Word: jakes
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Italian immigrant who is working his way up in the trucking business, has just had a coincidental reunion of his own-with Maud Charteris (Faye Dunaway), a rich actress for whom he once worked as a gardener in Italy. And talk about a small world: Marco's friend Jake, a Russian Jew who came over on that same crowded boat, hears the tinkle of a ragtime piano while strolling through Harlem. Darned if it isn't Roscoe Haines (Ben Vereen), who helped Jake earn his passage to America back in Hamburg...
...become something more than a straight (wo)man for Charles's barbs, his mother sticks to her live-in "Uncle" Ken. "I hope you're planning to marry her," Charles tells mom's shaving-cream-adorned amour, "you know it's the only decent thing to do." Uncle Jake calls it Charles's attitude problem, romanties call it cynicism, but it all adds up to the end of innocence...
With all its dimensions and contradictions, Jake's character entails an unusual challenge given the Hollywood trend to treat its young male leads as Calvin Klein underwear models and the general willingness of its leads to seem even devoid of that much acting ability. Much of the success of Firstborn comes from Christopher Collet's masterful performance as Jake, offering even in his sassiest scenes a glimpse into the conflict tearing at him. How disappointing, then, that Firstborn must nonetheless include the de rigeur weightlifting scenc in Jake's bedroom...
Overshadowed by her two co-stars. Terri Garr nevertheless proves her versatility here. Often cast as the most adorable character Garr here makes Jake's mom something more pathetic than just a middle aged woman in need of a good shampoo...
...hair uncut, Chris began preparing for the role of Jake Livingston. "I had two weeks to get ready. Monday through Friday. I rode the motorcycle and I played Lacrosse on weekends. It's a rough game." But the schedule still afforded him more time than his stage work. "I did eight shows a week and sent to high school kind of not much time for anything else...