![]() ![]() His later films included the 1986 “America” and 1988 comedy “Rented Lips,” written by and starring Martin Mull. It’s my kids’ favorite film out of all of them.”Īctor Ron Leibman sued to have his name removed from the credits of Downey’s 1980 film “Up the Academy,” an attempt to replicate the success of “Animal House” but with antics much milder than the ones in the John Belushi film. He looked at me like: ‘Are you out of your f–king mind?’ Nicholson put money in, and Hal Ashby and Norman Lear, these pals of mine from back then. I remember telling a guy once, ‘There’s a scene where we’re going to have 18 guys playing baseball on horseback,’ which is in there. The director told the Village Voice that “it was hard to raise money for a film that didn’t really have a plot. ![]() The sponsors reacted to the play’s strong anti-war sentiments by pulling out at the last minute, forcing the network to air the play without interruptions.ĭowney’s take-no-prisoners sense of humor is also apparent in 1975’s “Moment to Moment” (aka “Jive,” “Compliments to the World” and “Two Tons of Turquoise to Taos Tonight”), which also evinced Downey’s uncompromising sense of humor. In the early ’70s he worked on projects for Joseph Papp and the New York Public Theatre, and directed David Rabe’s play “Sticks and Bones” in a live broadcast for CBS in 1973. “Greaser’s Palace” (1972) was an outrageous restaging of the life of Christ in the context of a spaghetti Western, and Time put the film on its list of the year’s top 10 movies. Watching “Sr.,” even those who never saw one of his films – or indeed knew much about this showbiz family beyond the armored heroics – might just miss him a little bit, too.The cult director thrived in the auteur-driven 1970s film industry with irreverent works such as “Pound,” in which humans played dogs awaiting adoption. says after visiting the old man with his own young son, Exton. Stripped to its core, though, “Sr.” is a highly identifiable portrait of family and the sense that even when a parent dies in their 80s, the loss and grief is tough on those left behind. Shot over three years, the film captures Downey Sr.’s physical decline as he experiences the ravages of Parkinson’s disease. The younger Downey’s resume also figures prominently in the narrative, recalling early breakout roles like “Less Than Zero,” in which he played an addict, as a sort-of omen for problems to come. Part of that has to do with the elder Downey’s wry responses in discussing his films, such as when he’s asked whether people ascribe larger meaning to them. sitting at his father’s bedside before his death last year, “Sr.” (a title the elder thinks they can improve upon) is also playful and amusing, incorporating the theme from “A Summer Place” to take the audience back to Downey Sr.’s heyday, when he directed films such as “Putney Swope” and “Chafed Elbows.” clearly doesn’t relish having, although their interplay throughout is one of warmth, forgiveness and love, and if there was second guessing or recriminations on the way to making that peace, you won’t find it here.įor all its emotional aspects, with Downey Jr. was an occasional actor as a child in his father’s films, and later asks his dad, uncomfortably, about their shared excesses with drug use, and the extent to which the elder man’s permissiveness might have influenced his son. made his own unique contributions to the culture as an underground filmmaker, appearing as a guest to talk about his work on Dick Cavett’s show, and garnering the kind of prestige that allowed him to careen from one low-budget project to the next.ĭowney Jr. Yet as he’s quick to point out, and director Chris Smith ably illustrates, Downey Sr. The simple answer, stripped of celebrity, is the painful process of saying goodbye to an aging, increasingly infirm parent, filtered through the careers of these two entertainers.ĭowney Jr.’s fame, obviously, has eclipsed that of his father in terms of recognition and popular footprint, thanks to an improbable comeback with the role of Iron Man in 2008, and all that has followed since then. ponders what his 90-minute ode to his father was really all about. At the end of “Sr.,” a documentary so personal the word “intimate” almost doesn’t do it justice, Robert Downey Jr. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |