BY THE SWORD
A film review by Chuck Dowling
Copyright 1996 Chuck Dowling
(1991) ** - C:Eric Roberts, F. Murray Abraham, Mia Sara.
Finally, a movie about the exciting sport of fencing! Fencing? Swordfighting without any of the danger? Oh boy.
Eric Roberts stars as a fencing instructor, a former olympic fencing champion who retired from competition undefeated. His class that he instructs in the film includes all the standard type characters for this kind of film: the cocky guy, the sensitive guy, the girl who wants to prove she's more than a girl, etc. These characters just end up as scenery, however, as the main plot revolves around the school's janitor (Abraham).
In the film's opening scenes, Abraham comes to Roberts and asks if there are any teaching positions open. Roberts quickly tests his skills, laughs, and offers him a position as a janitor. Abraham, humiliated, takes the job.
Later, we learn that Roberts' father was also a great champion fencer, and was killed in a duel over a woman many years earlier. Moments after, we learn that Abraham has just been released from jail after serving a sentence for murder. Hmmm, I wonder if there's a connection there? I wonder...
The film really goes nowhere for a while, and then leads up to the inevitable "revelation" and climatic sword fight. The duel itself is well staged, but the purpose of it seems a bit ridiculous. With some minor script changes, however, the sword fight could have had much more relevance. Roberts, who appears to be doing his own fencing, does a good job with his character.
Have A Question Or Comment? Email Me At chuckd21@southeast.net
-- Chuck Dowling Visit Chuck's Movie Reviews at http://users.southeast.net/~chuckd21/ Over 1,500 movies rated and/or reviewed! Movie news, box office reports, film related links, and reader's polls and reviews.
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