Synopsis
Dick Van Dyke stars as a priest accused of murdering a nun. Directed by Stanley Kramer, this 1979 drama also features Kathleen Quinlan, Maureen Stapleton, Ray Bolger, Beau Bridges and Tammy Grimes.
1979 Directed by Stanley Kramer
Dick Van Dyke stars as a priest accused of murdering a nun. Directed by Stanley Kramer, this 1979 drama also features Kathleen Quinlan, Maureen Stapleton, Ray Bolger, Beau Bridges and Tammy Grimes.
Someone really put Dick Van Dyke and Ray Bolger in a movie together and there was no dancing involved...
my momma said she watched this in the theater in the 70s so I did and it was good, kinda reminded me of Fleabag season 2
P. Rivard: «Siempre insiste en convertir todo en una cuestión personal.»
Sor Rita: «Porque todo es personal.»
1. Que se publique lo que uno escribe puede considerarse, hasta cierto punto, un privilegio, no siempre merecido, que es en la práctica lo único que separa al «crítico» del mero cinéfilo. Creo, por ello, un deber moral rehuir el plural mayestático o los reflexivos impersonales, y asumir, por el contrario, la primera persona del singular, con su implicación de subjetivismo; y pienso, además, que hay que indicar explícitamente desde dónde se ve y se escribe, sin que llevar catorce años fatigando la paciencia ajena le excuse a uno de ello: no siempre se adopta el mismo punto de vista, uno no es…
The excessive conniptions over religious propriety often put me at arms length, but the scene where the priest and the nun have different and violent reactions to one of their flock’s howling tears over the loss of her father, and are essentially using this person’s grief to hash out personal grievances with one another over a love yet to be consummated, is all too real.
As is the scene where the priest, after forcing distance between him and the nun to ensure he goes on acting in the proper manner, is accused by her of treating her as a limb that needs amputating, and he harshly responds that that is exactly what he must do. Anyone who has fought tooth…
A strange, flawed, weirdly endearing movie. Dick Van Dyke underplays to the degree that his performance is actually quite dull, but Kathleen Quinlan is lovely, and Maureen Stapleton and Beau Bridges add a lot of value in the supporting cast. It's all a bit talky, and the lack of chemistry between Van Dyke and Quinlan does make the central passion hard to buy, but there's something about the tone - the general woodenness pierced by sporadic flares of melodrama - that makes this very watchable. Beautiful scenery, too.
LA VIDA DESATENTA
Con más pena que gloria, perdidos de vista ya los tiempos en que alguna de sus obras avivó debates muy poco cinematográficos, "The runner stumbles" cierra en 1979 la carrera de Stanley Kramer.
Relativamente tardío en su periplo como director, que se había iniciado después de cosechar notables éxitos en la producción, a mediados de los años 50, Kramer empezó a respirar un aire enrarecido a finales de la siguiente década por el súbito cambio de escenario sufrido por el cine americano. Ya "no contaba" para nadie en esos últimos años que estuvo en activo.
Como sus películas recientes habían fracasado, a nadie debió importarle entonces que, siendo aún bastante joven, clausurara su irregular trayectoria con otro…
The Runner Stumbles (Stanley Kramer, 1979) 4/10
A radical priest (a very stiff Dick Van Dyke in a rare dramatic role) is banished to a depressed backwater coal mining town full of people suffering economic problems. When the two elderly nuns in the parish contract tuberculoses a young nun (Kathleen Quinlan) is sent by the diocese to teach the school children. She proves to be a breath of fresh air in the community and as a deep friendship develops between the two, gossip in town begins to spread about their relationship. The Rectory's jealous housekeeper (Maureen Stapleton) resents the nun while the Monsignor (Ray Bolger) expresses his concern. When the nun is found brutally murdered the priest goes on trial…