HERO (1992)
A film review by Edwin Jahiel
Copyright 1996 Edwin Jahiel
HERO (1992) ** 3/4. Directed by Stephen Frears. Produced by Laura Ziskin. Written by David Webb Peoples from a story by Ziskin, Alvin Sargent and Peoples. Cinematography, Oliver Stapleton. Production design, Dennis Gassner. Editing, Mick Audsley. Costumes, Richard Hornung. Music, George Fenton. Cast: Dustin Hoffman, Geena Davis, Andy Garcia, Joan Cusack, Kevin J. O'Connor, Maury Chaikin, Stephen Tobolowsky, Chevy Chase (uncredited), et al. A Columbia release. 112 min. Rated PG-13 (language).
Bernie (Dustin Hoffman) is a schlemiel nonentity, a small-time Chicago criminal out on bail, awaiting sentencing. Gale (Geena Davis) is a hotshot, award-winning TV reporter. She works for other opportunistic cynics led by her boss Chevy Chase. He is in top form but oddly uncredited. John Bubber (Andy Garcia) is a homeless Vietnam vet who lives in his car. These three do not know one another. But then a lot of movies depend on geometry-defying parallels that meet.
At night, from his stalled junkmobile, Bernie witnesses a plane crash . He is the only person who reaches the disaster immediately. And he becomes, in spite of himself, the savior of all 54 aboard, including Gale whose wallet he steals. Bernie then disappears into the night and fog, inconsolable about the loss of one of his $100 shoes. He gets a ride with John Bubber.
Gale's station launches a ratings-boosting search for the "Angel of Flight 104," offering him one million dollars. Seizing the opportunity, the candidates multiply. In credibility-straining but entertaining ways, the glory goes to John, literally a shoe-in thanks to his incontrovertible proof.
Bathed, clothed, perfumed, showered with gifts, honors and national adulation, John becomes a mega-celebrity. Having stolen Bernie's credit he now steals Gale's heart, by mutual attraction.
Channel 4 in no way smells like Chanel 5. Its cynical exploitation of John increases exponentially while he grows into a wise, caring, role-model hero. Shakespeare wrote it in "Twelfth Night" : "... some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them." It's also like the World War II song about an airman named John who got a Japanese Zero plane : "Johnny Zero--is the hero--of the day."
John Bubber does good things for people while stating with casuistic sincerity that "We're all heroes if you catch us at the right moment," a reassurance that the masses lap up. Thinking of media rather than morals, Andy Warhol had said years ago that everyone, sooner or later, will have a few minutes of celebrity.
John, however, being a decent fellow, suffers pangs of conscience, expressed with nice minimalism by Garcia. On the other hand, born loser Bernie who has no scruples is out of things and not in the loop. It takes predictable, long-delayed but amusing twists for him to realize what's going on, for Gale to start suspecting the truth, and for the genuine and spurious heroes to be reunited on the top ledge of the Drake Hotel.
The movie was written by David Webb Peoples, co-author of "Blade Runner" and writer of "Unforgiven." It was directed by Stephen Frears, the cool Brit with grit who made "My Beautiful Laundrette," "Sammy and Rosie Get Laid," "Prick Up Your Ears," "Dangerous Liaisons" and "The Grifters. "
To movie buffs, "Hero" feels like an amalgam of populist comedy-dramas by Frank Capra. Garcia's John Bubber is close to Gary Cooper's John Doe in "Meet John Doe," including the top-of-the building sequence. "Hero" also has mega-echoes of William Wellman's screwball classic "Nothing Sacred" in which Carole Lombard, as Hazel Flagg, first believing, then feigning that she has terminal illness, becomes a national heroine.
Also recalled is Preston Sturges's "Hail the Conquering Hero," with patriotic Eddie Bracken rejected by the Army but set up by friendly Marines as a war hero. There is even a soupcon of "My Man Godfrey" where Depression-era, nouveau-poor tramp William Powell, recruited by Carole Lombard in a scavenger hunt as "the forgotten man," teaches mindless rich socialites the meaning of true class and values. Here, John merely turns out to be a Vietnam hero. Even Hoffman's name, Bernie LaPlante, recalls Laura La Plante, a silent era leading lady.
I am not bothered by this synthetic approach since the film is cunningly updated to the excesses of the media. It holds a totally cynical Hollywood view of the people as suckers for romanticized heroes and celebrities.
What weakens somewhat this entertaining movie is the lack of the sharp edges you find in its predecessors: Capra's variety of characters and issues within satirical sentimentalism ; Wellman's (and writer Ben Hecht's) madcap rhythm and repartees; Sturges's warmth behind his cynicism.
I am not bothered either by still another movie throwback, as Hoffman seems to reprise his Ratso Rizzo from "Midnight Cowboy." He lives in a special twilight world of mental, psychological and physical debris. He is a no-thinker who mumbles and walks with a shuffle that will never get him to Buffalo, except, some day perhaps, to its penitentiary. Deja vu, yes, but beautifully done, though sometimes it comes close to tedium.
What is really missing though is muscle and zip. Often, the plot mistakes agitation for tempo one the one hand, while on the other the film can be too slack and complaisant with Bernie's scenes. Many of those are self-consciously acted, like protracted showcases for Hoffman's abilities. All the scenes overdo his character as slobbish, egotistic and even feeble-minded, except for some quick-thinking, fast-moving low cunning involving illegal acts.
Those overdrawn and overlong passages are also over-underlined by the many closeups that director Frears is so fond of, perhaps as a leftover of his old (and impressive) TV days. It is as though the filmmakers wanted to get every penny of their investment in Hoffman's star presence. They also do this in the technically smashing crash-and-rescue sequences. It's like "we invested so much in them that we better them out and milk them to the last drop."
The plot keeps going from good to middlin' bits, whether between the sketches or within them. Clever parts are followed by weak ones and vice versa. Joan Cusack, as Bernie's disgusted ex-wife, is marvelous as usual, but her spite is overdone. Her sister Susie Cusack (part of the Evanston, Illinois Cusack clan) makes a lovely debut as Bernie's court-appointed, rookie lawyer. Tom Arnold plays a likable bartender. Christian Clemenson as Gale's cameraman waxes comically lyrical about his lenses and his shots. Davis brings brio to her role, but is given a dumb acceptance speech in her award scene. Andy Garcia controls his performance with quiet soulfulness, but past a certain point, his part spills into schlock.
This is when, in search of a solution, the movie switches into abrupt, gauche changes in mood and characters, all fake and sentimentalized, so much so that the film now mocks its own maudliness with things like a heavenly women's chrous intoning "Glory, Glory, Hallelujah" as people mortify their souls. This is the ultimate in cynicism.
Even so, while the sugar spreads around, the film still manages to throw in some hilarious touches, as when, on the Drake ledge, Bernie asks the firemen for two coffees. Then, for better or worse, we switch to a super-Capra, lump-in-the-throat Davis-Hoffman dialogue.
Like many a movie, "Hero" left me straddling the fence. A second, distanced viewing will eventually help tip the scales better. Until then, my bottom line is that though "Hero" is not a must-see, it is easily a can-see.
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