| A tribute to Jackie Gleason | 1fatts 03/14/2007 |
I have not seen the film in forty years, and my memory of it is no doubt flawed.
Perhaps if I saw it now, as a more expreinced, far more aged man, I might find the plot forced and the acting hammy. I certainly remember that there was maore slapstick for slapstick's sake than I thought called for, even way back then.
But Jackie Gleason broke my heart. The scene of the mute trying to explain God to the little girl is still somewhere in my mind as a kind of icon of decency, frustrated in its inability to communicate.
I grew up with the Jackie Gleason Show, and his work in The Hustler and Requiem for a Heavyweight demonstrated how fine a seriious actor lay beneath the surface of Ralph Kramden and the Poor Soul. Gigot is not a great film, but it is memorable for Gleason's work. And as his "silent film", it is unique. |
N/R, 104 min.
