CARRIED AWAY
A film review by Chuck Dowling
Copyright 1997 Chuck Dowling
Carried Away (1996) **** out of ***** - C:Dennis Hopper, Amy Irving, Amy Locane, Gary Busey, Hal Holbrook. W:Ed Jones. D:Bruno Barreto.
Hopper, in a refreshing change from his recent trend of playing nothing but psychopaths, is a small town school teacher who was crippled as a child in a farming accident. He has maintained a simple life in the small town where he was born. He takes care of his ailing mother and is in a relationship with his childhood sweetheart and fellow teacher (Irving). His life is shaken up drastically, however, when a new student, Catherine (Locane) arrives in his class.
Her father (Busey), an ex-military man, comes to Hopper's farm to ask if they can board a horse there. Hopper accepts, which means that Catherine will be spending a great deal of time there. One day he goes to look for Catherine and finds her up in the hay loft of the barn. She promptly removes her clothes and the two have sex (although Hopper is hesitant at first, he quickly gives in). Thus begins an affair between the two.
My only problem with the film was that moment right there. It seemingly happened for no reason. Nothing prompted it. We never see why this teenaged girl was immediately drawn to a crippled older man. Towards the end we are led to believe that Catherine is slightly insane, but by then it really doesn't matter anymore.
Hopper tries to conceal this affair from his girlfriend, but also uses his newfound youthfulness to better his relationship with Irving. For a while it works, that is until the affair becomes public knowledge. Naturally, Irving is enraged and a rift develops between the two. Holbrook plays the town doctor and family friend who becomes the first to discover (accidentally) about the affair. He has some good scenes and some funny lines when he confronts Hopper.
Movies like this aren't made very often, which is good because when they do come along, they are much more appreciated. "Carried Away" tells such a simple story, one you've no doubt seen before. But it still seems fresh, thanks to exceptional acting from all involved and excellent detail for the time period. I could have done without the five minutes of full frontal Hopper late in the film, but it wasn't difficult to just look away until the scene was over. As just a note of trivia: Amy Irving is the director's wife.
-- Chuck Dowling Visit Chuck's Movie Reviews at http://users.southeast.net/~chuckd21/ Over 1,600 movies rated and/or reviewed! Movie news, box office reports, film related links, and reader's polls and reviews.
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