and she lists how much she is paid for her sexual acts, making the prosecutor embarrassed, but also intrigued as he does not interrupt her. Claudia thus reveals the hypocrisy of male behavior. Claudia later tells Levinsky that she didn’t stop her stepfather because as a girl she just wanted to be loved. Levinsky tells Claudia not to blame herself. The implication is that all children are vulnerable because they want to be loved.

Levinsky angrily confronts Dr. Morrison who has drugged Claudia because he says, falsely, that it is to calm her. In reality he is trying to undermine Claudia’s testimony by impairing her ability to show that she is competent to stand trial. However, Claudia is able to quote the law and argue that if she is not declared competent to have a trial then the authorities could keep her medically institutionalized indefinitely without her ever being allowed to be acquitted of the charges brought against her. The male condescension of the prosecutor is evident as he assumes he can call her Claudia, but she will have none of that, and insists that he address her as Mrs. Draper (she is divorced, her personality and her upbringing not being conducive to a successful marriage and family life. For example, she says she once had an abortion because “she didn’t believe in childhood.”). MacMillan tries to paint her as a paranoid by trying to get her to admit that there is a conspiracy against her. But Claudia is quite lucid as she says of Dr. Morrison, “I’m sure he believes what he believes. He thinks whores are girls who hang out on 8th Avenue and stick needles in their arms. He knows whores aren’t nice white girls from nice white families.” But women go off and have affairs all the time, while pretending to comply with their proper status as faithful wives in society. Her argument is that because she doesn’t fit into the prejudicial pattern of preconceived notions of which women are relegated to unacceptable female behavior that she must, of course, be a mentally deranged.

While the judge goes out to deliberate, Claudia’s mother shows true emotion and says that she hopes her daughter wins the case. Now when Rose says she loves her daughter, Claudia can see that it is not just a phrase that people say for appearance sake. They are able to hug and show genuine feelings for each other.

The judge, Stanley Murdoch (James Whitmore), is convinced that Claudia understands the charges against her and can participate in her own defense. She is set free until the trial. The last shot is of her walking freely in the streets among the other citizens. She sees one man who has obvious mental problems as he looks up into the sky, talking to himself. The shot stresses the unfairness of a society that would let obviously mentally ill people on the street, but would question a woman’s sanity because she does not conform to the imposed male rules about sexual behavior.

The next film is The Man Who Wasn’t There.