TEN TO WISH FOR Part Five

9.

FIVE DAYS ONE SUMMER (1982: Dir. Fred Zinnemann)

At one time, every new film released by director Fred Zinnemann (High Noon, A Man For All Seasons) was considered a cultural event. This excitement was strangely absent for Five Days One Summer, Zinnemann's valedictory film, starring Sean Connery during his career doldrums , opposite two young unknowns, American Betsy Brantley and future French heartthrob Lambert Wilson. Perhaps it was the mountain climbing milieu, which has never attracted large audiences, or it could have been the film's very uncomfortable love triangle, featuring a 51 year-old Connery in a seemingly incestuous relationship with a women half his age. Regrettably, its reputation remains unfairly maligned to this day, thus disregarding a courageously vulnerable performance by the once and future Bond. Nevertheless, it was admittedly a personal project for Zinnemann, conjuring up the serene majesty and thrilling danger of his boyhood treks through the Austrian Alps. Being a Warner Bros. film it will likely become available in their MOD Archives series, but in the meantime I'm keeping my VHS copy in a safe place.

                                                                    10.

                                          THE KEEP (1986: Dir. Michael Mann)

Michael Mann (Last of the Mohicans, Heat) is now anointed an auteur filmmaker, but if one chooses to accept The Keep in the company of his other works, there emerges an odd schizophrenia. For almost his entire career Mann has chosen stories drawn from history or the headlines to create ultra-stylish entertainments. The Keep is a fantasy/horror film with none of the gritty realism of his usual subjects, instead it embraces a supernatural religious mysticism that would be laughed off the screen by any of his own cinematic protagonists. That might be why, after its commercial failure, Mann retreated back into the familiar territory of the crime genre. It is possible the film's reputation might have been salvaged with a different theatrical cut made from the original three hour director's version, but despite its vague and confusing plot, I defend the boldness of Mann's vision, a view not shared by the novel's author F. Paul Wilson. The fact that it introduced Ian McKellen to an international audience should alone secure its place in cinema history, if not also for the film's memorably foreboding atmospherics, heightened by an operatic score from German electronic band Tangerine Dream. Six years ago, I was fortunate enough to meet one of its stars Alberta Watson shortly before its then-promised debut on DVD, and while I found her most appreciative of my praise for her performance and the film itself, I could sense her disappointment with the finished product. I guess Paramount shared her reservations, cancelling its release without explanation, and leaving me with the evermore unlikely chance of adding it to my collection.