This is a really strange beast of a movie. It's quite well made. It has a decent cast. But the whole thing is ill conceived. Now, to be clear I like Bacharach, but the music here is woefully out of date. In fairness, when this film was released there were still plenty of folks who loved those old Hollywood musicals, but the world had moved on since The Sound Of Music or Carousel. This movie comes out after Hair, Jesus Christ Superstar; and Tommy, Cats, etc were a breath away. Making a musical that was so old fashioned was just backward. And Bacharach and David had dozens of pop hits before and after this, so it wasn't for a lack of talent.
Clearly someone wanted to make something like The King and I. In 1973. Madness.
Finch, as always, gives an honest and interesting performance. And none of the other cast are bad either. The sets and cinematography are wonderful. But it's near impossible to get past, 'what were they thinking?'.
Reply by Jacinto Cupboard
on September 19, 2020 at 7:32 AM
This is a really strange beast of a movie. It's quite well made. It has a decent cast. But the whole thing is ill conceived. Now, to be clear I like Bacharach, but the music here is woefully out of date. In fairness, when this film was released there were still plenty of folks who loved those old Hollywood musicals, but the world had moved on since The Sound Of Music or Carousel. This movie comes out after Hair, Jesus Christ Superstar; and Tommy, Cats, etc were a breath away. Making a musical that was so old fashioned was just backward. And Bacharach and David had dozens of pop hits before and after this, so it wasn't for a lack of talent.
Clearly someone wanted to make something like The King and I. In 1973. Madness.
Finch, as always, gives an honest and interesting performance. And none of the other cast are bad either. The sets and cinematography are wonderful. But it's near impossible to get past, 'what were they thinking?'.