Kershner wasn't working on any current films so the loss isn't one of immediate impact. There won't be any unfinished work that can't go on without him. The loss is that there is now no time left to honor a director that the world of cinema should have honored a long time ago. Of course, his films will continue to honor him but I would have liked to have seen the man himself share in that honor that seemed to constantly elude him.
On the obituaries you see all over the internet right now, from the major media outlets, three movies are listed front and center by which to remember Kershner: The Empire Strikes Back, Robocop 2 and Never Say Never Again. And I understand, too. Popular titles dealing with franchises such as Star Wars, Robocop and James Bond should not be ignored and if that gets people to notice him, more power to them. Certainly his turn with the Star Wars Saga was the best of the series and took an already excellent screenplay by Lawrence Kasdan, and through his expert choices in framing and editing, added layers of depth unknown to any other movie in the Star Wars Universe.
But he did more, so much more, and the pinnacle of his other achievements was The Luck of Ginger Coffey and the impact it had on me cannot be overestimated. When I first saw it, on TBS back in the very early eighties, I was in the opening stages of advanced cinephilia. I had checked out all the classics, from Rules of the Game to Citizen Kane to 8 1/2 to Chinatown, and was steadily taking in more every week. When Ginger Coffey popped up on the schedule I had never heard of it. None of my many "History of the Movies" books had so much as mentioned the title. Kershner wasn't mentioned either, anywhere. So, I watched it with little expectations of anything more than a run-of-the-mill drama, directed by, as it turns out, that guy who did the last Star Wars movie.
Then I saw it, and everything changed. I was floored by how good it was and amazed it wasn't mentioned anywhere. And then, at that moment, I learned my first life lesson of cinephilia: Movie books, critics and historians lean heavily on a select few works, what might be called "the canon", and rarely venture outside of that safety zone. If you want to be a cinephile, you've got to stop relying on the movie books to guide you and make your own way.
It's a lesson movie blogs have really driven home with me, as in the last nearly four years of blogging I have discovered so many great films, films that I would easily rank alongside the canonical ones, that I hadn't even heard of until some adventurous blogger sought it out and wrote it up. It doesn't mean those films in the canon aren't worthy, they are. It simply means there is so much more that's been ignored or overlooked that deserves our attention. The Luck of Ginger Coffey is one of those films for me. In fact, it was one of the first reviews I did on Cinema Styles, something I didn't do often then and still don't but something I wanted to do to call attention to such a good film. It's a review I don't think too much of now, heavily relying on plot description more than anything else, but there it is anyway, one of only four reviews listed on IMDB's "external reviews" for the film, a sad testament to how undervalued it is.
Irvin Kershner died on Saturday and took with him a talent and skill for character in drama that made films like The Empire Strikes Back stand out from the rest of the series and made dramas like Ginger Coffey that much more resonant. He will be missed.
6 comments:
As it stands Luck of Ginger Coffey is only available as a R2 DVD. Some of Kirshner's films from the Sixties are only available in pan and scan VHS. I saw The Hoodlum Priest for the first time in a couple of decades, two years ago, on DVD. There is quite a bit to like about that film. One of the things that I like about Kershner's Sixties films is his location shooting, that he's really travelled of the beaten track. I did see Luck of Ginger Coffey in 16mm at NYU, by the way.
I saw Kershner's second feature, The Young Captives on Netflix Instant, the only way that film is currently available. Again, the location shooting really stands out, as well as some very imaginative camera work.
I assume the Bond, Robocop and Star Wars movies are on DVD.
I've never seen The Young Captives but will give it a look on instant. I watched The Eyes of Laura Mars and The Return of a Man Called Horse last year, both on instant but movies go on and off of instant regularly.
The Luck of Ginger Coffey is filmed on location too, in Canada, using the streets and flats of the area rather than sets. It has an honesty about it that puts it above a lot of other kitchen-sink dramas which, despite being ostensibly gritty, feel forced. Not Ginger Coffey though, which feels effortless and real. You're very lucky to have seen it at NYU. I'd love to see it on the big screen.
I love The Luck of Ginger Coffey as well but, boy, 30 years ago is probably when I last saw it. I saw Hoodlum Priest only a couple of years ago and second Peter's recommendation. Stakeout on Dope Street is unremarkable in many ways but check it for Abby Dalton; also, there's a slight Psychotronic connection, as Andrew Fenady wrote the script and Steve Marlo plays a part in it - later they would work together on the drive-in sub-classic Terror in the Wax Museum.
So many Kirschner movies dot my childhood - The Flim-Flam Man, Up the Sandbox and Raid on Entebbe (does anybody even remember Entebee?) - and as a young adult I enjoyed The Eyes of Laura Mars (I sometimes think Lloyd Bridges is in that movie because of that bit by Rene Auberjonois). It's remarkable to see how few movies Kirschner directed after The Empire Strikes Back.
He was a great journeyman director, handling whatever was thrown at him quite well. I wouldn't hold up any one film as representative because there isn't one (same with other journeyman types like Richard Donner or Franklin Schaffner) nor, outside of possibly Ginger Coffey, would I say any one film approached true cinematic excellence.
But there's still an awful lot to be said for being a jack-of-all-trades director and never producing out and out dreck. Even The Eyes of Laura Mars, which I watched again about six months ago, is ridiculous and campy while at the same time possessing a good feel for tension and suspense. I mean, there really wasn't a lot to work with on that one and he handled it pretty well.
J'ai eu le plaisir avec mes collègues de classe de participer comme figurantes dans le film "The Luck of Ginger Coffey". La fille du couple, Pauli, allait à l'école , il devait donc y avoir des élèves à l'école. On est venu nous recruter tôt à l'école le matin. J'ai levé ma main et j'ai été choisie. Nous étions contentes et excitées. Nous n'avions que 13 ans. On nous a amenées dans une autre école où allait se passer les quelques scènes. Je faisais partie du groupe d’élèves qui descendaient l’escalier en rang. Quand le film est sorti en salle à Montréal, mon père et ma mère m'y ont ammenée. C'était au cinéma de la Place Ville-Marie.
Je remercie M. Kershner de m'avoir fait vivre cette expérience. Il était rare à l'époque de voir se tourner un film dans le quartier St-Henri à Montréal.
Merci de partager cette merveilleuse histoire.
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