Spoiler Abound!

THE KING THING

I’m a fan of Stephen King’s insofar as he writes real-life terror. Most of his novels are otherwordly, and, with the exception of the apocalyptic “The Stand”….I’m not really a fan. I like his short stories and loved his nonfiction work, “On Writing”. One of the trials of Stephen King’s life must be that there have been so many efforts to make a great movie from one of his books, and so many efforts have failed. When they do succeed, it’s amazing…..



I have always felt the underappreciated film, “Misery”, from King’s novel of the same name, was akin to some of the best of his films. I do think that the film would have profited from a better actor in the lead role of Paul Sheldon (Nicholson is said to have turned it down….DeNiro would have been a great choice, but my personal favorite was Kevin Kline, who also turned it down), but the casting of James Caan just gave us more ability to focus on Kathy Bates, a journeyman actress who had been in at least a dozen films before Misery launched her career. And Caan turns in a worthy performance.

I include this film in The Quotes That Make The Movie W/O 2005 not only for the quotes (to come) but also for the irony that is the title. Misery, of course, is the name of the popular character in the Paul Sheldon (James Caan) series of books; he’s a successful novelist with a romantic heroine he’s grown tired of (Misery Chastain) and is killing off in his newest book, as yet unpublished (sort of like Patricia Cornwell with Kay Scarpetta…and while PC hasn’t killed KS yet, one hopes she will, and soon) And misery (without the capital M) is exactly what he gets for having encountered Annie Wilkes, a psychopath immortalized by Bates.


THE PLOT, THE ACTORS, THE QUOTES

Paul Sheldon crashes his car in a remote mountainous area of the country in winter. He’s found horribly injured, and brought to safety by his number one fan, Annie Wilkes (Bates). Annie is obsessed with Misery, Paul’s heroine, had she never met Paul, she would still have an unhealthy relationship with his fiction…soon her obsession is transferred to Paul, himself. It is obvious from her actions that she intends to keep him for herself. She gets his new novel as well, and, as he heals, she embarks upon reading Misery’s newest adventures. Paul immediately has misgivings – glad to be alive, he’s still aware that Annie is a few (few?) cornflakes shy of the whole box, and he correctly guesses that she won’t want Misery to die. He tries to get her NOT to read it, and to contact the real world to get him some help. But, he fails. He becomes her prisoner.

The audience is uneasy….if Hitchcock had directed, the uneasiness would have grown into fear a lot sooner, but Reiner, a good director that’s a little out of his genre here, invokes realism instead of symbolism to point to all the signs of an impending Annie breakdown. Even those who had not read the novel will be hit over the head by the clues Annie leaves to what will happen when she finishes the book. It’s the one element of the film that prevents it, in my opinion, from being truly great. There’s a background story going on about the sheriff, his wife and Sheldon’s publicist trying to find him. It’s well kept in the background and necessary to inject realism into what is happening to Paul.

Annie forces Paul into writing a sequel that will bring the heroine back, and when Paul attempts to escape, enforces her will on him by hobbling him for any future moves of that type. The claustrophobia of “life” with the volatile Annie, and Paul’s eventual need to exact revenge are shocking and revealing of just how an ordinary life tragedy can become a horror sequence when two worlds collide.

Bates is stunning in her role, won every award in filmmaking for it, and has gone on to be our most memorable character actress. Reiner and Caan (especially Caan, who resuscitated his post-Godfather career with this) also contributed heavily to the very real life tragedy of the stalking/obsessive phenomena that famous people sometimes have to live with. There are also a lot of bloopers in the film, most of which I think Reiner left in as sort of a signpost to see who would pick up on them. My favorite Reiner-ism is the video of “Harry Met Sally”…a Reiner film that is clearly visible on one of Annie’s trips to the local store.

And now, how did the quotes contribute….well, there are at least 10 memorable quotes in the film….I’ll portray just 3:


* * *

When Annie discovers that Paul has “killed” Misery in his newest book:

Annie: “YOU! YOU DIRTY BIRD, HOW COULD YOU!...... I DON'T WANT HER SPIRIT! I WANT HER, AND YOU MURDERED HER!”

This line is the first clue that Paul’s correct to truly fear Annie. She’s been petulant and sarcastic with him before, but his worst fears are realized when she begins to call him names (she hates swearing, so for Annie, Dirty Bird is the ultimate insult) and accuse him of murder. “Dirty Bird” becomes a classic insult.

* * *
When Paul tries to escape, Annie smashes his legs with a sledgehammer (her revenge was even worse in King’s book) and in the terrifying orgy of disabling the one she loves, Annie finally confesses, with the line:

Annie: “God, I love you.”

…as Paul writhes in pain and blacks out. What Paul already knew, what we instinctively knew, is that Annie’s is a kind of love that is a death sentence for her captive…the ultimate in real-life horror.

* * *


As Paul nears the end of his new work, which is basically dictated by Annie, she gets blue again. She’s getting what she wants and her love can’t escape, but he doesn’t love her in return. She starts to realize the depths of how he must hate her. She realizes that the way that she’s achieved nirvana can’t last, that there is no long term future in this particular madness:.

Annie: “You'll never know the fear of losing someone like you if you're someone like me………I have this gun. (she pulls the trigger) Sometimes I think about using it. I'd better go now. I might put bullets in it.”


What choice does Paul have? All hope is gone, and all risks are worth it. And Annie knows this.


* * *


Just because I’m nuts about the quotes in this movie, I include a couple that aren’t intrinsic to the plot:


As Annie succeeds in having Misery resurrected, she’s consumed by the romance of it all….dancing around she says:

“Oh, This whole house is going to be full of romance, OOOH, I am going to put on my Liberace records.”


As Paul exacts his revenge on Annie, while stuffing the pages of his novel in her mouth, he yells:

“Eat it till ya choke, you sick, twisted f***!”….its way, way over the top!



Bate’s pet pig and her “cooking with spam” habit are also film classics.

So ends the movie version of Stephen King’s twist on one of my favorite novels, “The Collector”

http://www.epinions.com/content_193086131844

brought to the screen…underappreciated, with a horrible DVD production; it’s not for everyone and on everyone’s list, but to me, it is a classic, and for just the reasons this type of write off exists.

This has been my entry in the second "Quotes That Make The Movies" write-off hosted by Dean Cowie. For rules, visit this site: http://www.epinions.com/content_4502888580






Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age