The 80s for Nichols in film marked the beginning of one of his most successful and triumphant creative partnerships, that of Meryl Streep, both on stage and screen. The four Nichols films of the 80s, besides his screen adaptation of Neil Simon’s Biloxi Blues, follow primarily female leads in stories about the female experience, two of which written by the legend that was Nora Ephron. Some could point to this being a sign that Nichols had a clear tact for showing empathetic portrayals of women on screen. But frankly, I think it just further cements his ability to craft empathic and depthful portrayals of humans on screen. Let’s start with his first of the decade with Silkwood.
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Silkwood (1983)
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Released nine years after the events it was depicting, Silkwood marks for me a turn for Nichols into a form of film-making which I need to find a better way to phrase, because frankly what I really want to say is that his films just become less visually experimental. They don’t lack flare, not one bit, however they just become a little more traditional in their approach. It’s less so a change in visuals, more so a more relaxed approach in a way, gone are the very in your face eccentricities of films such as The Graduate or Catch 22, or any of his 60’s and 70’s for that matter, here there is more so a focus in pulling back and filming the action. In a way it’s the sort of film-making you would have expected of Nichols when he was first starting out, fresh from years of success directing plays for the stage, you’d expect the stagey qualities of these films to be more present earlier. Silkwood is such a film where the subject matter is so thrilling, evocative and provocative that the ensemble and the script are the stars one might say, rather than the clear auterism and prominence of Nichols directorial vision. Again, none of this is a bad thing, as a matter of fact it makes the moments in this film where a visual kineticism and break from the norm appear, all the more shocking and effective. The screenplay itself comes from Nora Ephron and Alice Arlen. Now Ephron is a personal hero of mine and so objectivity is difficult, however in many ways this script feels so different from her other works, such as of course When Harry Met Sally or a film like Heartburn (which we will discuss in a moment). Here it’s all about the drama and although there are many funny elements, this is perhaps Ephron’s least comedic work and certainly it’s most gritty and realistic in nature, perhaps this is the influence of her co-writer here, Alice Arlen. The story of course is dictated for them, in many ways, but also in many ways not. The subject matter was only 9 years old at the time and still had many questions surrounding it, that remain till this day, shrouded in conspiracy and mystery and above all else tragedy. The circumstances of the story of Plant worker Karen Silkwood and for that matter how her story ends are depicted here with a focus on the facts and a complete removal of any glimpse of conspiracy, of course, you leave the film with only one conclusion – because after all the facts most certainly in this case, speak for themselves. Overall how Nichols chooses to depict the end of this film, underscored by our lead Meryl Streep singing Amazing Grace is removed, at a distance, told in montage and told with what can only be described as a profoundly haunting quality.
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Now of course this also marks the first collaboration with one of the formative collaborators of the next phase of Nichols’ career, that of the incredible (of course) Meryl Streep. Now over their work together, on both stage and screen, I feel like it ultimately led to how Nichols is referred to often in the pantheon of directors, as one of deep empathy and compassion for both his actors and his characters. Specifically with his work with Meryl, that of female characters. For of course there is Martha with Virginia Woolf, arguably one of the great female characters of all time, however after that with his work 60’s and 70’s films the focus became particularly that of the male. One video that always gets me is that of Nichols being asked about Streep and breaking into tears before he can answer the question, now as a man who has such experiences with his co-workers in the field and friends, it only further cements Nichols for me as an idol of incredible warmth, humanity and talent. Here with Streep, from the off, the pair manage to make the first of their multiple deeply human characters offering with Karen Silkwood, a collection of hypocrisies and in the end a character that can only really be described as very human. Now people throw that out anytime a character or film is vaguely realistic, but the depth of the characters in this film and how they are presented leads ‘human’ to indeed be the first word that comes to mind. The film did split in opinion from those who knew Silkwood in real life, however the presentation we get here of the film’s Karen Silkwood, is one of great humanity, depth and compelling that makes the trajectory and the tragedy of the film all the more powerful. Of course the film too boasts an incredible ensemble, with Cher and Kurt Russell making up the lead trio. Cher in her acting debut shows from the off an aptitude for naturalism that I think it would be fair to say nobody could have ever expected, a true woman of many talents. Russell here is rugged, rough, touching, sexy and just so good as he always is. Beyond this lead trio, you will find others, such as standouts Fred Ward and Ron Silver, however overall the film in many ways ultimately lies with this chief trio, and with these as the leads, with Ephron having a hand in the writing and Nichols moving into a whole new era of his film direction marks for a top class entry to kick off Nichol’s 80’s.
Heartburn (1986)
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Mike Nichols Heartburn is quite simply flawless and frankly one of the greatest romantic-comedic-dramas of the decade. Meryl Streep divorces Jack Nicholson, written by Nora Ephron, underscored by Carly Simon, directed of course by Mike Nichols. This film holds a very special place in my heart and is a major comfort film, for I don’t think one singular film has combined so many of my favourite elements into one complete and brilliant package. From the very off, once Carly Simon’s Coming Around Again begins to play (which is the best Simon song written for a Nichols film, sorry Let the River Run), I just feel so warm and content in the hands of these brilliant auteurs. The opening sets up a warmness of touch and a quality of humour, heart and truth the embodies the best work of so many of these great figures, especially of course Ephron and Nichols. Nichols here remains in the more dialogue and performance driven mode, moving away from flashier visuals shall we say, and focussing more so on the scenes themselves – this again sounds like I’m saying the films get less visually interesting, instead I would like to look at it in a way focussing more on the truths of the scenes. I think ultimately it becomes at a point now where the phrase “but this isn’t Nichol’s movie” is said more often. The Graduate is certainly Nichols movie. Even Catch 22 is for me certainly Nichols’ movie. But now, Silkwood is Streep’s movie. Or in this case, of course, this is Nora Ephron’s movie. Nichols is the perfect fit for this Ephron script. Whereas Reiner was the perfect fit for When Harry Met Sally... and Ephron herself was a perfect fit for Sleepless in Seattle and later You’ve Got Mail. Nichols here has all the drama, compassion, visual flare, comedic capability and aptitude for truth that make him the perfect person to helm this Ephron adaptation of her own semi-auto-biographical novel relaying the story of her divorce through name changes and a few other details here and there, but for the most part, this is the bottom of the truth. Ephron’s screenplay is perfect and manages like always to balance a plethora of pain, pathos and ingenious humour to pack a perfect punch. This is by far the most underrated film in the Ephron cannon and is certainly my second favourite to When Harry Met Sally... Afterall that is in my top ten of all time.
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But here Ephron and Nichols together in perfect tandem are going for something beyond perfecting the rom-com formula which she would do next, instead there is a goal here to convey all the foibles, romances, joys and displeasures of a painfully truthful situation with all the messiness and insanity that so frequently goes along with true to life situations and screenplays. There is truthful situational comedy in here, there is almost improvised looking on-going scenes of interaction here. Then there can be fourth-wall breaking absurdist comedy. It’s a miracle it all comes together to work as it so definitely all does. At the heart of the film beyond Nichols and Ephron, and beyond Simon’s exceptional score and songs that underscore and set the tone of pained heartache so beautifully, is Meryl Streep. With Nichols and Ephron once more, with the performance that leads to one of Ephron’s oh so many brilliant awards dinner speeches, this time “I would highly recommend Meryl Streep play you in a film”. As time went by Ephron shied away from how truthful the film and book were less and less, leading me nowadays to see it almost as verbatim at times. Streep as ‘Rachel’ is sublime conveying with excellence the same things I just keep saying over and over again in this article, the humour, the heart, the pain and the pathos. One can’t help but repeat themselves I find when looking at such high quality product. But of course the flip side to that coin is Jack. Oh, Jack. Now as already mentioned Nicholson is my favourite actor by far of any decade, of any era, above all else nobody entertains me without fail like Jack does, and here as ‘Mark’ (Carl Bernstein if you didn’t already know), Jack delivers a scoundrel, a playboy, a lovable rogue, a loving father and both the best and worst husband all in one package and the trick of course with Jack (and Nichols knows this in spades), is that you can never completely hate him, because the ‘bastard’ is just far too lovable. That’s the trick with Jack and that’s the trick with this whole film, you want to throw away in your head the idea of ever getting married and then you just fall right back in love with the idea of love all over again. A truly marvellous film that simultaneously breaks your heart, whilst reigniting your faith in love and marriage (or at least the idea and hopeful concept of it), or at least giving you hope to find a better love, or still for that matter, find that love and hope in yourself.
Biloxi Blues (1988)
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Answer me this; why was I surprised by how much I loved this film? Nichols, Broderick, Walken, Neil Simon. Well, frankly because nobody ever talks about it. Even the most underrated of Nichol’s films get’s a lot of lip service, but this barley gets mentioned. Well, we have a strong contender for top underrated Nichols film. This film is funny, dramatic, brilliant, very compelling and paced like a damn train with enough pathos and compassion to make the journey seem more depthful than many other of Simon’s comedies. Now of course this is far from Nichols first collaboration with celebrated American playwright and screen-writer Neil Simon, with Nichols directing the Broadway premieres of many of Simon’s finest and most famous works, including that of Barefoot in the Park and The Odd Couple. Here however Nichols has a hand in bringing to the screen an entry in a new era for Simon, one of his many autobiographical plays, kicking off on stage and on screen with Brighton Beach Memories (a great play and a fine film, I do prefer Blues on page and on screen however). Here Mathew Broderick appears as a semi-auto-biographical version of Simon in this film as he undergoes basic training for ten weeks, the final note of the film being that he was transferred out and six days later the war ended. This is a film purely about the training stages for war told with all the truth and real life humour and pain that goes into it. Now this humour is still in the vein of Simon’s most broad and farcical of comedies, one can hear the huge laughs of a theatre audience every time somebody says a line bordering more so on the line of playable laugh line than realistic filmic delivery. Following on from this you might think that this would lead to a terrible concoction of broad humour with drama when you find that the film will delve into great dramas, such as racism and homophobia in the army (and at the time in general), aswell as a series of deeply dramatic scenes with the chief MVP of the film, that of Christopher Walken as their training sergeant. Nichols adds a lot of depth to Simon’s play in presenting here the way he does, we have moments that we wouldn’t get normally and the film is so much more than a case of ‘moving scenes from one room to another’ like is the common failure of the worst play-to-film adaptations. I think I mentioned it with Virginia Woolf that perhaps it is quite surprising to what extent Nichols is excellent at both play and film, aswell as turning plays to films, whereas so many other directors excellent in one field have struggled to bring this excellence across multiple fields.
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When it comes to performance too it is chief to note that many of the actors are reprising their roles from Broadway and with great aptitude can translate their stage performances to screen. Broderick here is delivering a nuanced lead that manages to achieve what the best of this cast do, in abundance, that of pull off the punch-lines like nobody’s business, whilst also have great drama throughout. Matt Mulhern, Michael Dolan and Corey Parker all similarly stand out making up a lovely collection of differing individuals to make the group that we follow all the more interesting. Penelope Ann Miller, here also reprising her role from the stage, manages to make in a mere five minute scene one of the most touching and endearing females in Simon’s cannon, even if she is possibly pure fantasy. However undoubtedly the M.V.P of the entire film is Christopher Walken, whose complex, frightening, hilarious and constantly riveting turn as a Sergeant compels our characters and us as a viewer to constantly be on our toes. Walken is so brilliantly shifting in this turn and so constantly unexpected that it leads to the film having the success rate that it does when it comes to shifts and narrative arcs. Nichols has here brought to the screen one of the best Simon adaptations, never once feeling stilted and stagey like the many other Simon films do so often and in the end, feeling like a beautiful chapter in the relationship between two creative juggernauts.
Working Girl (1988)
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Will a film like Working Girl ever be one of the most nominated films at the Oscars in a year again? I mean for all intensive purposes, despite some of its dramatic elements and many of its social commentaries, it is a romantic-comedy. Now this comes out within a year or so of When Harry Met Sally... and although it is well known my absolute love and adoration of that film, and my somewhat luke-warmness on Working Girl, the two straddle a brilliant line between romance and drama and comedy, all in a tight script that has perfect pace, filled with lovable characters helmed by master directors. So I ask again? Could a film like this or When Harry Met Sally ever get such acclaim again? I doubt it. I mean you rewatch this film and on one hand it is a fun and serviceable, but on the other hand this was a Best Picture nominee, Best Director nominee, Best Actress nominee, two time Best Supporting Actress nominee and Best Song winner for Carley Simon’s anthemic ode to the working men and women of this world, the joyous and incredibly infectious Let the River Run. Let’s start there. With this song and the opening helicopter shot of the Statue of Liberty, there is a tone from the off that is deeply dissimilar from that of so many other big city rom-coms. From the off we are in a working class world and depicting a New York, that isn’t exactly underground, but is never the forefront of the movies, specifically in the 80’s one finds. So often films of the 80’s (made in or set in) have their lead business worker find success in the first ten minutes or so and have the rest of the film chart their ups and downs, afterall the 80’s were about nothing short of ultimate success when it came to money and profitability, or at least that’s how it seemed at the time for the rich and the few. However with Working Girl, the ultimate success of Tess is the final triumphant chord, where once more Simon’s ode strikes up and with one swift pull-back shot and Joan Cussack’s exuberant performance fireworks we land the film in a way that brings it all together with one mighty blast of success, Cussack throughout the entire film packs such a punch with her few scenes that it really does end of up a strong contender for film-stealer. Overall Kevin Wades’ script doesn’t lack much, the things I find lacking with the film are elsewhere.
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The film overall straddles lines of farce, classic romance films and other rags to riches stories all in a neat and efficient bow that chronicles multiple arcs and narratives with wonderful success, making for a tight and wonderful film. Within early moments of the film I find glimpses of Roman Holiday even, and so many other films come to mind throughout, where Working Girl is not exactly wholly original, it is joyously classical in its tropes and delivery. Alec Baldwin as the sleazy first boyfriend figure, adds a human level to it, making him still a piece of work and a real heel, but also from time to time a complex and easy to invest in one. However the main trio of the film are what really lift it off its feet. Sigourney Weaver is one of our other Oscar nominees here and manages to convey again so much with only a handful of scenes, managing to balance incredible business acumen, with cold-hearted ruthlessness (perhaps even the same thing anyway), along with a biting lack of knowingness, along with a wonderful villainy. Weaver is hardly an out and out evil queen here, but she is suitably villainous and certainly treacherous. This is too the most romantic and enjoyable as a comedic lead we ever got from Harrison Ford. Now of course there is romance and humour to be found very easily in so many of his other films, however here Ford is just pitch perfect as the perfect man. Sexy, handsome, funny, romantic, truthful and loving. It’s the stuff dreams are made of and Ford pulls it off with a believability that removes any concept that this perfect man removes credibility from the rest of the truth of the film. But ultimately our lead and titular Girl is that of Melanie Griffith. Now. I have talked a lot now on this blog about how Griffith has never been an actress I have enjoyed, I have commented on her ruining for me many movies that other than her I would completely adore. Now Working Girl is certainly her best performance, maybe next to Body Double, however I still find that there is just something... I don’t know, missing, I guess. Her truths never feel wholly there and although certain comedic beats she pulls with a perfection, I find some (most in honesty) land wholly flat. Griffith is certainly a love her or hate her figure I find, and I don’t know what it is here, but so many things just ring false. Overall it works and although on a first watch, many moons ago, I so wholly dismissed the film because of this performance, over time I have softened on it, but then a line reading will come and my hard edge opinion on the woman's acting will rear it’s mean head again. I guess I just have a dangerous comparative brain for such things and those leering thoughts of other actresses in the role creep up from time to time.
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As Working Girl proves, even when some of the elements aren’t there in a Mike Nichols film, such as in that case, the actual lead of the film – absolutely every other detail and performance and line of dialogue can support the rest of the film. Nichols above all was a human director and these four films of the 80s highlight this best I feel.
The remainder of this series will be released in the new year.
- - Thomas Carruthers
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