Two Things Surprised Me
I stumbled onto "Gloria" a ways into the movie...indeed, just as Mike Starr's evil henchman was busy killing off an entire family. A compelling scene, as Starr casually shot a man's mother and wife in an effort to get him to "give me the disk." (Yes, THAT disk...the one with the names of everybody on the mob payroll that can bring the whole thing down.) And then shot the man (on screen) and one of his two children(off-screen.)
The surviving child -- a little boy -- is rescued by moll Sharon Stone(newly sprung from prison) and the chase is on.
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I've never seen Cassavetes' original "Gloria," which I assume has more of his improvisational human drama...but this remake wasn't that bad, given the suspense of the premise(Sharon vs the mob and they will kill anyone she tries to get the boy to) and the group of actors assembled to play those mobsters.
Two surprises(to me):
ONE George C. Scott, in three scenes -- two meaty, one brief -- as the Dangerous Old Mob Guy whom everybody fears.
I guess Scott died not too long after making this film. He looks pretty old and tired. But he is GREAT. His line readings are truly fearsome and his eyes flash in threat with the very real anger of a very powerful crime boss...when he tells a younger, fitter mob guy(Jeremy Northam) that if the guy screws up again, "I'll kill you"...you believe this OLD MAN will actually do the killing, and not order it.
To me, what we are getting to see here is how George C. Scott might have played The Godfather, Don Corleone. Scott was up for the role, and though Marlon Brando was famous in it..Scott's Corleone would have been, guaranteed, a far more fearsome and raging version, I'm sure(slapping Johnny Fontaine around for instance.)
TWO: The TV Guide gave this Gloria "one star," so I figured I was going to be watching a stinker. But it wasn't. It stayed suspenseful to the end and the outcome seemed "Cassavetesish" -- no big finale shootout, the main bad guys live and leave(though not Mike Starr's truly evil lout of a family-killer.)
Surprised and satisfied by the overall crispness of "Gloria," I was more surprised to learn at the end that it was directed by...SIDNEY LUMET.
Holy cow.
Lumet was one of those guys who worked so much that he left behind a trail of "for hire" jobs buried within his classics(12 Angry Men, Dog Day Afternoon, Network, The Verdict.) I never would have guessed that "Gloria" was a Lumet film (his style isn't THAT noticeable), but I did notice that the "one star" film seemed very competant and tight and stylish. A pro directed it.
I don't know if the Cassavetes version is the great one here, but I found Lumet's "Gloria" -- with Sharon Stone trying real hard to give a performance as her brief star career began its descent -- to be tense and entertaining. With a great farewell performance by a powerful George C. Scott...even if only for three scenes and slumming a bit.