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What does the movie have to do with Ernest Hemingway?

posted 14 years ago by LyleWood
7 replies | jump to latest

Does anyone know how this movie is connected to Ernest Hemingway? I'm curious. Anyone know?

[–] dlevy1201 14 years ago

Frank, the "hard-drinking Irish sea captain" played by Richard Harris, repeats a tale about how he once wrestled Ernest Hemingway, in Puerto Rico back in 1938.

[–] WarpedRecord 14 years ago

Did you believe the tale? I did, but the video box is more skeptical.

[–] dlevy1201 14 years ago

I don't remember if I believed the tale at the time I first saw the movie. However, now that the question is posed to me I would say that while Frank (Richard Harris) might NOT have actually wrestled Ernest Hemingway, he could have met Hemingway, been in Puerto Rico in 1938, been in a bar that Hemingway previously visited, whatever. It doesn't matter if it was true it well could have. Frank talked like such a "salty-old dog" his stories just fit the bill.

[–] WarpedRecord 14 years ago

Indeed. It was hard to separate fact from fiction with Richard Harris' character because he was a bit of a blowhard (to put it mildly), but I think it's quite possible in his travels that he could have at least met and perhaps wrestled with Ernest Hemingway. He seemed to believe his own stories, so it was hard to doubt him.

I'm sure many men of a certain age wrestled Ernest Hemingway, and even more drank with him -- and some probably still survive.

[–] Loomis_Orange 14 years ago

Rememeber Guy Clark's autobiographical song "Desperadoes Waiting For A Train" This film reminds me of that old song.

How's that line go...

"Sometimes he'd take me with him
To a place called the Green Frog Cafe
There was Old men with beer guts and dominos
Lyin' about their lives while they played
And our lives was like some old western movie
Like desperadoes waitin for a train."

[–] WarpedRecord 14 years ago

And "Desperadoes Waiting for a Train" in turn reminds me of "Silver Stallion" by Highwayman (who toured as the Highwaymen): Kris, Waylon, Willie and Johnny. Well, at least two out of four are still here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVZpWy5qaOs

Incredibly beautiful song, and I love that riff that starts the song and carries it through.

Um ... these songs are about death, right?

[–] waynotway-1 10 years ago

Whether or not the tale Frank told was literally true, through Frank's real history it is proven to be figuratively true, and metaphorically borne out in real life. After all is said and done, where Hemingway said it, Frank did it. Frank LIVED the sea captain life that Hemingway only wrote about, and toasted.

And if we're betting on who told the tallest drunken tale, no doubt it's Hemingway by 10 fathoms. Coming away from this sweet, raw, coming-of-old-age story Hemingway would have loved, I put my money on Frank's character-- even if he didn't actually in real life, he could have--and given half a chance he would have--beaten Hemingway down to a nib. Frank owns the perfect storm.

Command performances by two kings of theatre, together, Harris and Duvall, create one the most poignant manifestations of final friendship nostalgia ever seen in the movies.

This writer/director Conrad is quite the sleeper with not much glitzy notoriety, but his works both wash over and sink in, and stay with you long after. Eventually you'll watch them again, and maybe again. Especially with the feminine supporting roles here and the juxtaposition of the vastly different lives of the two men, this film is definitely a keeper sleeper!