Ernest Hemingway movies

                                                                 Part 2

Ernest Hemingway was one of the most popular writers of the twentieth century. Many of his stories were made into movies. He loathed Hollywood and steadfastly refused to write screenplays. However he obviously sold the rights to most of his work to the silver screen moguls. So he was ok with taking the money! Here is another batch of Hemingway-inspired films.

The Sun Also Rises (1957) features Tyrone Power, Ava Gardner, Mel Ferrer and Errol Flynn. Hemingway hated it; walked out after 25 minutes. Viewers loved it. Inspired by the running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain. It contains that spectacle, lots of gorgeous scenery and a red hot love story between the main actors. 

The Old Man and the Sea (1958) stars legendary Spencer Tracy as a Cuban fisherman whose has gone 84 days without a catch. On the next day he hooks a gigantic marlin and tries to haul it to shore. He is beset by the distance to the shore  and predatory sharks making his attempt basically impossible. Hemingway saw this as a struggle between man’s courage and the pitiless elements. There is a 1999 animated version that sticks pretty close to the original, but with perhaps a happier ending. It won the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film that year. 

The Gun Runners (1958) has Audie Murphy, as Sam Martin, an honest American charter boat captain who is forced into running guns for the Cuban revolution.  Murphy became a so-so actor after winning the Medal of Honor and lot more medals.He was  the most decorated soldier of World War II. The lobby card for this one says, in big red print: Hemingway-Hot Adventure!  And it does have lots of excitement and a decent plot. This story was earlier made a film in 1950 (The Breaking Point) with John Garfield. It is just as good, but instead of guns the captain is running crooks. The lobby card for this one reads: Screaming Off The Pages Of A Hemingway Story! Wow.

Hemingway’s Adventures of a Young Man (1962) Ernest got the right to approve everything in this one. After all, they did pay him to use his name. He wrote a bunch of excellent short stories about Nick Adams, and their popularity led to this movie. Richard Beymer plays Nick. He is bored with his Michigan parents, roams the country finding adventures and eventually enlists as an ambulance driver for the Italian army during World War I. He is seriously wounded and finds himself back in Michigan to recover. 

We have to fast forward forty years for the last film in this article. Across The River and Into The Trees (2022) has Liev Schreiber as Colonel Richard Cantwell slowly dying from a heart condition. Flashbacks are used to tell the story of his time as a soldier in World War I, first in the Italian arm and later in the American. The book got bad reviews but became a best seller. The film hews close to the novel of the same name and is pretty good. 

All of these movies are for adults. 

                                                      Ernest Hemingway movies

                                                             Part 1

        A friend was telling me about visiting the Ernest Hemingway home in Key West and my mind turned (of course!) to movies. Could I dig out enough movies based on Hemingway works for a column? Actually, I could find enough for two columns and this is the first.

A Farewell To Arms (1932) starred heavy hitters Helen Hayes and Gary Cooper as star-crossed lovers during World War 1. She is Catherine (Hayes) a nurse who meets Frederick (Cooper) when she cares for the wounded soldier. She becomes pregnant during their affair and in the original version she dies at the end. The film ran afoul not only of people wanting a happy ending but of The Code and was mercilessly chopped up. It’s still pretty good. The 1957 version is also quite good with Rock Hudson and Jennifer Jones as the lovers. Either film is a three-handkerchief event. 

For Whom The Bell Tolls (1943) is another romantic story , this time during the Spanish Civil War.  Gary Cooper is back as Robert Jordan, an American living in Spain as an English language teacher. Jordan joins the International Brigade, fighting against the Franco led falangists. He is also an expert munitions expert specializing in dynamite. He is assigned to blow up a bridge behind enemy lines. En route he meets Maria (Jennifer Jones) and sparks fly. The bridge is blown but the falangists chase the good guys. Jordan is grievously wounded but he mans a machine gun against the bad guys, allowing his companions (and Maria) to escape. This film got nine Oscar nominations, but only won for Supporting Actress (Katina Paxinou). 

The Killers (1946) introduced filmdom to Burt Lancaster (The Swede) who is shot to death early in the film. Jim Reardon (Edmond O’Brien) is an insurance investigator looking for the Swede’s life insurance beneficiary. His search uncovers the story of how the Swede left boxing because of an injured hand and fell into a life of crime. The plot involves a complicated heist and several double-crosses. The 1964 version isn’t quite as good. It features Lee Marvin and a guy named Reagan who might have a future in politics. The first part of the movie including the shooting are taken from a Hemingway story. The rest is not. 

The Macomber Affair (1947) features Robert Preston as Macomber, an American on a Kenyan safari with his wife Margot (Joan Bennett) and their guide Robert Wilson (Gregory Peck). This ill-fated triangle winds up in a murder trial when Margot shoots her husband dead. Or maybe she was aiming a charging water buffalo?

Back to Africa for The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952) where Harry Street (Gregory Peck) lays dying at the base of the big mountain, suffering a slow demise from an infected thorn prick. A famous writer, he reminisces about his life and times, and is tended by Helen (Susan Hayward). One fine memory is of his first wife Cynthia (Ava Gardner), a character invented for this film. 

In almost all of the movies the writers played fast and loose with Hemingway’s stories. Since he had sold the rights, there wasn’t much he could do about it. But at least he could spurn the lure of Hollywood as a script writer, because he refused to do that. Oh, and all of these films are for grown-ups. 

                                                                       DANCING

Every society has dancing. OK, maybe not Afghanistan. Many people love to dance and even more love to watch dancing. Hollywood is right there with the wonderful Astaire-Rogers movies, the MGM musicals, and there’s even a whole film about it aptly named That’s Dancing (1985). In these films, the dancers are professionals in the story as well as personally.

What about just your ordinary Joe and Jane who just like to dance? I thought you’d never ask. There are some wonderful movies on just that subject.

Queen of the Stardust Ballroom (1975) stars Maureen Stapleton and Charles Durning as an older couple who discover each other at the Stardust Ballroom. This is a made-for-TV movie, but it is excellent. The actors are good, the dancing is fun, and the story is a good and unusual one demonstrating that even people over 50 can fall in love and be romantic.

They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? (1969) is about the little-known Depression era phenomenon of marathon dancing. Jane Fonda is impossibly young and fresh and Michael Sarazin plays her partner. Gig Young (Oscar, Best Supporting Actor) is wonderfully sinister and seedy as the master of ceremonies. The whole thing works on several levels, as a fascinating look at a long-ago fad and as a metaphor for lives.

Strictly Ballroom (1992, Australia) is about ballroom dancing contests down under, and it provides a peek at a world most of us didn’t even know existed; it’s almost a parallel universe. Paul Mercurio is the hot-blooded individualist who takes on ugly duckling Tara Morice as a new partner. She blossoms, and they enter the big contest. Loads of fun.

Shall We Dance? (1996, Japan) is an absolutely superb movie about a Japanese businessman who secretly takes ballroom dancing lessons to brighten up his very dull life. He meets lots of interesting characters, becomes a proficient dancer and also rather poignantly meets himself. This is one of the best films you probably never heard of. 

And by the way, remember all those movies where the kids in town want to (fill in the blank): twist, lambada, Charleston, rock and roll, tango, breakdance, etc, etc, and the blue-nosed grownups want to stop them? Are any of those any good? No.

All of the movies in this column are fine for children 10 and up.