Carrie (1978)

Based on Stephen King’s bestselling debut novel, this film shows what can happen when school bullying goes a bit too far.

Carrie White (Sissy Spacek) is a bit of an outsider, to say the least. Thanks to her strict, religious mother Margaret (Piper Laurie) with her very sheltered upbringing, along with her quiet, reserved personality at school, she is constantly being singled out and picked on by all the other students.

In senior year, in the showers in the girls’ locker room after gym class, she gets her period for the first time. Given her extremely sheltered upbringing, even though she is nearly eighteen, she has no idea what is going on, and thinks she is dying. Crying out for help to the other girls doesn’t help, and they just pick on her even more, taking it a little too far this time.

Gym teacher Miss Collins (Betty Buckley) comes to Carrie’s aid, chastising the other girls for their horrible treatment of her, and sends Carrie home early.

When the other girls are given an ultimatum (attend a week’s detention or miss out on going to the prom), one of the main ringleaders Chris (Nancy Allen) spits the dummy and has to miss prom.

Furious, and blaming Carrie for her problems, she hatches a plot with her boyfriend Billy (John Travolta) to humiliate Carrie in front of the entire class at the prom.

Meanwhile, there is something else going on with Carrie. Every time she gets angry or upset or scared, she discovers she can move objects with her mind. She looks into it in the school library, and discovers she has powers of telekinesis. Naturally, this doesn’t sit well with her self-righteous religious mother, whose discipline largely consists of beating Carrie, locking her in a closet and screaming at her to pray for forgiveness.

Only one student, Sue Snell (Amy Irving), sticks up for Carrie, and tries to make her life better by convincing her boyfriend Tommy (William Katt) to invite Carrie to the prom.

But it is at the prom that everything goes wrong. I won’t tell you what happens, check it out for yourself.

Lawrence D. Cohen’s script is quite different in many places from King’s novel. Firstly, it is strongly suggested in the film that Carrie’s powers only begin to manifest themselves after the incident in the showers, in some way a result of her becoming a woman. In the novel, however, it is made quite clear that Carrie was in fact born this way, and things have been going wrong around her for her whole life, and that this is the reason for her mother being as overbearing as she is.

That is not the only difference between the novel and the film, but it is definitely the most obvious.

The score (by Pino Donaggio) is absolutely superb, consisting mainly of a collection of leitmotifs that recur throughout the film to highlight particular elements, and draw similarities between events that would otherwise not seem linked at all.

On the topic of superb crew members, I must mention the cinematography of this film, performed impeccably by Mario Tosi Isidore Mankofsky. The entire film is beautifully shot, with the few tender moments in the film handled with the utmost care and intimacy. Use of light and dark throughout is also done well, and the framing of every shot and every scene is almost perfect (certainly worth a look to any student of filmmaking).

Cast performances are varied in their level of ability, with Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie being the clear standouts without a doubt. The particular relationship between these two characters is brought to the fore in every interaction they have, and the character history is clearly present under the surface, done in a way that can only be accomplished by actors of great talent, which these two ladies most definitely are.

On the other hand, in the case of John Travolta for instance, I wonder whether he thought he was still in Grease; his character and personality doesn’t seem to differ at all from that of Danny Zuko, which is a shame, because I have seen Travolta in many other films where he seems to be able to handle himself well as an actor.

Brian de Palma, the director, has made a reasonably good film here. It may not be the best novel-to-film adaptation out there, but it still stands up as one of the best horror films of the twentieth century.

(A brief note: This film was remade with Chloë Grace Moretz in the title role, with Julianne Moore as her mother. This remake was a lot closer to the book, and in my opinion, a better film overall. I may still review this remake at some point, as it is different enough from the original to qualify as a new film).

8 out of 10.

Grease (1977)

Based on the Broadway musical by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey written in 1971, a show that was the longest-running show on Broadway for some time, this film musical continues to stand the test of time and entertain audiences around the world.

Danny (John Travolta) and Sandy (Olivia Newton-John) meet on the beach one summer. When the summer ends, they part ways, Sandy telling Danny her family is moving back to Australia. It seems they will never see each other again, and that they will have only their memories of a summer romance.

But when Sandy’s plans change, and she stays in America, she ends up attending the same high school as Danny and his “gang”, the T-Birds: Kenickie (Jeff Conaway), Doody (Barry Pearl), Sonny (Michael Tucci) and Putzie (Kelly Ward).

However, Danny’s version of events of what took place over the summer differs greatly from what Sandy has told her friends, the “Pink Ladies”: Rizzo (Stockard Channing), Frenchie (Didi Conn) and Jan (Jamie Donnelly).

Also, Danny has a reputation to maintain, so when other people are around, he behaves very differently towards Sandy.

This adaptation (with screenplay by Bronte Woodard), and it is an adaptation rather than a simple filming of a musical performance, is slightly different from the stage production in parts. Some of the musical numbers have been removed, a couple have been added, and some moved around a bit, too.

However, given that I have never seen the show on stage (I’ve heard the soundtrack album many times, but never had the good fortune to attend a live performance), my only real knowledge of the musical is this film version.

Directed by Randal Kleiser, this is a very enjoyable film. Set in the 1950s, there is a lot of nostalgia here for viewers who perhaps remember this era. There’s a classic diner, there’s a high-school dance, there’s all the fashions from the 1950s, there’s even all the current (at the time) pop culture references to enjoy.

The performances by the cast are good. Of course, the standout performances are John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John. But the supporting cast are quite strong, too, in particular Jeff Conaway and Stockard Channing, as the self-appointed “leaders” of their respective groups. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that the cast are able to sing and dance so well, after all, the audition process for the film would have involved singing and dancing auditions as well as acting, given the nature of the project.

The choreography is also good, especially during the song “Summer Nights”, which also has some of the best backing vocal harmonies of the film.

The film is enjoyable, though not spectacular. That being said, it continues to be popular with audiences, and the musical itself has had two Broadway revivals and a live television special, so there must be something to it. Being someone who loves musical theatre, I do enjoy this film, though it is certainly not my favourite film musical, or even my favourite musical.

If you haven’t seen it yet, watch it soon. If you have seen it before (no matter how many times), watch it again soon.

8 out of 10.

Hairspray (2007)

First it was a film. Then it became a hit Broadway musical. And now, it's a film again.

This adaptation of the stage musical by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman (with book by Mark O'Donnell and Thomas Meehan) - which was itself an adaptation of an earlier film by John Waters - features an all-star cast and many memorable song and dance numbers.

The year is 1962. The location, Baltimore. Tracy Turnblad (Nikki Blonsky) is a girl with a dream. She wants to dance on The Corny Collins Show, a music program for young people hosted by - you guessed it - Corny Collins (James Marsden). Unfortunately, her mother (John Travolta) doesn't think it would be a good idea. And she's not the only one.

The show's stage manager (Michelle Pfeiffer) also doesn't want Tracy on the show, because she doesn't think it would be good for ratings. But she couldn't be more wrong.

With the help of her best friend Penny (Amanda Bynes) and her teen heartthrob crush Link (Zac Efron), Tracy manages to secure a spot on the show, and ratings go through the roof.

Now Tracy wants to use her influence to get people of colour on the show with the white people (Remember, it's 1962, and segregation was still very much a part of American society). The show's co-host (Queen Latifah) who is usually only on screens on so-called Negro Day, gets behind Tracy's cause and vows to fight with her to see people of all colours and creeds represented together on screen.

I won't go into any more detail than that on the plot, but I do want to mention other notable cast members. Christopher Walken does an amazing job as Tracy's father; we all know he can dance, but I don't think we've heard him sing before this (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong on that). Allison Janney plays Penny's mother, and does an okay job of that (it does feel like a character she's played many times before though).

All the songs are catchy enough to find yourself humming them after the film is over (as a musical should be), and the dance numbers are beautifully choreographed.

At the time of writing, I have not seen the original John Waters film, but as this is a review of a musical film, not an adapted film as such, I don't know that that is necessarily an issue.

This film is a lot of fun, and has a very serious message behind it, too. A great way to spend a couple of hours, especially if you know the songs and can sing along.

7 out of 10.