Word: tynan
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
MALICE AND AMBITION do not adhere to Alan Alda's face. Alda the screenwriter forgot that Alda the actor looks like a waiter in Chinatown begging for a big tip--his squinting, ever-genial countenance belies the selfish, insatiable drive that defines his hero, Senator-on-the-make Joe Tynan. The words of the screenplay may fit, but Alda can't take up the Nice Man's Burden: Hawkeye can't play Macbeth...
...other woman," Karen Traynor, is played masterfully by WASP phenomenon Meryl Streep. A lawyer whose civil rights organization gives Tynan information which can destroy a supposedly racist Supreme Court nominee, Traynor bears the oft-mentioned aphrodisiac of power: as Tynan makes the move on Traynor in his private office, he whispers, "I think I'm infatuated with you... You remind me of John Kennedy...
...entirely by chance that Joe Tynan is Alda's breakthrough role: he wrote the movie himself. He is not yet a polished craftsman; the overambitious screenplay tosses out far more narrative lines than it can possibly pull back...
...script creates an exhausting round robin of ethical and personal conflicts for its hero. Should Tynan lead the fight against a racist Supreme Court nominee, or should he remain silent out of deference to an old colleague (Melvyn Douglas)? Should he carry on an affair with a bright Southern civil rights lawyer (Meryl Streep) or remain faithful to his equally bright and attractive wife (Barbara Harris)? Should he pursue his presidential ambitions or spend more time at home with his increasingly estranged kids? Not only do these dilemmas have the aura of the casebook about them, but they are also...
Like Katharine Hepburn, she uses her regal beauty and bearing to make her sudden descents to earth all the more exciting. There are also crisp contributions from Douglas as the fading Senator, Charles Kimbrough as Tynan's most possessive aide and Rip Torn as a sort of Wilbur Mills before the fall. When a movie has parts as fine as these, one can almost forget that they do not add up to a triumphant whole...