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Susan Granger's review of "BLUE MOON" (Castle Hill Productions)
In the rush of fall releases, don't overlook this gentle romantic fable that blends comedy, drama and romance. The opening sequence at the christening of their first grandson sets the stage for an examination of the 40 year-marriage of Frank (Ben Gazzara) and Maggie (Rita Moreno). Frank's uncommunicative, fearing retirement, confessing: "I haven't been sleeping too well and I've got butterflies in my stomach." At Maggie's insistence, they drive to the Catskills for a magical weekend at their cottage in the mountains, where, curiously, on a crystal clear night when the sky is filled with stars and there's a gigantic blue moon, they discover a bickering young couple (Brian Vincent, Alanna Ubach) who reminds them of what they were to each other when they were courting. Writer-director John Gallagher has come up with a classy, clever concept, filled with gentle pleasures, whose supple structure allows time-lines to cross in flashbacks. Ben Gazzara delivers an emotionally rich performance marked by unflinching honesty, as does Rita Moreno, as th! ey reflect on their relationship, having survived, among other things, his mother, her father (whom even she called "the Ambassador"), three children, three mortgages, seven cars, nine Presidents, six recessions and a cranky parrot. It's a triumph of intelligent acting and film-making with the most poignant scenes set around the dinner table. Maggie's sophisticated family were Spanish aristocrats who made it clear that the stuttering, stammering textile salesman in New York's garment industry whom she married was far below her station, while Frank's noisy Italian family used exuberance to cloak the terror inflicted by his angry, alcoholic, abusive father. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, "Blue Moon" is a sensitive, sentimental 7. It's a gem!
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