moonspinner55 Review of Bobby Deerfield

Bobby Deerfield (1977)

A beautiful young woman in France is dying...but not fast enough!

[3/10 · 21 June 2010]

Esteemed screenwriter Alvin Sargent, working from the novel "Heaven Has No Favourites" by Erich Maria Remarque, seems to have overdosed here on a cinematic double-feature of "A Man and a Woman" and "Love Story". American racecar driver Bobby Deerfield, in France to drive in the Grand Prix, refuses to get back on the track until it can be determined why another driver perished in a fiery crash; while visiting an injured comrade at a Swiss medical clinic, Bobby meets an enigmatic young woman who talks in riddles ("Are you sick?" he asks her. "Do I look sick?" she answers). Sydney Pollack has directed this film for its images, not its characters. We are offered a color-supplement spread of European bridges, canals, hotels, boats, and hot-air balloon rides in place of living, hurting people. In the lead, Al Pacino scratches the surface of a performance, but cannot dig any deeper with the ridiculous dialogue and situations he's been given (at one point, Pacino is required to do a Mae West impression, and even this falls flat). Beautiful Marthe Keller is the chipper but frightened, fading love-interest, who is not above flashing some skin. The movie attempts not to romanticize death but instead to romanticize the FEAR of dying. It's dead, all right. *1/2 from ****