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By
THEMIS ATHENA
Adapting a book to the
screen is always a risk, and adapting a successful
book particularly so, especially if it is a
nonfiction book and the story has already made
news (or been the subject of gossip, which in this
instance doesn't seem to make much difference)
long before the book was ever written. There will
always be those who claim that you didn't do the
book justice, or that you didn't do the real
events justice, or both. But let's face it, folks,
the vast majority of us weren't witnesses to Jim
Williams' record four trials, nor did we attend
any of his famous Christmas parties, nor did or do
we know Mr. Williams or any of the other
inhabitants of Savannah featured so prominently
here (even if Jerry Spence -- not the attorney,
the hairdresser appearing as himself in the movie
-- insists that ever since the publication of John
Behrendt's book people have been asking him to
sign their copy). All that most of us did was read
the book -- yes, so did I, and I enjoyed it
immensely. And maybe some have taken a trip to
Savannah and gone on one of those "Midnight in the
Garden of Good and Evil" bus tours. (No, haven't
done that myself yet. Savannah's on my list,
though.)
Granted, condensing four trials into one, adding a
fictional reporter (John Kelso alias John Cusack)
as a stand-in for Mr. Behrendt whose book is a
first-person account, and making Mandy Nichols
(director Clint Eastwood's daughter Alison) the
reporter's love interest, meant altering the facts
as related in the book. But let's not forget that
the latter covers a period of eight-plus years and
is jam-packed with a shooting, four trials, a host
of social events and a cast of more memorable
characters than many a novel; all of which is near
impossible to transform into a movie if you
neither want to skip over half the important
details and move the action at breakneck speed,
nor turn the project into a ten-part TV series.
These changes were probably necessary byproducts
of the screenwriting process. But the core
elements of the story have been maintained, and
apart from the relationship between Mandy and John
Kelso/John Behrendt, the cast of main characters
strikes me as pretty faithful to the book.
Most importantly, the person at the center of the
story: antiques dealer, art lover, restorer of
historic mansions and sun of Savannah's genteel
society, Jim Williams, is exactly the kind of man
you imagine after having read the book --
portrayed by Kevin Spacey with all the charm,
grace and slightly condescending noblesse you
would expect from a textbook Southern gentleman,
with that "coastal accent...soft and slurring,
liquid of vowels, kind to consonants" as John
Behrendt writes, quoting "Gone With the Wind;"
making you forget that neither did Mr. Williams
actually come from "old money," nor did Kevin
Spacey grow up south of the Mason-Dixon line. And
Savannah, of course, is Savannah, city of grand
old mansions surrounding its 21 squares, cotillion
balls (including a black one), a Married Women's
(Card) Club, lush vegetation, shady trees, Spanish
moss and sultry heat radiating from the pages of
John Behrendt's book as much as from the movie
screen in director Clint Eastwood's
interpretation. The film was shot on location,
including and in particular in and around
Williams' Mercer House, on Monterey Square and in
Bonaventure and Beaufort Cemeteries; giving it
that feeling of authenticity which is virtually
impossible to replicate in a studio. In addition,
almost all of the Savannah residents vital to the
story readily participated in screen tests; with
the glamorous Lady Chablis (in all her
eccentricity more lady than many a born one,
Southern or otherwise) emerging in a starring role
and Williams' attorney Sonny Seiler portraying the
trial judge. Even bulldog Uga, the famed mascot of
the University of Georgia's football team,
traditionally provided by the Seiler family and as
important a member of Savannah society as all its
human residents and as Patrick, the long-deceased
dog still symbolically being walked by its former
caregiver, was not left out...with the minor
imperfection that because Uga IV, the star of the
book and the real events it describes had already
followed his ancestors Uga I -- III to dog heaven
when the movie was shot, he had to be portrayed by
his son, Uga V. And more authenticity is added by
the use of several songs written by Johnny Mercer,
Savannah's famous son and great-grandson of the
general who built the mansion restored and
inhabited by Jim Williams.
Clint Eastwood's direction evokes an only
marginally modernized version of the "old South"
most of which could have come straight out of the
writings of Faulkner and Tennessee Williams; with
an eye for the atmosphere and intricacies of the
place and its people that comes as a surprise only
to those who merely know the one-term mayor of
Carmel, CA as Dirty Harry or the Man With No Name,
not as the director of "The Bridges of Madison
County," like this movie a book adaptation
(although set in quite a different environment).
And in this approach, he proves as faithful to
John Behrendt's book as in the movie's depiction
of Jim Williams and his fellow Savannahians: What
on the surface is the chronicle of the trial of a
prominent and rather colorful member of society
for the death of a wayward, hot-tempered street
hustler (Jude Law), who happened to be his
sometime lover (and that of most of Savannah's
society, both male and female), is truly a
complex, beautifully shot portrayal of the city
itself and its people; like in the book, the
events as such are merely a vehicle to put into
pictures what Eastwood was interested in most.
Yet, the movie should first and foremost be taken
at face value; it is more than just another book
adaptation and in its dignified beauty, easily
stands on its own two feet.
Extra features include notes on the city of
Savannah, the cast and crew, the film's music, the
adaptation, and casting; a trailer, a soundtrack
promo and an interactive, point-&-click tour of
Savannah ("The Real People in the Garden") are
also included. |
