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| DIRECTED BY |
| John Frankenheimer
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| STARRING |
| Rock Hudson |
| Salome Jens |
| John Randolph |
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Warning: Spoiler in Third Paragraph
The first half of the film handles the all-too-real �dis� emotions of one man�s disillusionment and discontent and disappointment resulting from monotony and the �lack of freedom� that some may sense thanks to following life�s formal path. Our protagonist is so empty that he never even got around to dreaming, which is a sad thought indeed. It�s all done in a very believable fashion � of course he�d take up the opportunity to carve a new life for himself � after all, what does he really have left to lose? It�s an unfortunate fact that people can truly be this selfish.
The film really set itself up to make some excellent statements concerning the repercussions of throwing ones life away in order to formulate a new one, but it never really did a great job of conveying Arthur�s �re-disillusionment.� All we get is a broken pseudo-love subplot that includes one hell of a nauseating sequence involving a party of raving grape squashers � and then Arthur suddenly begins to get nostalgic. This is all thrown together too sloppily.
The dialogue is at times frustratingly cryptic � it takes quite a lot of thought to rationalize just how this operation could even be imaginatively possible. The fisheye cinematography is nonetheless quite impressive and serves the dream sequence(s) well. The final comment that we get is definitely depressing but coldly truthful as well � most of the time, we just have to live with and make the most out of what we�ve got. And that final shot could�ve been a lot more effective if it tied in with some sort of dialogue at the beginning (in relation to Arthur�s real life) � if it does, then I sorrowfully missed out on it.
