A REVIEW OF "THE SHINING" A RETRO REVIEW, 1980 by Ryan Ellis
give me a buzz on the ol' e-lines, iluvmick@hotmail.com
(NOTE-This is my 4th of 5 weekly retro reviews honouring great Jack Nicholson films. "Chinatown", "A Few Good Men", and "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest" are already posted on the Internet. Also, since Stanley Kubrick died just a short time ago, why not highlight a collabration of two great film artists?)
After winning his first Academy Award for a marvelous performance in "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest", Jack Nicholson went through a notable, if not particularly successful, phase of his career. In "The Missouri Breaks" and "The Last Tycoon", Jack appeared opposite living legends Marlon Brando, Robert De Niro, and Tony Curtis. He also got to work with directors Arthur Penn and Elia Kazan in those pictures while directing "Goin' South" himself. Those three movies might be considered a "warm-up" as he prepared for his opportunity to do something which very few great actors ever had the chance to do--to perform in a film for director Stanley Kubrick.
The secretive and obsessive Kubrick was in the middle of a streak of his own. "Dr. Strangelove", "2001: A Space Odyssey", "A Clockwork Orange", and "Barry Lyndon" represented three straight outstanding films, then one well-made epic. Adapting Steven King's best-selling novel, "The Shining", was Kubrick's next project. Shot in England, it was an elaborate horror film which didn't get the praises from critics that Kubrick's films usually received. I must be one of the few people who A) liked the team of Kubrick and Nicholson B) saw much more in this film than just the ghost story and C) found it to be truly scary. After all, that IS the point.
Kubrick and co-screenwriter Diane Johnson made drastic changes to King's in-depth novel. The ugly, abusive family histories for both the Jack Torrance character (Nicholson) and his wife, Wendy (Shelley Duvall), were excluded. They also dropped the extensive flashbacks to the family's life on the East Coast where Jack lost his teaching job for beating up one of his students. Some supporting characters were written out and the manager of the Overlook Hotel, Stuart Ullman (Barry Nelson), is not the officious jerk King portrayed him to be. Young son Danny (Danny Lloyd) is no longer a brilliant five-year old, nor is Wendy a strong woman. Heck, they made Danny dumb and Wendy weak.
Still, the screenwriters' adaptation was an improvement in other ways. Dialogue isn't always this film's biggest asset, but when the lines are good, they're REALLY good. And memorable! How about "Here's Johnny!", "Gimme the bat, Wendy!", the ominous "Redrum", and the written ramblings of Jack's "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy". And dig that elevator of blood! Sure, it's a blatantly unsubtle image, but it's cool. A major change and a real credit to the climax is that Kubrick shows more restraint than King. This is a rare example of where the movie's ending is much LESS explosive than in the book. And the biggest addition from novel to screen--eerie music--is a classic example of how appropriate music can greatly heighten the "fear factor".
The story is familiar. Lifelong failure and recovering alcoholic Jack Torrance gets a last-chance job as the winter caretaker for Colorado's elite Overlook Hotel. He's enthusiastic about the job even though he & his family will be stranded alone for several months when the brutal winter arrives. He's enthusiastic about the job even though the hotel has a bloody history and one of the previous caretakers went crazy and murdered his family. He's even enthusiastic about the job when he hears that the hotel was built on an Indian burial ground (hey, what ghost story DOESN'T have an Indian burial ground!). Jack simply wants solitude to finish a play he's writing and the chance to forget that he has a rather horrible life. Wendy and Danny join him, of course, and everyone's happy.
Well, actually, Danny isn't. He knows the sordid Overlook is not Disneyland. He has the power (through his imaginary friend, Tony) to see the future. The hotel's cook, Dick Hallorann (Scatman Crothers in a miscast role as a token black victim), also has this power, this "shining", to read thoughts and warns Danny to be careful in the ominous Overlook. The naive kid is precocious like all youngsters and he's both fascinated by the forbidden aspects of the hotel while being terrified of recurring images of death and mayhem. Danny's power slowly brings the hotel's demons to life as Jack struggles through a killer case of writer's block. Wendy helplessly watches her delicate family fall apart as Jack's developing insanity (not to mention his "deal" with the hotel) becomes violent and painful.
The basic plot of this film is an old-fashioned ghost story with slasher film overtones. The interesting part of the movie is that the single strongest theme here is not that hotels can drive you crazy or that experiencing a few bad days at the typewriter gives you the right to axe your family. The strongest theme here is of divorce. Here's a husband with no respect for his wife or son. In one scene, he looks down at a model of the outdoor hedge-maze while Wendy & Danny walk around inside the real maze. Obvious metaphor--he "looks down on them". Like many dysfunctional families, the man can seem perfectly normal & loving to the outsider and still be quite abusive to his family. As he loses his mind, Jack has a nightmare about killing Wendy & Danny, he has a fantasy in the hotel's empty bar that explains the alcoholic & abusive history, and he doesn't tell his family when he starts to see dangerous things in the hotel. Nice guy! The man is simply not a good father and while his wife tries her best to hold her family together, in the end, she takes the kid and leaves him--metaphorically divorcing him.
Jack Torrance wants to believe that he's an intelligent man, but he's just a representation of all the selfish louts who blame their own failures on their innocent loved ones. He feels claustrophobic and trapped despite living in such a giant place. Jack is a massive failure, even as the hotel's caretaker (after all, he dies and leaves it unattended). Or does dying for the hotel make him a devoted servant? Well, if that makes him an accomplished man, he doesn't aspire to very much. This man is supposed to be a literate writer, yet he becomes a hobbling lumberjack, then a bellowing beast before the icy ending. Ironically, Jack's demonic obsession to kill his family is rather admirable. Geez, parents today couldn't be BOTHERED to chase a kid in order to kill him. They'd just take away the tyke's Sony Playstation or give him one of those "hyperactivity" pills!
What makes this film work is its genuine creepiness. Along with the effective music, Kubrick uses some great camera angles (one was directly below a standing Jack in the pantry). The Steadicam shot was a particular favourite in "The Shining" in more than just the famous scenes following Danny on his Big Wheel. Kubrick liked the Steadicam technique and used it a lot. It's so smooth and so appropriate on the huge sets that the technological impact is underrated. At all times, the camera seems to be a set of eyes watching these three people as they fritter around in an evil place. The enormous interior sets were built on a soundstage, yet they give off an aura that makes you want to drive a snowmobile up there yourself and tell these people to GET OUTTA HERE RIGHT NOW!
The glue of this film is Jack Nicholson. It takes quite an actor to be THAT nuts considering the unending number of takes Kubrick demands. His scenes in the bar show remarkable lunacy. The fabulous "gimme the bat, Wendy" scene gives us Nicholson's trademark character explosion. At times, he's pretty funny too. Even Jack's "killer smile" has an appropriate name here. He's a sinister ticking bomb. It's been said that he goes nuts too quickly and maybe that's true. But the whole point of the story is that this man felt trapped and ready to explode long before he ever got to the Overlook. The haunting images and malevolent results are metaphors to explain how this particular family falls apart as they lose their collective grip on reality.
Unfortunately, Kubrick's deliberate--heck, downright slooooow--pacing doesn't score the way it did with "2001". Strange as this sounds, the film is too long, yet, arguably, the craziness happens too soon! However, what nearly sunk "The Shining" altogether was the awful performance by Shelley Duvall. This acting hack could take some lessons from the appealing Rebecca De Mornay (who was much better in the 1997 TV movie). Duvall's chemistry with Danny Lloyd comes and goes. She has almost NO chemistry with the commanding Nicholson. Sure, her pathetic performance was probably what Kubrick wanted opposite the whacko Jack. After all, who WOULDN'T be petrified with fear as the horrors unfold? But her acting was incredibly weak and it wasn't even offset by Danny Lloyd. The kid is okay at best and he's not very lovable or intelligent.
To nitpick--there are noteworthy mistakes in "The Shining". First, the helicopter's shadow for the overhead shot is visible during the opening drive up to the hotel. Second, Jack tears paper out of his typewriter, but doesn't replace it with a fresh sheet before he starts typing again. Third, he toasts Lloyd the bartender to "5 miserable months on the wagon", yet Wendy said in the opening 20 minutes that he hadn't had a drink for 5 months before they ever GOT to the hotel. Fourth, she slices his hand during the bathroom door demolition, but in a later shot there's no blood on the knife. And the most glaring error occurs during that same demolition. Jack axes through only one side of the door to do his infamous "Here's Johnny", but later the door is split in two places. Clearly, the scene of his busting through on the other side of the door was cut.
So, having analyzed this film to death (pun intended!), I'll stubbornly maintain that "The Shining" succeeds in spite of its mistakes and weaknesses. Jack's a devilish cartoon. He's so compelling in the lead that when he's not on screen, you can't wait until he comes back. Food for thought--Kubrick didn't hit the bullseye with this picture and STILL created a memorable movie. It's quotable and creepy. It makes you jump. Anyone disappointed that this wasn't a masterpiece should remember that very few true horror movies have ever been deemed classics, anyway ("Psycho" is one of the few). "The Shining" showcased Nicholson's abilities with Kubrick's meticulous direction. Duvall, Lloyd, and overlength be-damned! This is scary and it's pretty darn good too.
USELESS TRIVIA--Stanley Kubrick made reincarnation and an unending cycle of life & death one of the many themes in "The Shining". Not to compare ANY film to his masterpiece, "2001: A Space Odyssey", but that idea was the central theme for the 1968 classic too.
This film receives an 8/10. It also ranks #94 on My 100 Favourite Films list.
THE RYAN RATING SYSTEM SAYS... 10/10--absolutely outstanding 9/10--excellent 8/10--pretty darn good 7/10--sure, go on and give it a peek 6/10--so-so; ye ol' recommendation point 5/10--not quite worth the dollars 4/10--only if you have a free pass 3/10--don't go, PLEASE don't go 2/10--avoid even if you DO have a free pass 1/10--"Showgirls" territory; truly crappy 0/10--bang your head off a wall instead Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews