Word: splendid
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...riven by religious and political conflicts, he was one of the first true cosmopolitans: he was both painter and diplomat, and on delicate negotiations (as with his efforts to make a treaty between Spain and England, for which Charles I duly knighted him), Rubens the court portraitist served as splendid cover for Rubens the agent. He spoke five languages fluently, knew almost everyone of significance in the worlds of politics, scholarship and art, and was the proper heir to Titian's role as "prince of painters and painter of princes." (By a slightly eerie coincidence, Rubens was conceived...
Quinlan, 22, mirrors Deborah's inner turmoil in a strong and sensitive performance. The splendid Bibi Andersson does as much as possible with the passive role of Dr. Fried, but the film makers' conception of the role is a letdown. There are some absorbing early glimpses of Dr. Fried's sessions with Deborah, but one suspects that several later scenes were cut, as if the film decided to shy away from the struggle of minds. We see Deborah's emotional breakthrough, but the question of precisely how Dr. Fried helped bring it about is fudged...
...skinny, 170-lb. 6-ft. kid of 18 with the sort of lean, whippet's body that did not conjure up images of a slugger. Then he stepped into the batting cage. In a few short minutes, the onlookers needed no images-the reality was too splendid. Recalls Carew: "I was hitting some shots. I mean really hitting the ball." He blasted so many balls into the bleachers, in fact, that Twins Manager Sam Mele-fearing spying Yankee eyes-ordered him out of the batting cage: "Get him out of here before somebody sees the kid!" One month later...
...Splendid idiosyncratic essays abound here. Angell's profile of Steve Blass, the Pirate pitcher, who, a year after winning the seventh game of the World Series, mysteriously lost the ability to throw strikes, is classic. There is no definite explanation for Blass's sudden downfall--baseball people will tell you simply that he was not "in the groove," which explains nothing at all. Angell speculates that Blass was unnerved by the burden of team leadership that he felt pushed on him by the untimely death of Roberto Clemente...
...left only with the memory of those splendid British players doing their eccentric bits: Dirk Bogarde edging his performance as a commanding officer with campy arrogance; Edward Fox catching just the right note of awkwardness as another general trying to be hail-fellow-well-met with his troops; Michael Caine as an Irish Guards officer being at once casual and ostentatious as he strikes heroic poses to in spire his men; Anthony Hopkins being stoical about occupying the most exposed position in the battle. That's all good stuff, but the rest of the film puts one in mind...