does anyone think..
it would be cool if they did a newer remake of this? i do! if they got good actors to play alma and john i think it would be amazing!
-MG
Yes, in this case, because Laurence Harvey is the false note in this film. It's a personal thing, I don't know if anyone else feels this, but I can think of few films where I am not put off by his always-same performance. Was he acting or just showing up because his characters always seem ...the same? I haven't seen this film in ages, so I am speaking generally of his films. But I adore Tennessee Williams, I will watch anything he did. Since I was there when the first film came out, albeit as a little girl, I remember this time, so there is nothing that needs to be 'fixed' to me. I can think of no good remakes of any original TW works. The only good remakes I can remember are "Imitation of Life" and another one that was certainly in no way better, but at least as watchable.."Miracle on 34th Street". Maybe one or two more, but that's it. But younger people may be put off by the melodrama of the earlier "Summer and Smoke". Thanks, Meganlg15 for caring about these old films.
share[deleted]
[deleted]
What do you mean: all his films?
shareI thought he really made his character come alive in this role. I was a bit surprised in fact, because I never considered him that great an actor.
Now I need to start a thread here about the ending, cause I have a few questions.
MikEl
[deleted]
Laurence Harvey was of an earlier time, and his acting style doesn't really jibe with modern tastes, but I wouldn't say he was a bad actor. The episode of Columbo he did was terrific, for one thing, and I thought he was very good in The Manchurian Candidate too.
As to a remake of this: I don't usually like remaking for the sake of remaking, but there have been many more recent versions of Tennessee Williams stories (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof gets redone every 5 years or so on Broadway, for instance), so a new Summer and Smoke wouldn't go amiss--though the existence of Eccentricities of a Nightingale (another version of the same story) clouds the issue somewhat.
Laurence Harvey sure got my blood pumping in that gazebo with Ms. Page. When he kissed her? Yow...Maybe it's just me. LOL
shareIt's not just you. :-)
shareHandsome, sexy man.
http://www.frugalsites.net/911/attack/
I thought he was excellent in this role. It is regrettable he died so young. I'm sure he would have continued to evolve in his art and I think of the performances that might have been.
I only recently learned that he was the father of Domino Harvey, of which that film is about. Kiera Knightly plays Domino.
He was "specifically" chosen ( out of long and difficult meetings) for The Manchurian Candidate. They wondered and wondered some more who they could possible hire to play this so terribly cold, unlikable man whom the audience HAD to, throughout the picture, basically care for and be hopeful for and Laurence Harvey fit the bill perfectly. If you think about it, the character he played was an extremely difficult part to play. I haven't seen the remake or anything so I don't know who they got to fill his shoes (guess I could go over there and look it up) but I bet he had difficulty filling the large shoes left by Laurence Harvey. Angela Lansbury was stunning in that film. My Gosh that woman could act!
I agree with the ladies who said that Mr. Harvey made their blood boil when going after Ms. Page under the gazebo.. I always rewind that part.
Whither goest thou, America, in thy shiny car in the night? ~ Jack Kerouac
Lawrence Harvey was excellent and so was Geraldine Page; the problem was they were not good together. She came across as being at least 10 years older than him. That doesn't mesh with the beginning of the film, which clearly shows their characters are the same age.
shareYou have to take into consideration how they grew up. He grew up as a carefree playboy type and Miss Alma spent her life looking after her mother and helping her father prepare his sermons. Living a shut-in life will make you act older. She was never young. That's basically what the film's premise is. The characters grew up exactly oposite of each other. It's not years that makes us old or young.. It's how we spent those years.
Geraldine Page and Laurence Harvey weren't exactly on the same level talent-wise either. Geraldine Page was one of the preeminent genius actors the world has ever seen and Laurence Harvey couldn't act his way out of a wet paper bag!
His co-stars, no matter who they were, when asked what it was like to work with Laurence Harvey said basically the same thing. "It was like bouncing off a brick wall." Mr Harvey used to hang out out in Palm Springs at Sinatra's pad in the early sixties. When Sinatra's butler complained about Harvey forever making passes at him Sinatra relied "Oh, go easy on ol' Harv, He's Polack, he's a Jew AND he's gay"
I didn't mean she acted older; her demeanor was quite girlish, even flirty. I meant she looked older, physically. LOL on your Sinatra story!
share[deleted]
How interesting. I came here specifically to see if there was any light to be shed on my perception of Mr. Harvey.
I only recently saw "Summer and Smoke" -- and keep my own brief notes on the films I see so I don't forget my initial reaction. As follows are notes I made immediately after my having screened it -- without knowing anything about Harvey's personal life:
Overall this could be considered a very good film for its era. The theme(s) and Tennessee Williams’s writing are quite good (as would be expected). The acting of Geraldine Page is first rate, as always. But the acting of the other principle, Laurence Harvey, borders on caricature, as is typical with him – he never plays as entirely ‘straight’ for a modern audience (and comes across very much as a homosexual pretending to be a heterosexual, though I know nothing of his personal life to back up such a statement). Still, this is a solid film in most respects – even if the child actors in the beginning were quite, ahem, laughable in both their ‘acting’ efforts and their attempts at a southern accent. The motif with the angel and all the symbolism should be regarded as successful in conveyance of Williams’ material. Considerably overplayed (and unappealingly stereotypical, in a purely modern sense) is the Rita Moreno role (and, really all the Hispanic characters). Yet, I was genuinely moved by Page – especially near the end, and her transformation was entirely believable. If not for Page, however, this film (in its entirety) likely wouldn’t have worked at all (and due to the fairly heavy writer’s presence in evidence, very nearly doesn’t anyway). 7.5/10
After I read the above comment (and prior to including my own response here), I did a quick search to ascertain the status of Harvey and any immediate family he may have had. Please note that I would never submit for public scrutiny writings regarding anyone's personal life (even my perceptions thereof) were either Harvey or any of his offspring still alive. I do not condone gossip/conjecture of that sort.
Besides, it certainly makes no difference to me what Harvey or anyone else does in the privacy of their own lives with consenting adults. Yet, here, I do think a lack of understanding regarding true (real, genuine) male-female romance upset the balance quite a bit in this role (and others).
Again, this is nothing more than one man's opinion -- feel free to disagree or disregard it (I assure anyone reading that *I* won't be offended)!
I was wondering the same thing. For a young spinster suppose to be in her mid 20's, she looked like a woman in her late 30's or early 40's. How old Ms. Page when she played this role.
share