Reviews (17)

Great entertainment if you like Wall Street, etc.
People who complained that this movie doesn't compare to the book should relax a little. Any movie that's based on books cannot do the book justice in less than 2 hours. If you have 3 hours a la Lord of the Rings or 4 hours like the A&E production of Pride & Prejudice, then maybe and I would have adjusted my rating accordingly.

But this movie is under 2 hours and managed to take a very complicated topic in Leveraged Buy-Outs (LBO's) in one of the biggest LBO's of our time in RJR-Nabisco and manages to make the story very entertaining. It flows quickly and I had no trouble following what's going on.

The acting is superb; Jonathan Pryce played Henry Kravis as a cold, calculated and ruthless corporate raider (whether Kravis is like that in real life I don't know) and James Garner did a nice job as F. Ross Johnson. Overall, if you like wall street type movies like Wall Street with Michael Douglas and Charlie Sheen, I would highly recommend this movie. In fact, I like this better than Wall Street.

Infamous LBO and Characters Interestingly Depicted
In the wild and wooly 1980s, leveraged buyouts (LBOs) -- financed predominantly through the issuance of junk bonds -- reigned supreme. James Garner gives a nice performance as CEO of RJR Nabisco, F. Ross Johnson. After reluctantly meeting with KKR's LBO guru Henry Kravis (portrayed masterfully by Jonathan Pryce), Johnson figures it would be best to go his own route to accomplish the buyout; after all, Johnson wants to retain his autonomy and Pryce would unlikely allow this to happen.

An all-out power war ensues, with Johnson working with Shearson Lehman Brothers pitted against Kravis and the powerhouse Drexel Burnham Lambert (mysteriously downplayed).

The performances are great and the storyline moves fast and holds your interest. Not to be missed if the dynamic world of finance is your thing. A very different movie than Wall Street both cinematically and contextually.

Stars James Garner, Jonathan Pryce (really, really good), and Peter Riegert.

I could see this movie over and over
This is a great movie, particularly for someone interested in true stories of corporate behavior. Several of my finance professors when I was pursing my MBA recommended this movie. I was not disappointed.

Due to a high volume of profanity, this movie is not appropriate for young children.

Not as great as the book, but a DELIGHTFUL farce
The book this movie is made from is a masterpiece of business literature. It is impossible to make that wonderful book into anything less than an extended documentary or a several part mini-series. That being admitted and set aside, this is a very good and very funny movie. Amazingly, it tells a lot of the actual story as you can cram into a standard movie format.

It is bitingly funny and like all satire that truly bites, it is funny because it is based on truth. This movie condenses the RJR - KKR competition into something like a farce (as it seemed in the papers at the time). Some may object to making such a huge deal into something of a joke, but c'mon, this whole deal had a large dose of the absurd about it. How else could they have played this story in two hours?

And it is has the additional benefit of being educational for business students. You will see how managers misuse shareholder money by treating it as if it were their own (agency costs). You will see planeloads of money poured into bad projects (NPV). You will see naked greed, inept investment advice, and broken trust (corporate ethics). You know, late 20th century American business! It is funny, dramatic, and a bit touching, for example, as they fly the sick pooch home on his own private corporate jet. (Which some deny every happening, but it has entered the realm of legend - so whether it happened or not it has become something like a kind of truth.)

James Garner is terrific (he almost always is) as is the whole cast. It really is a delightful movie and that is almost miraculous given how deadly boring this topic could have become.

But don't forget to read the book!

If you read the book, it's a disappointment.
If not, it can be funny even to laymen. Obviously, it's practically impossible to transfer everything from the book to movie. So don't expect too much, Wall Street guys. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

The Soundtrack Problem
All the complaints about the soundtrack on DVD are quite true. However, if you use a 5.1 surround sound system, the sound is quite all right. BUT the sound comes out from the rear speakers only!

They need to try again
I saw this movie when it came out in the 70's and it's a great movie, but the sound is so low on the DVD that even at full volume, it is inaudible. I had it replaced and the second one was the same way. Until they get this fixed, don't waste your time and money.

Inaudible soundtrack dooms this Dorian Gray
As much as I would've liked this film, my enjoyment was ruined by a bad DVD transfer that had a horribly inaudible soundtrack. When this occurred on my replacement DVD, I had to come to the conclusion that this was a flaw of MPI, who distributed this disc. While they present a great product in the Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes films, they do nobody any favors with this slipshod transfer. It only gets the one star for the solid visuals, but unless you want to crank your TV volume at full blast to even hear a bit of the soundtrack, this is a product that I recommend avoiding.

"Could It Be Oscar Wilde's Tortured Soul?"
I am so glad that Oscar Wilde's genius prose was made into movie form. The cast is excellent. I have always loved John Karlen. I started watching him when the daytime horror-soap "Dark Shadows" was popular. He, along with Shane and Nigel, give a too true- to- life portrayal of Wilde's mixed characters battling their own curses and demons that life seemingly has bestowed upon them. However, it is not exactly circumstances which mold us into who we are, but our choices and how we handle conflict. I had one of my English classes watch this movie so that they could see that everything we do and say eventually makes us who we are, and we can never undo or repair the damages of ill deeds, greed or lust. It's a frightening thought. Sometimes it's more difficult to take the hard right than it is to take the easy wrong, as Al Gore so brilliantly suggested in his 2000 Democratic Convention speech. The fact that man would literally sell his soul for youth teaches us that our priorities are still out of order. The conflict of man versus himself is the power point of this book/movie. Sometimes we truly are our own worst enemies. While the character Dorian continues to do as he pleases despite hurting others, his portrait changes, grows old and reveals all of his past sins. This effect is pure genius, and it really makes one stop and think about his/her own life and choices. Everyone should watch this movie at least once a month....it's that powerful and meaningful. I also believe that Oscar Wilde saw himself in many of his characters. He had a difficult life along with the world judging him harshly, but he too made choices that cost him everything. In conclusion, sometimes the hardest thing in the world is self-reflection. ... Read more

Reviews (14)

Les Miserables: Literary Masterpieces
Many versions have been made by this classic tale written by Victor Hugo, but none does justice than the 1978 version of top-rated performances by Richard Jordan & Anthony Perkins. This classic story of "one man's search for freedom and another's quest for revenge" will be enjoyed and loved by both men and women. Life's lessons on forgiveness and the giving of oneself to another, portrays a heroic adventure that few dare to endure till the very end. A great paper to write about for school; a great movie to watch as a family and to open for conversation with parents and their children afterwards. A must see by all!

A Solid Adaptation
This was the first of the many film and TV adaptations of Les Miserables that I saw. Made for British TV, and originally shown in two parts, it goes into more detail than some of the theatrical versions, and does a reasonably good job of distilling Hugo's sprawling story into a dramatic presentation. Jordan as Valjean and Anthony Perkins as Javert are both rock-solid; a major improvement over the more exaggerated characterizations of Fredric March and Charles Laughton in the 30s Hollywood version. I rate this one slightly higher than the recent Liam Neeson-Geoffrey Rush production.

DVD is missing 30 minutes
This 1978 British television production is one of the better English-language adapatations of Les Miserables. Unfortunately, the DVD release is missing 30 minutes of footage. Originally shown in two parts at a length of 150 minutes, the DVD edit has been chopped down to 120. (The VHS tape edition plays complete.)

Had I known this disc was an incomplete version I would not have purchased it. If you want to see the complete film --- and it's well worth it --- you'll need to buy the VHS tape.

Quel dommage! (What a shame!)

This "Les Mis" is "Les Bomb"
I had never been interested in the story of Les Mis until I saw this film in one of my classes. I was captivated! No doubt, the special effects (few and far between) aren't especially top-notch, but I loved it still. The movie tells the story of a poor thief turned rich mayor and war-time hero! Amazing! I read the book some time after and enjoyed it just as much. In fact, I hummed the tune of the musical score the entire time I read it, and I'm only a teenager!!!

Still moving after all these years....
I saw this when it was originally telecast in the late 70s on TV as an Hallmark special presentation, and I never forgot it. What a relief to find it's available on video. However, I'm disappointed that it's been cut down to 2 hours - the original telecast on TV divided it into 2 showings (2 consecutive evenings), about 3 hours apiece, if I remember right. Not including commercials, I would estimate the original (uncut) version was about 4-5 hours. So, in this VHS version, the story moves VERY fast to squeeze it into 2 hours. Still great to watch, but again, it's very trimmed down and every scene moves very quickly. It would be great in the future if it would become available in the original uncut version on DVD or a 2 or 3-set VHS version. ... Read more

Description

Tony Award-winning actress, Blythe Danner, portrays the sensitive spinster Alma Winemiller in Tennessee Williams' 1948 drama. Frustrated with longing for the socially prominent young doctor next door, the eccentric, highly emotional minister's daughter decides to settle for one night with him in a rented hotel room. The Washington Post wrote: "Blythe Danner's Alma is as much of a television event as Katharine Hepburn's Amanda in The Glass Menagerie. Frank Langella is such a warm, dreamy-eyed Dr. Buchanan that the role is reimbursed for the loss of its cynical edge with a smooth romanticism that complements Danner's determined honesty splendidly." "How many different emotions do you expect in two hours?" --The New York Daily News. With Tim O'Connor, Louise Latham, and Neva Patterson. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

A Fabulous Peice of Acting
I saw this work many years ago and it has stayed with me all this time. It stands out as masterful acting by Miss Danner; her work is touching and delicate. The play is a work of genus. It is too bad that is it not known as well as some of Tennessee Williams other works.

Extremely enjoyable:)
This is a well written captivating play. I like it for several
reasons. The acting is superb. I have always been a huge
fan of Bythe Danner even though I come from her daughter's
generation. I also adore the incredibly handsome Frank
Langella--I am a huge fan of his:) Both these actors give
their characters many special emotions and by the play's
finale I felt like I knew them both or knew someone like
them:) Anyway it is so good that such theatre works are
preserved in DVD format so future generarions can appreciate the simpler and finer things of life.

Magnificent
Thank Heaven for Broadway Theatre Archive. For the past few years, the company has been releasing older television productions of great stage works, as well as a select number of theatrically staged videos (such as the Shakespeare-in-the-Park productions of "King Lear" with James Earl Jones and "The Pirates of Penzance" with Kevin Kline and Linda Ronstadt). Some of these television productions are truly legendary: Jason Robards in "The Iceman Cometh," and Robards and Colleen Dewhurst in the landmark production of "A Moon for the Misbegotten." The present DVD edition of Tennessee Williams' "Eccentricities of a Nightingale" deserves to join their ranks.

"Nightingale" is Williams' revision of 1948's "Summer and Smoke" (my favorite Williams play, incidentally). It tells essentially the same story of the spinsterish minister's daughter whose consuming love for her next-door neighbor remains unreciprocated. "Nightingale" is less allegorical than its predecessor and more tightly focused on the fascinating central character of Alma Winemiller, who Williams once claimed was his favorite character of all those that he had written.

All the roles in this production are in eminently capable hands, with particular pride of place among the supporting players going to Louise Latham as the mentally unbalanced Mrs. Winemiller, Tim O'Connor as Alma's well-intentioned but misguided father, and Neva Patterson as the two-faced Mrs. Buchanan, oozing both Southern charm and venom. As the object of Alma's affections, Frank Langella plays the most warm and romantic John Buchanan I have ever seen. Other Johns have seemed cocky or cold, but Langella seems to genuinely care about Alma rather than merely tolerating her. Played like this, it is quite easy to see how Alma could fall in love with him.

However, this is Alma's show, and in that role Blythe Danner is a raw, exposed nerve-ending, alternating between lyric melancholy and barely concealed hysteria. It is an exquisitely shaded performance, full of rich colors and nuance, and it is on a par with the sublime Geraldine Page's performance of the same role in the film version of "Summer and Smoke." Both actresses capture the character's need to burst forth from her own skin, of being strait-jacketed by the social mores of the period, and of being on the precipice of a dangerous emotional drop-off point. If Page owned the role of Alma in "Summer and Smoke," Danner clearly owns the Alma of "Eccentricities." She is simply stunning.

Don't expect stunning picture quality -- the production was filmed in 1976 on video, so it is roughly akin to watching a mid-1970's soap opera. However, the performances are what matter here, and they truly deliver. If you love Tennessee Williams, Blythe Danner, or if you simply enjoy great drama, don't let this one pass you by. ... Read more

Reviews (11)

Wonderful - will stay with you for years
This is one of the best. When elderly widower Sam Peak befriends a stray white dog that no one else can see the family is sure he is becoming senile. Everyone that is but the maid who asserts that it must be a ghost dog and that no good can come of it. She's seen it before. The dog will surely lead Sam to his death. When a strong willed Sam decides to take the dog with him on an out of town trip to his high school reunion (without the knowledge of his two overprotective daughters), it sure looks like she might be right. But appearances can be deceiving.

This is a heart warming and perfectly portrayed movie of the strength and endurance of love beyond all bounds. Guaranteed to make you cry and smile at the same time.

One of the most beautiful movies I've ever seen
Shortly after celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary, Sam Peek loses his beloved wife Cora to a heart attack.

Told from the perspective of his son James, this heart touching story tells of Sam and his family. One day shortly after Cora's death, a snow white dog shows up on Sam's porch. Sam grudgingly feeds and eventually takes the dog in. The problem is, when he tells his children about the white dog, they think he is losing his mind because only Sam can see it. The dog stays with Sam and becomes his constant companion. Eventually, he realizes that the dog is really Cora, back to take care of him through his last days.

A heartwarming and sometimes humorous story of everlasting love. It never fails to bring a tear to my eys.

Positively Beautiful.
This movie is deeply touching. The dog is gorgeous. The acting is high-quality. This is an embarrassingly short review, but there really is nothing more to say, except, "See this great film!"

Touching Story; Little-Known Predecessor to "Fluke"
I just happened to be perusing the "Drama" shelf at my local Blockbuster when I saw this movie that obviously looked as though this old man's beloved wife died and returned to him as a beautiful white dog. Naturally I thought of my other favorite reincarnated dog-person movie, "Fluke," which was made 2 years after this film. So I rented the Hallmark video and watched it. The story was original, touching, and moved quickly enough. It was sweet and mysterious but simple enough to understand. It wasn't at all a bore. I loved it. The old man was endearing, the dog was gorgeous, the children were annoyingly caring, it had romance and suspense and sadness. This movie was truly worth it. What a lovely film.

To Dance with the White Dog
This movie is wonderful heartwarming the true meaning of love a really great movie makes the heart feel better... ... Read more

Reviews (1)

What more can I say?
This is a deliciously wicked satire of legal eagles and their media counterparts. The cast is flawless, not limited to Gina Gershon who skewers her sex-pot image by being both victim and preying mantis (watch the opening sequence -- it's schtick to die for). James Garner just keeps getting better with age. The script is sharp as a tack, the performances and direction right on target. I'll be adding this to my collection! ... Read more

Description

Academy Award (r)-winning actress Jessica Lange heads anextraordinary cast in this breathtaking adaptation of Willa Cather'sturn-of-the-century epic saga of settlers carving a home from thewilderness and finding the dreams of a lifetime.

Alexandra Bergson is still a young woman when she inherits the familyfarm and struggles to carve a home and a fortune from the the windsweptprairie.Because of her responsibility to the land and her youngerbrothers, she must give up her one chance for love - though she's neverforgotten the teenager who stirred her heart, then left to find hisfuture elsewhere.He returns fifteen years later and rekindles withinAlexandra a long-buried dream and a new-found desire in this timelessmasterpiece of life and love, tragedy and triumph as sweeping as theland and the settlers it portrays. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Great Adaptation!
I thought this adaptation would have gotten a nod from Willa Cather. The scenery was beautiful, the characters just as Willa Cather drew them in her book by the same title. Jessica Lange was Alexandra with her quite dignity, and strong will and the chemistry between she and Carl was very believable. Perhaps the best characters were Maria (Anne Heche) and Emile, who did a superb job at playing star crossed lovers. I was very impressed with the screen play. There were so many quotes from the book, who ever did it had a good sense of the book. There were only two faults I found with the film and that was the casting of two characters. I believe they could have found someone else to play the younger Alexandra. Heather Graham seemed too stiff and her accent was always slipping. The other character was the land. There should have been more shots of it. The land was such a central part of the book. It is what gave Alexandra her strength and her faith.

If one likes very accurate novels into film or period pieces and great actor/actress chemistry this is a great movie to watch. ... Read more

Description

For Faye Dunaway, Hogan's Goat by William Alfred "was the play that led to everything." "Everything" was Bonnie and Clyde, which brought her instant stardom. With this television production Ms. Dunaway returned to the role she originated at The American Place Theatre in 1965, that of Kathleen Stanton, of which she said, "Emotionally, I'm very close to Kathleen Stanton--this sensual and spiritual struggle of a woman of good birth, convent-bred, yet dominated by her senses." The play revolves around the tensions in her marriage to an Irish immigrant whose years of political loyalty have finally made him the prime candidate for mayor of Brooklyn. "A deeply moving presentation." --The New York Post. With Rue McClanahan, Philip Bosco, George Rose, and Margaret Linn. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

FROM VICTIM TO VICTORY
AFTERMATH: A TEST OF LOVE, is an intense, poignant, true story of the Ross Colburn family, and their desperate attempt to keep it all together, when their mother is murdered and brother is seriously injured, in an unfortunate robbery. Dr. Ross Colburn is played by the incomparable Richard Chamberlain. He is a successful Ob/Gyn specialist, whose busy career has kept him extremely busy. The tall, gorgeous actor, decked out in his scrubs, and in his slacks and white coat; was so remindful to me of his Dr. Kildare days, when the handsome physician had millions of women, all over the world, hopelessly in love. After thirty plus years, it was astounding to see how beautifully the actor has matured. He is even more handsome with maturity, and has gorgeous silver streaks in his hair, and wonderful laugh lines (I call them krinkles), etched in his beautiful face. His wife, Irene, is played by the wonderful Michael Learned, who has all through the years, taken good care of this family, to allow her husband more time to devote to his medical practice. When she is senselessly murdered in a robbery, Dr. Colburn attempts to heal his grieving family and keep them together. The in depth characterization present in this film, was amazing; we really got to know this family. Dr. Colburn's interaction with each child was sheer magic, and he showed a great emotional range in this film. It was obvious, Richard Chamberlain understood the intense sorrow, and agony his character experienced, and really reached down into the depth's of his being, to bring a masterful performance to the screen. This is a true story , and is based on the book, VICTIM, by Gary Kinder. This moving story is a "must have", for all Richard Chamberlain fans. ... Read more

Description

Eccentricities of a Nightingale
Tony Award-winning actress, Blythe Danner, portrays the sensitive spinster Alma Winemiller in Tennessee Williams' 1948 drama. Frustrated with longing for the socially prominent young doctor next door, the eccentric, highly emotional minister's daughter decides to settle for one night with him in a rented hotel room. The Washington Post wrote: "Blythe Danner's Alma is as much of a television event as Katharine Hepburn's Amanda in The Glass Menagerie. Frank Langella is such a warm, dreamy-eyed Dr. Buchanan that the role is reimbursed for the loss of its cynical edge with a smooth romanticism that complements Danner's determined honesty splendidly." "How many different emotions do you expect in two hours?" --The New York Daily News. With Tim O'Connor, Louise Latham, and Neva Patterson.

Ten Blocks on the Camino Real
Martin Sheen stars as the eternal American G.I. Kilroy, a poetic soul condemned to spiritual death, in Tennessee Williams's allegorical one-act play. In a dreamlike fictitious Latin American country, a worn-out Casanova, a Camille living on memories, a Byron pitiful in his disillusioned pride, and others less famous live out a hopeless existence. Into this world comes Kilroy, an ex-boxer and perpetual fall guy, who asks so little and always gets short-changed, but never gives up hope. He is finally conned, or almost, into despairing subjection like the rest. "An allegory about people removed from time and geography..." --The New York Times. With Lotte Lenya, Tom Aldredge, Michael Baseleon, and Albert Dekker.

Dragon Country
This production pairs together two Tennessee Williams plays, written twenty years apart, each examining the theme of isolation with searing clarity. The joint presentation features the world premiere of "I Can't Imagine Tomorrow," starring two-time Oscar nominee Kim Stanley (The Right Stuff) and William Redfield (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest), and a much earlier work, "Talk to Me Like the Rain and Let Me Listen," starring Lois Smith (Five Easy Pieces)and Alan Mixon. Together, the dramas delve into "A land of endured but unendurable pain," said Williams, "where each one is so absorbed, deafened, blinded by his own journey across it, he sees, he looks for, no one else crawling across it with him." ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Two great & one so-so Tennessee Williams play
If you're a fan of Tennessee Williams this triptych is a great bargain. The strongest of the three is "Eccentricities of a Nightingale" (a reworking of "Summer and Smoke" and one which Williams preferred to his earlier effort). Danner and Langella are brilliant. The sexual frankness these two characters exhibit may seem implausible for their social setting and the era being depicted, but somehow it works. It's as if Williams is presenting us with a hypothetical: "What if people could be honest with one another about their sexual desires and what if they were willing to engage one another in fulfilling these desires without burdening each other with unrealistic expectations?" Watching Danner's Alma is like seeing what might have become of Blanche DuBois if she had not lost her connection to reality and if Stanley had loved her and not just used her. "Dragon Country" is two short plays about conflicted couples. The DVD is worth the purchase price just for Kim Stanley's subtle performance in part 2, "I Can't Imagine Tomorrow." It's easy to see why she was such a major stage actor; it's a pity she didn't make more films. The only disappointment in this set was "Ten Blocks on the Camino Real," which feels like an amateurish high school production. The story is told on a mythic level which makes it difficult to take any of the characters seriously--in trying to present them archetypes Williams has created wooden stereotypes. This one will probably be of interest only to the person intent upon seeing everything Williams wrote. Even so, the cost of the set is less than buynig any two of the DVDs separately. ... Read more

Description

By Paul Zindel. Set in a research laboratory that embodies the mechanical, detached attitudes of the 20th century science, this play tells the poignant story of a friendless, simple scrubwoman (Ruth White) and a dolphin who stubbornly refuses to talk to anyone but her. Despite the earnest attempts of her supervisor to indocrinate her, she cannot understand the cold, intellectual atmosphere. Secretly, she and the dolphin become friends and together strike a blow for love and understanding that baffles the experts. For this production, famed puppeteer Bil Baird created a life-size dolphin puppet that he both manipulates and acts as its voice. The Modern Jazz Quartet improvised and performed the original score. ... Read more

Description

Written by Emmy Award®-winning playwright Loring Mandel, Particular Men recalls what might be considered the most significant event of man’s entire history—the introduction of nuclear weaponry. Although fictitious, Mandel’s story may bring to mind some of the events that took place at Los Alamos, New Mexico (where the Manhattan Project was carried out from 1943 to 1945) and during subsequent Atomic Energy Commission proceedings concerning questions of "national security." Starring Golden Globe Award-winner Stacy Keach (American History X), this play centers around the development of the atomic bomb, examining the moral responsibilities of scientists and the relationship between them and the governments that support their work. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Point is vague...
An experimental effort at getting into the minds of Oppenheimer and other Manhattan Project participants, "Particular Men" fails almost from the start. First, and most obvious to the viewer, the choppy time-shifting back and forth from event to event wears thin very quickly. This can be a clever effect, but not when it is done in so monotonous a fashion. Second, all of the principal historical figures have been poorly disguised behind made-up names (even Einstein!), further removing us from caring one way or the other. Additionally, there is a bizarre sterility in the play that negates emotion, and before long, the play just becomes tedious.

Are we watching a play about how the characters felt about the Bomb, or about the Red Scare? Neither seems too clear by the end, and the point of the play is... what? The Bomb was bad? Using it was bad? The Red Scare was bad? Oppenheimer was bad? All of these? None of these? Unfortunately, the whole point of the play is rather vague. Through the disjointed narrative structure, the emotional impact is hampered, and the denouement (such as it is), is far too talky and experimental to support itself.

The tragedy is that the cast is excellent. The sets and make-up are extraordinary for the time (1972). The performances are mostly first-class, and even the dialogue sparkles. All of this is wasted through the unfortunate choice to jump around the story's different time periods. The disjointed structure does nothing for the characters or their story, which are both pretty good. Halfway through, you'll start wondering how much longer the play is, and when it will end.

The transfer is fair, but the video elements are clearly dated (the cover image is very blurry, but that is not necessarily indicative of the DVD quality). Keach keeps the play moving, so Stacy Keach fans should check this out. But those interested in the history surrounding the Manhattan Project, the dawn of the Atomic Age, and the Red Scare will be disappointed that the play was done here as "art" instead of in a more straight-forward fashion. ... Read more

Amazon.com

This bittersweet two-person play by Murray Schisgal stars Eli Wallach(The Magnificent Seven, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly) andhis wife Anne Jackson as Paul and Sylvia, coworkers who type names out ofthe phone book for salesmen. Though the action of the play is continuous,The Typists moves forward from Paul's first day to many yearslater, capturing fights, despair, friendship, and the raw need to keepgoing through their lives. Schisgal's script isn't brilliant, but itsquiet understanding of the ways people cope with getting through the daybuilds to a sincere pathos. Wallach and especially Jackson are excellent;Jackson never makes the unmarried Sylvia the object of pity--hercompelling mixture of resilience and defensiveness is too tough to lookdown on, and too real to ignore. --Bret Fetzer ... Read more