Word: ontkean
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...body, stands superbly on its own. More than a dozen characters are introduced -- all of them connected, each dwelling in a private world -- from the widowed owner of the town sawmill (Joan Chen) to the dead girl's hopped-up boyfriend (Dana Ashbrook) to the serene sheriff (Michael Ontkean), whose name, for no particular reason, is Harry S. Truman...
Harry Hamlin ran into the same prejudice in 1982, when he played a gay writer in Making Love. Hamlin's character appeared straight. The only time he acted otherwise was when he went to bed with Michael Ontkean, who played another all-American. Though Hamlin's credentials as a heterosexual were beyond dispute -- he was living at the time with sexy Ursula Andress -- his realistic characterization cast his career into a gloom that was lifted only...
...most entertaining American comedy since the last Edwards film (S.O.B.), Victor/Victoria adds further proof that, like Toddy in the film, homosexuals are ceasing to be an inconvenience to moviemakers. Already out and doing quite well in the theaters is Making Love, in which a terribly nice fellow (Michael Ontkean) leaves his terribly nice wife (Kate Jackson) to take up with a not-quite-so-nice novelist (Harry Hamlin) before he finds a more stable male mate. Also doing well is Personal Best, which purposely makes no big deal about the fact that its two leading figures (played by Mariel Hemingway...
...what's this? Zack (Michael Ontkean) seems to be cruising the gay bars, looking wistful. Is it possible that what looked like just another untrue domestic romance is going to turn into a problem picture? Not to worry. The people who made this picture are not interested in tragedy or even human messiness. They are determined to prove not only that "nice boys do," but that homosexuals can be as well-adjusted and as middle class as anyone else. Thus Zack, after leaving Claire (Kate Jackson) for a muscular writer, eventually settles down with a lawyer. They sit around...
Some of the movie's difficulty lies in the acting, though only Ontkean as Willie fails entirely. He portrays this rich and challenging character vapidly, as if he's not even in the movie. Sharkey comes on like gangbusters, and his boisterous Phil might be trying to wake Ontkean from his deep sleep. Sharkey has the funniest lines in the film and delivers them well...