Posted: 9/11/2006 5:53:16 PM EDT
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I have always been facinated with the mysterious suicide of actor George Reeves. I think I must have been 7 or 8 and watching re-runs of Superman on TV and asked my mother about him. Who is he, what is he doing now? The news was not good. My mother told me that he was dead and had killed himself. Later, as a teen, I read interviews with some surviving cast members that only deepened the mystery for me. So it was with much anticipation that I went to see the movie Hollywoodland. Here, hopefully, was a movie that would reveal what happened and tie up the many loose ends that seem to exist concerning the death of George Reeves. The movie stars Adrien Brody as down on his luck, streetsmart and conniving, private detective Louis Simo. Recently fired from a real detective agency and estranged from his wife, ably played by Molly Parker (Deadwood), Louis is deep in the throes of having an affair with his secretary and trying to run his own start-up detective agency out of a seedy Hollywood apartment. Simo desperately wants to portray that he is competent, reliable, and professional, but doesn't seem to be pulling it off and everyone seems to notice this but him. Desperate for a case, Lou calls in a marker with an old acquaintence and is thrown a bone and referred to crazy old Helen Bessolo. Helen is the mother of actor George Reeves and is convinced that Georges recent suicide was actually murder and is willing to pay Simo $50 a day to investigate. Thinking he can humor the old lady for a fat paycheck, Simo decides to poke around a bit and at least make it look like he is earning his pay. Simo starts his investigation and soon discovers a lot of missed or ignored evidence that does seem to point to something being rotten in Denmark. As he uncovers each new piece of evidence, the movie flashes back to the real life circumstance that spawned it, and gives the viewer a fly-on-the-wall perspective into the life and death, of actor Geoirge Reeves. Who is responsible? Is it Toni Mannix, the wife of a powerfull studio head who has taken George under her wing and made him her toy boy? Toni (Diane Lane) was dumped by George recently for a younger woman and as they say, hell hath no fury.... Or, is it Leonore Lemmon (Robin Tunney), the woman Toni was dumped for. Leonore and George had a quick and extrmely physical thing going, but by the time of Georges death, things were on the skids and they could barely stand to be in the same room together. To Leonore, George is no longer fun and she is bored and ready to move on to greener pastures. Or, is it studio boss E.J. Mannix (Bob Hoskins)? One can't tell if Mannix is pissed or relieved that his wife Toni is doing the nasty with a B Hollwood actor he's never heard of. It certainly makes it easy for him to pursue his affair with a Japanese woman who doesn't speak a lick of English. One of the more interesting and uncomfortable scenes in the movie is when the four of them have dinner together; so all the cards were on the table as to who was doing who. I have always thought that George Reeves performances as Superman were a bit wooden and uninspired. It may have been that he just wasn't as good of an actor as he thought he was or probably that he didn't give a rats ass about it and only did it for the money. When Superman eventually became a megahit, Georges hopes of all of it quietly slipping away unnoticed into obscurity were dashed. The best way to get a "wooden" perfomance is to get a "wooden" actor to play it. Since George is long gone and would be too old to play himself anyway, we'll just have to settle for Ben Affleck in the role of George Reeves. With a few extra pounds and the right hair and makeup, Ben is the spitting image of George and does a good job in the role. To me, Hollywoodland is a film about users and using and no setting is better for this than 1950's Hollywood and the heyday of the contract player. Everyone in this film is using somebody else for fame, power, wealth, lust or greed. Georges mother even gets into the act! If you expect this film to answer all the questions surrounding the mystery of George Reeves death, you will be disappointed. It does a very good job of showing three distinct scenarios and allows the viewer to determine which is the most plausible to them. It also does a very good job of showing what kind of man George Reeves was. He was smart, handsome, and charming; but also sad and depressed. His career was on the skids and he knew it. He had plans to get into directing but maybe some part of him knew he would never be able to divorce himself from his Superman role and the thought of putting on the red suit for the rest of his life and/or climbing into a wrestling ring wearing it just might make him want to smoke his Luger. Good entertainment. Good performances by Adrien Brody, Molly Parker, Diane Lane, and Ben Affleck. Three out of four stars. |
Surprisingly Afleck does a good job at a difficult role. It's hard for an actor to portray a different actor. Afleck really assumes Reeves persona, and at the end of the movie I had total empathy with Reeves because of Afleck's portrayal of him. |
There is plenty of evidence the movie shows that was "overlooked." - The extra bullet holes in Georges bedroom floor. - Why did it take 45 minutes for the people downstairs to notice the gunshot and then investigate and call police? - The lack of any powder burns on Georges head near the entry wound. - The bruises on Georges arms indicating a struggle. - Lou Simo getting the crap beat out of him for finding out too much. ...and maybe others I missed or forgot about... |