Garp and I go waaay back. We have a history, part of which I will omit here for some honor, but most I'll explain.
Picture it: Summer of 1982, Arizona. I was 8 years old and my parents took me to see The World According to Garp with the rational that it's Robin Williams (he was Popeye for my sake) so it has to be funny, despite the dreaded R-Rating my parents were opposed to. Not only were they shocked at the nudity, sexual situations and language, they found the movie boring and not-so-funny.
What was funny, was that when they showed a woman's breasts, they covered my eyes yet leaving them wide open for the guy's locker room that, pretty much, showed everything. Heh, little did they know.
Probably not so strange, those were the main two scenes/memories I can recall from when I was eight and seeing this the first time. Obviously, the rest of the movie didn't leave too much of an impact, despite seeing myself in the role of Young Garp (James McCall) since we were relatively the same age. I guess I was either bored or concentrated too far on what I saw openly or through my parent's hand.
Beyond the "Rated-R Content" had they known what a deep, long and melodramatic film this was, I'm sure I would've been sent off to see either The Secret of Nimh or Tron. Heck, I would've loved to see Raiders of the Lost Ark's reissue as I don't recall seeing that in the theatres. My guess, they would've vetoed The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.
Anyhoo fast forward. Present Day, also Arizona. I just watched it again, only for the second time, upon a friend's recommendation. My reaction?
Well, the locker room scene wasn't what I remembered it as Just kidding. Overall, I believe the movie's title is wrong. Sure, the movie's main character is, in fact, Garp (Robin Williams,) but I got the feeling: this is really Nurse Jenny's (Glenn Close) movie. And Close did a FANTASTIC job as the strict, but free-spirited, WOMAN-FIRST single mother, something simply unheard of in the 1940s and on through Garp, her only child's life.
Sure, Jenny was a tad bit controlling and had wild ideas about how sex was bad, lust worse and men suck, but Close showed such incredible depth that I would loved to get to know her in real life. That is, if her men-hating groupies (today they would be militant-lesbians, and perhaps some of these were) would let me near her.
The character Garp does feel throughout that he's taking a backseat to his mother, and after watching the movie, I'd have to agree. If only he'd saw the whole picture, or at least opened his eyes and stop trying to one-up her, there might have been an alternative ending.
Basically, the movie follows baby Garp from birth (and in the air) through fatherhood in various stopping points of his life. His likes: wrestling and writing, his lusts: a childhood crush, a younger babysitter and a prostitute and his love: Helen. All throughout, his mother stays close as both his mother and friend.
That's the basic, BASIC, premise of the story, but you will need to watch it for the more depth given, the sly jokes the toned down Williams utters, and the friendships made such as the wonderful Roberta Muldoon played by John Lithgow.
(I generally hate this phrase, but ) I don't care who you are, you'll fall in love with Roberta, probably the only completely loyal and sane character in the entire movie. And yet will probably be judged the harshest – especially in 1982 – for being a transvestite ex-football player.
And speaking of which, that's one of the best qualities of this movie. Even though it was set from the 1940s to decades later, it still came out in 1982 and broached some touchy and tough subjects, both of which I thoroughly admire the filmmakers, writers, director, etc, for taking. This includes, but not inclusive of: woman's movements & rights, single mother parenting, transvestites – including acceptance and fights on both sides – SEE: Garp's final book. (I left out one in particular as that would be too much of a spoiler.)
This is not all to say this was a perfect movie. Though it did pull some emotions out of me, and certainly made me laugh in spots – namely from Williams very low humor, it had enormous pacing problems injunction with being just too long and it was thoroughly over-dramatic in spots to the point where almost each and every scene as the movie progressed, I felt something REALLY bad was going to happen. That got annoying after awhile due to it taking away some of the pleasures of watching and enjoying what was on the screen. In addition to that, some of the most traumatic scenes were cutaways, freeze-frames or preceded a long jump into the future where we were never really sure exactly what just happened or who died (or not) until someone verbally mentioned it. It was as if the filmmakers were brave enough to release some hot topics, but pulled back in fear on others.
I'm not sure how soon I'll be seeing this again – it's been nearly 30 years in between the first and second viewings, at any rate – because now I know how long it is, or feels. For, I don't have a problem with a 2 hour 16 minute movie; I just don't jump to the ones that feel twice that length.
If you have not yet experienced Jenny's World, er, Garp's, then I thoroughly encourage you to absorb the wonderful performances, lines, humor, sadness, growth and hope. Just know it's not a quick flick, but it's certainly one to be seen.
Picture it: Summer of 1982, Arizona. I was 8 years old and my parents took me to see The World According to Garp with the rational that it's Robin Williams (he was Popeye for my sake) so it has to be funny, despite the dreaded R-Rating my parents were opposed to. Not only were they shocked at the nudity, sexual situations and language, they found the movie boring and not-so-funny.
What was funny, was that when they showed a woman's breasts, they covered my eyes yet leaving them wide open for the guy's locker room that, pretty much, showed everything. Heh, little did they know.
Probably not so strange, those were the main two scenes/memories I can recall from when I was eight and seeing this the first time. Obviously, the rest of the movie didn't leave too much of an impact, despite seeing myself in the role of Young Garp (James McCall) since we were relatively the same age. I guess I was either bored or concentrated too far on what I saw openly or through my parent's hand.
Beyond the "Rated-R Content" had they known what a deep, long and melodramatic film this was, I'm sure I would've been sent off to see either The Secret of Nimh or Tron. Heck, I would've loved to see Raiders of the Lost Ark's reissue as I don't recall seeing that in the theatres. My guess, they would've vetoed The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.
Anyhoo fast forward. Present Day, also Arizona. I just watched it again, only for the second time, upon a friend's recommendation. My reaction?
Well, the locker room scene wasn't what I remembered it as Just kidding. Overall, I believe the movie's title is wrong. Sure, the movie's main character is, in fact, Garp (Robin Williams,) but I got the feeling: this is really Nurse Jenny's (Glenn Close) movie. And Close did a FANTASTIC job as the strict, but free-spirited, WOMAN-FIRST single mother, something simply unheard of in the 1940s and on through Garp, her only child's life.
Sure, Jenny was a tad bit controlling and had wild ideas about how sex was bad, lust worse and men suck, but Close showed such incredible depth that I would loved to get to know her in real life. That is, if her men-hating groupies (today they would be militant-lesbians, and perhaps some of these were) would let me near her.
The character Garp does feel throughout that he's taking a backseat to his mother, and after watching the movie, I'd have to agree. If only he'd saw the whole picture, or at least opened his eyes and stop trying to one-up her, there might have been an alternative ending.
Basically, the movie follows baby Garp from birth (and in the air) through fatherhood in various stopping points of his life. His likes: wrestling and writing, his lusts: a childhood crush, a younger babysitter and a prostitute and his love: Helen. All throughout, his mother stays close as both his mother and friend.
That's the basic, BASIC, premise of the story, but you will need to watch it for the more depth given, the sly jokes the toned down Williams utters, and the friendships made such as the wonderful Roberta Muldoon played by John Lithgow.
(I generally hate this phrase, but ) I don't care who you are, you'll fall in love with Roberta, probably the only completely loyal and sane character in the entire movie. And yet will probably be judged the harshest – especially in 1982 – for being a transvestite ex-football player.
And speaking of which, that's one of the best qualities of this movie. Even though it was set from the 1940s to decades later, it still came out in 1982 and broached some touchy and tough subjects, both of which I thoroughly admire the filmmakers, writers, director, etc, for taking. This includes, but not inclusive of: woman's movements & rights, single mother parenting, transvestites – including acceptance and fights on both sides – SEE: Garp's final book. (I left out one in particular as that would be too much of a spoiler.)
This is not all to say this was a perfect movie. Though it did pull some emotions out of me, and certainly made me laugh in spots – namely from Williams very low humor, it had enormous pacing problems injunction with being just too long and it was thoroughly over-dramatic in spots to the point where almost each and every scene as the movie progressed, I felt something REALLY bad was going to happen. That got annoying after awhile due to it taking away some of the pleasures of watching and enjoying what was on the screen. In addition to that, some of the most traumatic scenes were cutaways, freeze-frames or preceded a long jump into the future where we were never really sure exactly what just happened or who died (or not) until someone verbally mentioned it. It was as if the filmmakers were brave enough to release some hot topics, but pulled back in fear on others.
I'm not sure how soon I'll be seeing this again – it's been nearly 30 years in between the first and second viewings, at any rate – because now I know how long it is, or feels. For, I don't have a problem with a 2 hour 16 minute movie; I just don't jump to the ones that feel twice that length.
If you have not yet experienced Jenny's World, er, Garp's, then I thoroughly encourage you to absorb the wonderful performances, lines, humor, sadness, growth and hope. Just know it's not a quick flick, but it's certainly one to be seen.