Crack-Up
Posted by martinteller on November 9, 2010
Again we have an incredible opening sequence… a man (Pat O’Brien) crashes through the front door of a museum, a cop chases him and they tumble to the floor, a Greek statue crashing to the floor near their heads while other statues look on. A few minutes later, this goodwill is squandered. In a flashback, O’Brien — a lecturer at the museum — entertains a crowd by mocking surrealism. He reveals a Dali (or a Dali-esque painting) and everyone has a big, hearty laugh. HAW HAW LOOKIT THE DUMB PICSHUR. The one man in the crowd who tries to defend abstract art is portrayed as a raving lunatic, who curiously resembles Hitler in appearance, speech and gestures. Yeah. I was displeased, to say the least. One can appreciate both great representational art and great abstract art… people who dismiss one or the other entirely are morons. So right off the bat I was decidedly not on board with O’Brien, and maybe that colored my opinion, but I really thought he didn’t make a very good protagonist at all. He came off a lot dumber than he was supposed to be, and not just because of his artistic views. Which is too bad, because otherwise the film is quite good. A crackerjack mystery with lots of turns and fantastic photography and a strong score. There are some great moments here, it’s a hell of an entertaining yarn. It feels a lot like a Philip Marlowe investigation. I just couldn’t get past my distaste for O’Brien, and really didn’t care a whole lot for the supporting cast either. I’d like to see the film with most of the lecture scene removed (only a couple of lines are germane to the plot). I might have enjoyed it a bit more. Rating: 7
