Continental Divide (1981) - Unpersuasive Belushi comedy

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Co-star John Belushi looks unwell in the embrace of beautiful co-star Blair Brown on this poster for Michael Apted's Continental Divide

Ernie is a star journalist in Chicago, where everybody knows him, but where his knack for exposing the powerful is beginning to threaten his safety. And so he gets sent on an assignment to a woman who lives alone in the Rocky Mountains.

 

Continental Divide is written by Lawrence Kasdan (Mumford (1999)) and directed by Michael Apted (The Triple Echo (1972)).

Internal logic must yield to get this high-concept romcom train on a set of tracks: - Why does forceful Ernie go so far away, when he really doesn't want to, - for two weeks!?! His work and the totally predictable, clichéd romance are both elements that are presented stiffly, SPOILER and the ending, in which a pressured Kasdan seemingly wants to have his cake and eat it, too, has him letting the two get married, but then break up, as Ernie jumps on a train back to Chicago, is really bizarre. 

It is a general flaw in Continental Divide that it tonally sits between chairs: At times an honest, romantic drama with a visual nature vs. city contrast, and at other times an over-the-top comedy vehicle for John Belushi (Neighbors (1981)). Of course the film should have been the latter thing from beginning to end. What we get instead is the subversive Belushi magic sterilized for 90 % of the time here in a thin cup of tea posing as a 'good time' film. 

Related post:

Michael Apted: Gorky Park (1983) - Cool Hurt investigates murders in Apted's fine Cold War Moscow thriller

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 9 mil. $

Box office: In excess of 15.5 mil. $ (North America alone)

= Uncertain but likely a flop (projected return of 2.22 times its cost)

[Continental Divide was released 1 September (Canada) and runs 103 minutes. It was the first film made by Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment. Shooting took place from October 1980 - January 1981 in Chicago, Illinois, Washington DC, Colorado, Washington, Los Angeles, California, Idaho, Michigan and Montana. Belushi reportedly was sober for the duration of the shoot but then fell back into a cocaine-driven production with his next - and last - film, Neighbors, which led up to his 1982 death from a cocaine and heroine overdose. The film opened #1 to a 3.2 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it grossed 15.5 mil. $. Its foreign release was limited to 9 other markets, and the result may have been small. A 20 mil. $ final gross is projected, which would rank the film as a flop. It was nominated for a Golden Globe. Roger Ebert gave it a 3/4 star review, translating to 2 notches over this one. Apted returned with P'tang, Yang, Kipperbang (1982, TV movie), First Love (1982, TV-series) and theatrically with Gorky Park (1983). Belushi returned in Neighbors (1981); Blair Brown (Fringe (2008-12)) in American Playhouse (1982, TV-series), Kennedy (1983, miniseries) and theatrically in A Flash of Green (1984). Continental Divide is fresh at 73 % with a 6.20/10 average rating at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Continental Divide?

Halloween Movie 2019: Altered States (1980) or, Reversed Darwinism

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The at the time unknown star (William Hurt) is upside down on this mysterious, text-heavy poster for Ken Russell's Altered States

Edward Jessup is an experimental psychology professor, who gambles with his own mental constitution to investigate the human consciousness using an isolation tank and Mexican mushrooms!

Altered States is written by Paddy Chayefsky (Mati (1958, TV movie)), based on his own same-titled 1978 novel, and directed by English master filmmaker Ken Russell (Valentino (1977).
Feature-debuting William Hurt (Mr. Wonderful (1993)) is unique in maybe his career's best performance: In Altered States he expresses madness in galloping speed, while he spouts coherent, complex dialog, which seems to conflict troublingly with his madness.
Bob Balaban (Thin Ice (2011)) and Charles Haid (The Rescue (1988)) are good as his experimental mates, and Blair Brown (Fringe (2008-12)) is strong and sexy in the good part as Hurt's increasingly broken romantic companion.
Chayevsky and Russell keep the film stringent and and anything but flaky plot-wise, although we get into something really strange and bizarre here!
An American Werewolf in London (1981) has a predecessor in the special effects department in Altered States, which also recalls the body horror excess of David Cronenberg's The Fly (1986), a film that Altered States transcends intellectually.
The psychedelic sensual bombardment created by Russell and Co. is more out there and hypnotic - as well as upsetting - than any such sequence I have seen anywhere else before; and I haven't seen anything to rival it until Gaspar Noé's nightmarish Enter the Void (2009).
Altered States is a completely wild, intense and attention-demanding picture; it stands as the ultimate horror movie for atheist science freaks: SPOILER Human degeneration back into the simian stage, in this perspective, is the logical, horrific descent to hell.

Related posts:

Ken Russell: Top 10: Best drug-themed movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Past Halloween Movies: Halloween Movie 2018: Misery (1990) - Bates ignites an iconic villain in Reiner's rock-solid King adaptation
Halloween Movie 2017: Candyman (1992) - Racial tensions inform Rose and Barker's Chicago-set horror favorite 

Watch a 1-minute clip from one of the film's psychedelic scenes here

Cost: 14.9 mil. $
Box office: 19.8 mil. $ (North America alone)
= Some uncertainty; most likely a big flop or flop (returned 1.32 times its cost domestically)
[Altered States was released 25 December (USA) and runs 103 minutes. Chayefsky had formed the idea after a gathering of "disgruntled" friends in 1975. Columbia Pictures producer Daniel Melnick suggested that he turn the treatment into a novel first. Arthur Penn was director through pre-production but resigned after a disagreement with Chayefsky. Russell was allegedly director #27 asked to take up the film, following numerous big filmmakers who had passed. The budget ballooned from 9 to 12 to the final 14.9 mil. $ during production - with 4 mil. $ alone going to special effects. Shooting took place in Mexico, New York, Boston, Massachusetts, Kentucky and California, including Los Angeles, from March 1979 - ?. Chayefsky budded into production too much, causing a conflict with Russell, which led to Chayefsky demanding his usual pen name be removed from the film; instead his birth first name and middle name are used (Sidney Aaron). The film opened to a 174k $ first weekend in North America, where it grossed 19.8 mil. $, - impressive for such an unusual and wild movie. The foreign grosses are regrettably not made public online, but if the film made 25 mil. $ total, it would still rank as a big flop. It was nominated for 2 Oscars: Best Score (John Corigliano (Revolution (1985))), lost to Michael Gore for Fame, and Best Sound, lost to Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back. It was also nominated for a Golden Globe, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 3.5/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. Russell returned with The Planets (1983, TV documentary), The South Bank Show (1984, documentary TV-series) and theatrically with Crimes of Passion (1984). Hurt returned in Eyewitness (1981); Balaban in Prince of the City (1981); Haid in Pray TV (1981) and Brown in Continental Divide (1981). Altered States is certified fresh at 84 % with a 6.81/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Altered States?