Ishtar (1987) - May and Beatty's infamous Saharan stinker

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Two Bedouins are dragging something by a rope in the desert on this poster for Elaine May's Ishtar

Two middle-aged, unpersuasive singer/songwriters are looking for their big break-through, and they figure that they will find it in ... Ishtar, Morocco.

 

Ishtar is written and directed by Elaine May (A New Leaf (1971)).

You will need to read about this production to comprehend just why we have this thoroughly odd, deeply failed film before us. Ishtar works best at its outset, in which some may find a bit of amusement in the casting of Dustin Hoffman (John and Mary (1969)) as a great ladies' man and Warren Beatty (Heaven Can Wait (1978)) as the admiring dullard second banana. The whole adventure to the Middle East is attempted sauced into an archaic, painfully old-fashion 'charm', while Isabelle Adjani (Peter von Kant (2022)) performs in an awkward, strange role, and the two male stars yell and generally make asses of themselves among strangers in a strange land in scene after scene, all consisting of unfunny material.

Ishtar is enormously poorly executed, a head-shaking waste of resources. It is also a film that will forever remind us just how low and how deep Hoffman and Beatty are able to fall. The lesson of Ishtar? Don't put together a movie out of bad conscience for a woman (or for any person probably) with dubious abilities as a filmmaker. Some people, mostly in some way connected to its stars and other involved talents, have 're-evaluated' Ishtar and celebrated it, but these opinions are merely transparent attempts to please the still highly respected veterans in the miserable affair.

 

Related post:

 

Elaine May: Primary Colors (1998) - Nichols' bloated political caricature bomb (writer)

 

  

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 51 mil. $

Box office: 14.3 mil. $ (North America only)

= Mega-flop (projected return of 0.39 times its cost)

[Ishtar was released 15 March (North America) and runs 107 minutes. Beatty put the film together, talking Hoffman, his own girlfriend Adjani and the studio into doing it because he felt indebted to May for helping write some of his recent hit films, and the idea for the film came from her. Beatty and Hoffman reportedly received 5.5 mil. $ and May 1.5 mil. $ for their labor prior to production, with Beatty and Hoffman receiving another 500k $ by its completion, so that 12.5 mil. $ were spent on the three before the production began. Budgeted at 27.5 mil. $, the film would wind up going 23 mil. $ over-budget. Against the studio's wishes, production was allowed in Morocco in the Sahara Desert due to its parent company Coca Cola having funds locked there that could then be used for the production. Shooting took place from October 1985 - March 1986 in Morocco, including Marrakesh, and in New York. May's direction and detail-orientation led to fights with her cinematographer and Beatty , which made the shoot prolonged and costs rise alarmingly. When the shoot returned to New York, Beatty confessed to Columbia's CEO that May could not direct but refused firing her due to his image as a supporter of women's rights. The solution became that every scene be subsequently shot twice; in May's way and then in Beatty's way, involving further cost overruns. Fights persisted during editing of the enormous amount of film shot, as the film's Christmas release became impossible. Despite the many signs that the film would bomb the studio released it with copious marketing to the tune of (another) 20 mil. $. The film opened #1 to a 4.3 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another 2 weekends in the top 5 (#4-#4), grossing 14.3 mil. $. The film's international numbers are regrettably kept hidden, but the film did sell 40k tickets in the small country Denmark, grossing around 320k $ there. A conservative estimation of the final gross may be 20 mil. $. Roger Ebert gave the film a 0.5/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. May never returned to directing, turning more to writing and acting. Beatty returned in Dick Tracy (1990); Hoffman in Rain Man (1988); and Adjani in Camille Claudel (1988). Ishtar is rotten at 40 % with a 4.60/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Ishtar? 

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006) - Tykwer's fabulous 18th century serial killer sensory bombardment

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+ Breakthrough Actor of the Year: Ben Whishaw + Best Crime Drama of the Year + Best Serial Killer Movie of the Year

 

An unnaturally red-haired, beautiful fair woman lies outstretched in a pose that suggests that she may be deceased on this sensual poster for Tom Tykwer's Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

An orphan boy with an extraordinary sense of smell later in life begins the criminal hobby of enfleuraging women, essentially meaning that he murders them in order to make perfumes out of them.

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer is written by Andrew Birkin (King David (1985)), co-writer/producer Bernd Eichinger (Die Eltern (1974, TV movie)) and great German filmmaker, co-writer/director/co-composer Tom Tykwer (Friday Afternoon (1986)), adapting Patrick Süskind's (Das Kontrabass (1981)) same-titled 1985 novel.

A highly unusual story, Perfume: The Story of a Murderer is an epic crime drama narrated wonderfully by John Hurt (Jackie (2016)), with the attractive Ben Whishaw (Surge (2020)) portraying the murderer Jean Baptiste. There are plenty more of Christian connotations in the film, especially towards the end of it, and ending which is highly ambiguous; at the same time seemingly pleading the case for love - and limitless, decadent aestheticism. 

Dustin Hoffman (Boychoir (2014)), Alan Rickman (The Butler (2013)), the music (by Tykwer, Reinhold Heil and Johnny Klimek (Deadwood: The Movie (2019, TV movie), both)) and the images (cinematography by Frank Griebe (Sense8 (2015, TV-series))) are also large enjoyments in this stunning film. 

Related posts:

 

Tom Tykwer: 2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

1998 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

Run Lola Run/Lola Rennt (1998) - Tykwer's zeitgeist amuck run 

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 63.7 mil. $

Box office: 135 mil. $

= Flop (returned 2.11 times its cost)

[Perfume: The Story of a Murderer premiered 7 September (Munich, Germany) and runs 147 minutes. Eichinger had attempted to buy the film rights from Süskind since his bestseller's publication, but he had resisted for many years, explaining that only Stanley Kubrick and Milos Forman were appropriate to film it. Eventually Eichinger got the rights, reportedly for a gigantic 10 mil. € paycheck. 19 companies and support bodies cooperated in the financing and making of the film. CEO of VIP Medienfonds Andreas Schmid was later found guilty of multiple counts of tax evasion connected to the financing of the film and given a 6 year prison sentence. The huge budget made the film one of the costliest German films ever made. Shooting took place from July - October 2005 in France and Spain. 3.5 tons of fish and meat were reportedly used in the fish market scene. The film opened #48 to a 37k $ first weekend in 3 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #24 and in 280 theaters, grossing 2.2 mil. $ (1.6 % of the total gross). The film's biggest markets were Germany with 53.1 mil. $ (39.3 %), where it was #1 for 3 weeks, selling more than 5 mil. tickets; Spain with 9.9 mil. $ (7.3 %) and Russia with 9.2 mil. $ (6.8 %). The film won 2/5 European Film award nominations, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 4/4 star review, translating to a notch over this one. The film made more than 7.5 mil. $ on the North-American home video market and much more in Germany. Tykwer returned with The International (2009). Whishaw returned in I'm Not There (2007). Perfume: The Story of a Murderer is rotten at 59 % with a 6.30/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Perfume: The Story of a Murderer?

Hook (1991) - Arr, Spielbergian folly

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Big stars and high adventure is promised on this craftily done poster for Steven Spielberg's Hook

Peter Pan has grown up and is a lawyer and a family father, and on his family's Christmas trip to his childhood home in England his kids get kidnapped, and Peter realizes that he also belongs in a fantastical land ...

  

Hook is written by James V. Hart (Contact (1997)) and Malia Scotch Marmo (Once Around (1991)), with Nick Castle (Escape from New York (1981)) contributing story elements, based on Peter and Wendy (1911) by J.M. Barrie (Better Dead (1887)), and directed by Ohioan master filmmaker Steven Spielberg (The Sugarland Express (1974)), whose 12th feature it is.

Just about everything is wrong here, where, Spielberg paradoxically, - a decade after having made arguably the best family picture of all time (E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)), - makes arguably the worst family picture of all time also, - at least one of the worst major budget Hollywood pictures for a very long time. - Infamous turkeys like Waterworld (1995) and Heaven's Gate (1980) are awesome pictures compared to the thoroughly artificial, fake feel of Hook:

Peter Pan has been molded unto an unsympathetic lawyer (as a fan since childhood of Disney's 1953 Peter Pan this just about makes me growl with enmity and lack of understanding), and using cliché #1 straight from the handbook it seems, he is a neglectful father due to his missing his son's soccer game, (according to Hollywood this particular action seems to be the original sin for the modern father.) This all makes me (for the first time) actively dislike Robin Williams (Old Dogs (2009)) here for his participation in this phoney-baloney. Later the same befalls Dustin Hoffman (Chef (2014)), (the dope!), SPOILER who actually murders a child towards the end of the film here as Captain Hook, - a dark ploy that is wholly unnecessary and forgotten immediately after, only making one even more vitriolic towards the ugly, over-produced, fundamentally poorly conceptualized Hook.

Williams' wife in the film, for no discernible reason, loses her composure at being in his childhood home (...). Later he kisses Maggie Smith (Quartet (2012)) (...) and Julia Roberts (The Normal Heart (2014, TV movie)), (who plays Tinker Bell and gets nothing to do), before he returns to family life, changed to his core. Ridiculous, overlong and continually nauseating, the film also boasts two unconvincing child performances from Williams' Peter Pan's offspring, plus a strange detail in that while the children's real life is white only, the fantasy group of children in Neverland are in full Benetton colors. The only mitigating quality about Hook? - Peter Pan flies dreamily. 

 

Related posts:

Steven Spielberg: The Fabelmans (2022) or, My Wonderful Upbringing

2017 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
The Post (2017) - Spielberg returns to mastery with a thrilling salute to the virtues of real, critical, brave journalism
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V]
Lincoln (2012) - Spielberg's inspiring presidential portrait stands tall 
War Horse (2011) - Spielberg visits WWI with problematic horse drama  
The Adventures of Tintin/The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn (2011) - Affinities for Tintin, earlier Spielberg and film will decide your experience of this 3D mo-cap adventure
Super 8 (2011) - Abrams' nostalgic family crowdpleaser (producer)

The 2000s in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

2005 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

2005 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

Munich (2005) - Spielberg wrings a brilliant spy thriller from fraught real-life massacre and its aftermath

2001 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 
Band of Brothers - TV mini-series (2001) - WWII-sacrifice and -comradeship portrayed with skill and integrity (producer) 

Top 10: Best future-set movies 
A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001) - A robot fairy tale with both heart and mind
Amistad (1997) or, Must... Free... Slaves! 
Empire of the Sun (1987) - Spielberg's grand production of boy-in-China-during-WWII is a misfire

The Goonies (1985) - Sweet child performances drive Donner's beloved, uneven adventure (story) 
Twilight Zone The Movie (1983) - Fear takes many forms in tragedy-struck anthology

Top 10: Best family movies reviewed by Film Excess to date 
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) - Spielberg's greatest accomplishment
1941 (1979) - Spielberg's bizarre 'comedy spectacular' sinks like a rock  
Top 10: Best car chases in movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Duel (1971) - Spielberg's truck terror is ideal afternoon fare 

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 70 mil. $

Box office: 300.8 mil. $

= Big hit (returned 4.29 times its cost)

[Hook premiered 8 December (Hollywood) and runs 142 minutes. Spielberg developed the film in the 1980s and then left the project. Castle was eventually paid 500k $ to abandon the director's chair for Spielberg's return to it. Spielberg, Williams and Hoffman had a pay deal with no salary but instead they got 20 mil. $ from the first 50 mil. $ in gross rentals, then nothing for the following 70 mil. $ and then 40 % again thereafter. It is unclear if the deal also pertains to the foreign gross numbers. Roberts reportedly was paid 7 mil. $ for her performance. Shooting took place from February - August 1991 in London, England, California, including in Los Angeles, and in Hawaii. The shoot went 40 days over schedule, which Spielberg later stated was "his fault", consequently ballooning the cost from 48 mil. $ to approximately 70 mil. $. Spielberg and Roberts had a falling out during production, and she has stated that he hesitated "to come to my defense" and labeled him a "turncoat". The film opened #1 to a 13.5 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another 3 weekends at #1 and then another 3 in the top 5, grossing 119.6 mil. $ (39.8 % of the total gross). The foreign gross numbers have regrettably not been public. The film was nominated for 5 Oscars, winning none. It lost Best Set Decoration-Art Direction to Bugsy, Costume Design to Bugsy, Visual Effects to Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Makeup to Terminator 2 as well and Song (When You're Alone by John Williams and Leslie Bricusse) to Beauty and the Beast by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken from Beauty and the Beast. It was also nominated for a Grammy and a Golden Globe, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 2/4 star review, translating to a notch higher than this one. Spielberg told Empire magazine in 2018 about the film: "I felt like a fish out of water making Hook... I didn't have confidence in the script. I had confidence in the first act and I had confidence in the epilogue. I didn't have confidence in the body of it. I didn't quite know what I was doing and I tried to paint over my insecurity with production value. The more insecure I felt about it, the bigger and more colorful the sets became." Spielberg returned with Jurassic Park (1993). Williams returned in 4 TV, short and voicing roles prior to his theatrical physical return in Toys (1992); Hoffman in A Wish for Wings that Work (1991, TV movie) and theatrically in Hero (1992); Roberts in The Player (1992); and Bob Hoskins (Doomsday (2008)) in The Inner Circle (1991). Hook is rotten at 29 % with a 4.70/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Hook? 

The Graduate (1967) - Submerge yourself in Nichols' terrific classic

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Someone's sticking out an alluring leg before Dustin Hoffman on this titillating, hugely popular poster for Mike Nichols' The Graduate

We meet Benjamin as he graduates college and finds himself on high and dry concerning his future. At this junction his parents' friend Mrs. Robinson enter his life with her attractive daughter Elaine, which further complicates things.

The Graduate is written by Calder Willingham (Paths of Glory (1957)) and Buck Henry (The Owl and the Pussycat (1970)), adapting Charles Webb's (Love, Roger (1969)) same-titled 1963 novel, and directed by German-born American master filmmaker Mike Nichols (Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf (1966)), whose 2nd film it is.
This film is everything. You might go into it with some reservations and find the symbolism and heightened drama of the performances somewhat ostentatious. But keep watching. This film is irresistible: so funny, so involving, so full of creative spirit and invention. It is a zeitgeist hit that's full of youthful energy, joy in the art of relating a narrative, music, - Simon and Garfunkel's folk-pop evergreens are an integral part of the film, - and memorable performances, especially form Anne Bancroft (Home for the Holidays (1995)) and Dustin Hoffman (Kung Fu Panda (2008)). And so many underwater shots!
The film also has a visual (the cinematography is simple yet fabulous) and lyrical poetic quality, especially in the scenes of Hoffman driving the red sports car. It is a strange thing, but watching the film feels like traveling back in time, visiting the 1960s. It is absolutely wonderful. And The Graduate is a genuine classic.

Related posts:

Mike Nichols: Closer (2004) - Nichols and Marber's intelligent film of love and infidelity 
Angels in America (2003, TV-miniseries) or, Dying in the 80's, of AIDS, at L-E-N-G-T-H
Biloxi Blues (1988) or, '45 Army Camp Confidential     
Catch-22 (1970) - Nichols wages war on war with ensemble cast in absurdist satire

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 3 mil. $
Box office: 190 mil. $
= Blockbuster (returned 63.33 times its cost)
[The Graduate premiered 20 December (New York) and runs 106 minutes. An exhaustive list of actresses were in contention or considered for the main female parts, while Hoffman was mainly cast over 'just' Warren Beatty and Robert Redford. Shooting took place in California, including Los Angeles, from April - August 1967. In post-production Nichols begged Paul Simon to write more songs for the film. It made 104.6 mil. $ domestically in its original release, making it the currently 23rd highest-grossing film in North America, adjusted for inflation. It is estimated to have made 85 mil. $ in international rentals, and it has made another 339k $ in 3 subsequent domestic re-releases. It was nominated for 6 Oscars, winning for Best Director. It lost Best Actor to Rod Steiger for In the Heat of the Night, Actress (Bancroft) to Katherine Hepburn for Guess Who's Coming for Dinner, Supporting Actress (Ross) to Estelle Parsons for Bonnie & Clyde, Cinematography (Robert Surtees) to Burnett Guffey for Bonnie & Clyde, Picture to In the Heat of the Night and Adapted Screenplay to Stirling Siliphant also for In the Heat of the Night. It won 5/7 Golden Globe nominations, 5/7 BAFTA nominations, a Grammy, a National Board of Review award and other honors. Roger Ebert gave the film a 3/4 star review, translating to a notch harder than this one. It was since adapted for the stage. Nichols returned with Teach Me! (1968, short) and theatrically with masterpiece Catch-22 (1970). Bancroft returned in Young Winston (1972); Hoffman in Madigan's Millions (1968); and Katherine Ross (A Climate for Killing (1991)) in Hellfighters (1968). The Graduate is certified fresh at 86 % with an 8.85/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Graduate?

Runaway Jury (2003) - Gun violence trial as Hollywood show

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+ Worst Poster of the Year

Formally dressed stars eye each other uneasily under a blurry photograph on this dubious poster for Runaway Jury

A madman mows down 11 people at an office, and a widow to one of the slain subsequently sues the gun company. The principal trial gets a jury, zealous lawyers, - and an X factor ...

Runaway Jury is written by Brian Koppelman (Runner Runner (2013)), David Levien (Rounders (1998)), Rick Cleveland (Nurse Jackie (2009-10)) and Matthew Chapman (Heart of Midnight (1988)), adapting The Runaway Jury (1996) by John Grisham (The Summons (2002)), and directed by Gary Fleder (Kiss the Girls (1997)).
The biggest problem for this over-written courtroom thriller set in New Orleans is that it lacks a hero: Gene Hackman (Split Decisions (1988)) is definitely the villain of the piece; Dustin Hoffman (Stranger Than Fiction (2006)) may have been thought of as the hero, being the lawyer representing the widow's case, (but it is a grotesque case in my opinion.) John Cusack (Adult World (2013)) and Rachel Weisz (Death Machine (1994)) both play manipulative and greedy characters, whose real aim is only revealed in Runaway Jury's poorly closed up ending.
The film also suffers from superficial music video-style editing, which lowers the realism in the material and ruptures any thematic weight it may have carried. Robert Elswit's (Salt (2010)) photography is seamless, and Hackman lets loose; especially he and Hoffman's bathroom scene has the show movie energy that this film is still worth watching for. The American gun ownership issue at the core of the film remains pretty much unchanged today.

 

Related post:

 

2003 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II] 

2003 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

 

Watch a VHS tape teaser for the film here

Cost: 60 mil. $
Box office: 80.1 mil. $
= Big flop (returned 1.33 times its cost)
[Runaway Jury premiered 9 October (USA) and runs 127 minutes. Since pre-production had started in 1997, filmmakers Joel Schumacher and Mike Newell and stars Will Smith and Edward Norton had been attached at various points. The plot was changed from a tobacco focus to guns following the release of tobacco-focused The Insider (1999). Shooting took place in Louisiana, including New Orleans, and in Los Angeles, California in and around September 2002. The film opened #3, behind fellow new release The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and holdover hit Kill Bill: Vol. 1, to an 11.8 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another week in the top 5 (#4) and grossed 49.4 mil. $ (61.7 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Spain with 3.8 mil. $ (4.7 %) and Italy and France at a shared #3 with 3.7 mil. $ (4.6 %). Roger Ebert gave the film a 3/4 star review, translating to a notch better than this one. Grisham in 2004 called the film "smart" and "suspenseful" but was disappointed with its theatrical performance. Fleder returned with 11 TV episodes in 3 different TV-series before hitting big screens again with The Express (2008). Cusack returned in Must Love Dogs (2005); Hackman in Welcome to Mooseport (2004) - his final movie; Hoffman in Finding Neverland (2004) and Weisz in Envy (2004). Runaway Jury is fresh at 73 % with a 6.56/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Runaway Jury?

Death of a Salesman (1985), TV movie - Schlöndorff's great adaptation of Arthur Miller's masterpiece

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Dustin Hoffman as Willy Loman and John Malkovich as his son Biff on a DVD cover for Volker Schlöndorff's Death of a Salesman

QUICK REVIEW:

Farm-worker Biff returns home to visit his disappointed father, who is struggling with the bills and his sanity.

This Death of a Salesman adaptation is a CBS TV movie directed by great German filmmaker Volker Schlöndorff (The Tin Drum/Die Blechtrommel (1979)), based on playwright Arthur Miller's (A View from the Bridge (1955)) own teleplay adaptation of his legendary 1949 play of the same name.
The film presents great acting in every part: Particularly Dustin Hoffman (Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)), John Malkovich (Mulholland Falls  (1996)) and Charles Durning (Tootsie (1982)) as Willy's neighbor are eminent. Schlöndorff has staged the play with expansive, affecting colors and sets that enhance the super-reality of the stream-of-consciousness-based story. Miller's masterful script stands out as clear as lightning here as the almost unbearably intensive male tragedy that it is.
SPOILER Loman's death is, regrettably, inelegantly handled.
Still, Schlöndorff's film is a generally outstanding adaptation of one of the irrefutably best plays of all time.

Watch a student-made trailer for the film here, (an official trailer is not in Youtube currently)

Cost: 3 mil. $
Box office: Unknown 
= Unknown
[Death of a Salesman had its TV debut June 24 and runs 136 minutes. Hoffman was interested in mounting a movie adaptation with Miller's co-operation as writer-producer, and Schlöndorff was hired based on his expressionist ideas. The film came to be as the conclusion of the 1984 revival of the play on Broadway with most of the actors playing their characters again in the film. The film was made with the big screen in mind and shot in 20 days. Miller had been unhappy with the two previous adaptations of the play, but he was proud of this version. The film was shown theatrically in foreign countries and at several film festivals. You can read more of the making of the film in a New York Times article from the time of its making here. Hoffman won a Golden Globe for his acting in the film, and it also won 3 Emmys. Death of a Salesman is fresh at 100 % with an 8.4 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes, and 7,004 IMDb users have given it a 7.3 average rating.]

What do you think of Death of a Salesman? 

Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) - Benton's amazing, truthful divorce drama

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The poster for Robert Benton's Kramer vs. Kramer wisely keeps a blissful atmosphere

Kramer vs. Kramer is one of those 70s classics that you just have to have seen. - And if you haven't yet, get a hold of it, because it's a masterpiece.
It's the third directorial effort of screenwriter Robert Benton (The Human Stain (2003)), who had already written other classics like Bonnie and Clyde (1967) and What's Up, Doc? (1972). He adapted the same-titled 1977 novel by Avery Corman (Prized Possessions (1992)).

Ted & Joanna Kramer's marriage is over. He has been working too much, while she has grown increasingly unhappy, and she now decides to leave him and their young son for a while.

My plot summary above doesn't contain most of the film's story, because I don't want to give away the emotional journey that the film covers. Kramer vs. Kramer shows the break-up of a 'good' marriage, (I mean that in the sense that it is not one that is haunted by violence, alcoholism, drugs, cheating or other unpleasantries), SPOILER and how a custody battle in a modern world might play. The title is, in a sense, a contrast to the film at hand, SPOILER because, while Ted and Joanna ultimately do fight each other in court, they never go to all-out war with each other, and the tenderness that most married couples feel for each other even after a divorce also has its place here.
Benton's Oscar-winning script keeps the plot moving and the characters evolving in a believable way, as we witness them, which is exhilarating and rare to witness. The film seems archetypal and very plausible at the same time. It is heightened by several simple yet golden scenes, (SPOILER my favorite might be Ted's first morning alone with his son), great, Oscar-nominated cinematography by Néstor Almendros (The Blue Lagoon (1980)), pitch perfect, Oscar-nominated editing by Gerald B. Greenberg (American History X (1998)) and excellent choices of original, classical music pieces by Vivaldi, Henry Purcell and others that play extremely well in scenes around the dialog scenes.

The glorious Meryl Streep as Joanna Kramer in Robert Benton's Kramer vs. Kramer

The details:

Two vital ingredients are what make Kramer vs. Kramer stand out and transcend most other divorce dramas:
Dustin Hoffman (Finding Neverland (2004)) and Meryl Streep (Rendition (2007)), who both won their first Oscars here and engender their roles to a remarkable degree, making them nuanced and almost palpably real to us. They are both truly amazing here.
And they are backed by several other great actors' performances; especially Justin Henry (Sixteen Candles (1984)), who was Oscar-nominated as little Billy Kramer is incredibly well-playing, and Jane Alexander (The Blacklist (2013-14)) as neighbor Margaret, George Coe (Funny People (2009)) as Ted's boss and Howard Duff (Too Much Sun (1990)) as his lawyer also give excellent characterizations.
Benton has made it all come to life so vividly, intelligently, perfectly, eliciting tears and a little laughter in just the right dose for the subject. Kramer vs. Kramer is a gem.

Dustin Hoffman as Ted Kramer in Robert Benton's Kramer vs. Kramer

Watch the original trailer for the movie here

Cost: 8 mil. $
Box office: 106.2 mil. $ (North America only)
= Blockbuster
[Kramer vs. Kramer was unbelievably successful, especially for an exclusively adult drama about divorce, and it's the kind of success that 'serious' movie lovers everywhere would love to see materialize again, because it allows for many serious adult movies to be made in its wake. The film won 5 Oscars; besides the ones mentioned, it also won Best Picture and Best Director, making Benton a two-time Oscar winner overnight, (he would win his third for his writing of Places in the Heart (1984)). Alexander was also nominated as Best Supporting Actress, and the film won and was nominated for a heap of other awards worldwide. A shame the international gross figures don't seem to be out on the web, but it appears from the few numbers that are available that the film was a global hit.]

What do you think of Kramer vs. Kramer?
What other superior films of divorce can you mention?