Eccentric, literary, and unpredictable, Alex & the Gypsy has all the makings
of a minor classic from the New Hollywood era. The filmmaking is naturalistic
but slick, the performances are vivid, and the romantic storyline crosses
cultural boundaries by putting a caustic everyman together with a reckless
young woman from the fringes of society. The dialogue sparks at regular
intervals, and the love scenes are bracing without being explicit, because
where else can one encounter Jack Lemmon acting peeved because Geneviève Bujold
isn’t sufficiently responsive to his labors during oral sex? For that matter,
where else can one encounter a young James Woods dressed like a modern-day Bob
Cratchit because his employer enjoys irony? Alex
& the Gypsy has attitude and style and wit for days. What it doesn’t
have, unfortunately, is a credible story or even consistent characterizations.
The picture tries a lot of admirable things but fails at many of them.
Alex
Main (Lemmon) is a low-rent bail bondsman in Los Angeles, and his only employee
is accountant/gofer Crainpool (Woods). Alex learns that Maritza (Bujold) has
been arrested for attempted murder. As we learn in flashbacks that are
awkwardly interspersed throughout the movie, Alex and Maritza used to live
together. He met her under ridiculous circumstances, fell under her exotic
spell, and suffered a broken heart when she skipped out on him. Now he’s
reluctant to provide bail services, even though he still carries a torch. Sap
that he is, he bails her out. The story of the movie comprises Alex’s
seriocomic attempts to keep Maritza captive until her hearing, plus his efforts
to gather evidence that might clear her.
As directed by John Korty, a skillful
maker of documentaries and TV movies whose theatrical features are usually
disappointments, Alex & the Gypsy
has great moments. A typically colorful scene involves Maritza reading palms at
a Greek picnic, or Alex lulling himself to sleep with blinking traffic lights
be bought at a police auction because they remind him of fireflies. Lemmon is
wonderfully cranky here, balancing a hot temper with vulnerability, and Woods
makes a terrific foil. Bujold, like her character, is the wild card. Obviously
miscast (she’s French-Canadian), the unique actress renders a tough sort of
sensuality, striving valiantly to make sense of a poorly conceived role.
Yet
it’s the script that undermines the best efforts of everyone involved. Behavior
and motivations make little sense, and the structural game of jumping between
flashbacks and the present creates confusion without delivering compensatory
benefits. Still, this is a strange little movie for a major star and a major
studio to have made, so even if it’s not a proper New Hollywood artifact, it’s
an example of the New Hollywood’s influence. Mainstream movies soon left this
sort of adventurousness behind.
Alex
& the Gypsy: FUNKY
When Lemmon watched this in preview, he asked Walter Matthau what he should do. Matthau replied, "Get out of it!" Haven't seen this one myself.
ReplyDeleteThe movie poster kind of warns you: Jack Lemmon (blah blah blah) doing stuff, you know, like in a movie.. with some other people in it, let's call the film, well uh. what's the name of the film again? Something with a gypsy and someone named Alex?
ReplyDeleteVery underrated. Did very poorly in NYC on exclusive run. It went wide about a month later double featured with The Blue Bird! Disastrous
ReplyDelete