The Hudsucker Proxy

Paul Newman, 1925-2008
Originally uploaded by The Everlasting Jamie S Rich

I grew up watching the Coen’s films before they were Oscar winners, when the world at large didn’t know who they were and a bizarre comic slant affected everything they made. The Coen’s make movies that make me happy; they may not be normal, they may not be logical, but the films are always spectacular and memorable. The Hudsucker Proxy is one of the Coen’s earlier films that I just had the pleasure of watching for the first time.

Old Mr. Hudsucker, founder of Hudsucker Industries decides to take a swan dive out of the board room window when the company is at its most profitable; the problem for Sidney Mussburger and the remainder of the Hudsucker board is that Mr. Hudsucker didn’t have a will, so all of his shares will go up for public sale in the new year and the board will lose all control of the company and profits if they lose those shares. The board hatches a plan, they will chose the worst president they can, let the stocks take a dive as public confidence fails and then they will buy up Hudsucker’s shares themselves at insanely low prices. Luckily for Mussburger Norville Barnes has just arrived in the mail room and is eager to rise to high places. When Norville accidently causes an accident that almost causes Mussburger to plummet to his death as well Nussburger and the board decide he might just be the bumbling idiot to lead Hudsucker in the direction they wish to go.

I am going to be honest when I say that I am not sure I fully understood The Hudsucker Proxy, even for the Coen’s it’s pretty far out there, but I loved it just the same. It’s an insane romp of imagination, business ethics and the spirit of invention wrapped in a comedy by people that know how to entertain an audience – why wouldn’t that be enjoyable?

Watching this movie reminded me of how much I love Paul Newman. Newman played Sidney Mussburger, the most unscrupulous character in the film who would so anything he can to get ahead financially and he is the tormenting figure only Newman could play while still inserting class and style into the comedy.

The single best character in the film for me is Norville Barnes. Norville is an absolutely inexperienced character, fresh off the bus from middle America ready to make his mark in the bustling city of New York, New York, where dreams are made. His insistence from start to finish that his simple sketch that’s “you know, for kids” will revolutionize Hudsucker is both endearing and memorable. He’s the kind of character you get to root for and scorn through the process of the film as his ego gets too big and then is redeemed. Tim Robbins plays Barnes as a innocent, almost child-like character that is in the city without a protector and gets caught up in the ultimate game of “be careful what you wish for”.

However, what truly makes the Hudsucker Proxy a Coen film is the denouement. No one crafts an ending quite like Joel & Ethan. The ending to Burn After Reading may still be my favorite but The Hudsucker Proxy is classic Coen and should be seen. If you’ve never experienced the Coen’s movies before No Country for Old Men you need to correct that and correct it quickly. The Coen’s movies are too good to be missed.

Director: Joel Coen
Writers>: Joel & Ethan Coen
Norville Barnes: Tim Robbins
Amy Archer: Jennifer Jason Leigh
Sidney J. Mussburger: Paul Newman
Waring Hudsucker: Charles Durning
Moses: Bill Cobbs
Smitty: Bruce Campbell

Amy Archer: I used to think you were a swell guy. Well, to be honest, I thought you were an imbecile. But then I figured out you WERE a swell guy... A little slow, maybe, but a swell guy. Well, maybe you're not so slow, But you're not so swell either. And it looks like you're an imbecile after all!

The Machinist

Many people came into awareness of Christian Bale with Batman, but those of us in the know have been watching his films since before even American Psycho brought him into cult status. The man was in Empire of the Sun - Spielberg knows what he’s doing. Anyway, one of the astonishing things about Bale being in Batman Begins was what he did before. He lost about 60+ pounds to play the lead in The Machinist.

The Machinist is the story of Trevor Reznik; he’s a man that is so thin he resembles a human skeleton and he has been suffering from insomnia for at least a year. Day to day he goes to work in some sort of factory as a machine operator, visits Claire the prostitute with a heart of gold, and Marie the waitress every night for a cup of coffee. Though his weight is continually decreasing Trevor professes to be fine until he begins to see Ivan, a new arch welder at the plant. Once Ivan appears things begin to get bad for Trevor, accidents follow him and he soon believes his is part of a grand conspiracy but he cannot figure out the reason why all of this is happening.

I have a very large film vocabulary, as such I figured out part of the twist in The Machinist very early into the film; however, I was so interested in what the director was doing and the characters I did not turn off the film and by doing so I discovered that the film more than exceeded my expectations. While to me part of the twist was predictable, there was a larger part of the story that was part of the twist as well and I could not have predicted that. The ending of The Machinist takes the film from being well done but typical fare to a beautiful film that deviates from the standard. I know this is vague as I refuse to reveal the twist to you, but you will just have to trust me and see it for yourself.

I don’t feel the need to point out how much I adore Christian Bale as an actor again (because you do all already know that), but I do need to point out that he has been cited as the basic reason this movie got made. Scott Kosar has been quoted as saying he didn’t think the film would ever be made because he didn’t think they would ever find an actor that was willing to lose enough weight to be Trevor and there was no way the film would work without the weight element. Bale is known for throwing himself at a role, and he more than proved it by deciding to tackle the character of Trevor Reznik.

As a director one of the things I love the most about The Machinist were the visuals of the film. Not only was the film shot beautifully but the color palette was just spectacularly cool and beautiful. The entire film feels like it was died blue and this ads to the few punches of color that director Brad Anderson chooses to throw in there, and to the detachment of Trevor’s world from the rest of humanity.

This movie is gorgeous in all senses of the word but it is not for the faint of heart; on some level this film is also disturbing. However, all of this is rectified by the fact that this is a film that has a meaning to it and a deeper point than to just “entertain” the audience for an hour and a half.

Director: Brad Anderson
Writer: Steve Kosar
Trevor Reznik: Christian Bale
Stevie: Jennifer Jason Leigh
Marie: Aitana Sanchex-Gijon
Ivan: John Sharian
Miller: Michael Ironside
Nicholas: Matthew Romero Moore

Marie: Trevor, is someone chasing you?
Trevor Reznik: Not yet. But they will when they find out who I am.