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Released by: Olive Films
Released on: December 23, 2014
Director: Otto Preminger
Cast: Dyan Cannon, James Coco, Jennifer O'Neill, Ken Howard, Nina Foch, Laurence Luckinbill, Louise Lasser, Burgess Meredith
Year: 1971
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The Movie:
Julie Messinger walks through life satisfied with being a housewife and mother. One day, her successful husband, Richard, goes into the hospital for a simple mole removal, but one of his doctors nicks an artery, which results in liver failure followed by a shutdown of his organs. Julie remains the dutiful wife, visiting him every day and talking to him despite his comatose condition. Her life takes an even greater downturn, however, when family friend Cal tells her that his girlfriend Miranda has been having an affair with Richard. Miranda admits that it's true and that she and Richard were planning on getting married. Shattered, Julie first tries to commit suicide and then, when that fails, swears revenge. Feeling lonely and frustrated, she allows a drunk Cal to seduce her, but he fails to get an erection. She then learns from another friend, a doctor named Timmy, that her husband had been having multiple affairs, and she resolves a course of action that will surprise viewers, though for all the wrong reasons.
As with Hurry Sundown four years before, director Otto Preminger purchased the rights to Lois Gould's novel before the book was published. And as with Hurry Sundown, it was a mistake. The book was told from the viewpoint of Julie in a 'stream of consciousness' style reminiscent of Faulkner. Hoping to capture that viewpoint, though in a more straightforward fashion, Preminger went through a number of writers, most of whom were women. He deemed the first script too feminist, and the second failed to elicit the mood he had hoped to achieve. The last screenwriter, Elaine May, didn't want the work credited to her, and the final on-screen attribution was to Esther Dale (a pseudonym) and David Shaber.
Interestingly, despite the fact that the film is a comedy, Dyan Cannon was nominated for a Golden Globe award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Drama. It's easy to see why, at least in one respect. The script isn't particularly funny or witty, though it has an occasional laugh. Today, it would likely be advertised as a dramedy, with the emphasis clearly on the dramatic parts. Preminger, who was more at home with suspense films and outright melodramas, goes for easy laughs, most of which fall flat. Such Good Friends isn't terrible, but neither is it very good; and in no way, shape, or form does it compare to such masterworks as Laura (1944), River of No Return (1954), The Man With the Golden Arm (1956), and The Cardinal (1963). In many respects, it appears as if Preminger had hoped to push the envelope, as he had done with such movies as Anatomy of a Murder (1959) and Advise and Consent (1962). But a prurient approach to sex doesn't equate with groundbreaking or interesting, especially in the early 1970s, after nearly a decade of the sexual revolution. Take, for example, the scene of a naked, dancing Burgess Meredith. It is not automatically funny in and of itself; it requires a degree of wit and sophistication that the film would like to have but doesn't.
Such Good Friends probably isn't helped by the presences of Dyan Cannon and James Coco. Cannon simply isn't the actress to pull off such a character as Julie, a role that required someone with more nuanced capabilities. Nor can Coco successfully convince anyone that he's the kind of man capable of wooing someone as smart and beautiful as Julie.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Such Good Friends has been made available on Blu-ray as part of Olive's The Otto Preminger Collection, which also includes the aforementioned Hurry Sundown as well as Skidoo (1968). It is presented with an AVC encode in 1080p, at an aspect ratio of 1.75:1. The original elements are less than sterling, though the picture quality on the BD is slightly improved over the DVD. There's a great deal of dirt and debris during the opening credit sequence, but this clears up not long after the credits end. (Blame it on the opticals!) The transfer is soft throughout, however, with weak detail and subdued colors. There's even less of both (detail and color) in inserted shots that have obviously been culled from another source, but these are few and far between. Why the film as a whole should look so much worse than its counterparts in the set, despite being more recent, is curious. On a positive note, however, the film is a fairly bright one, so there is no problem of crush or inordinate grain in darker scenes. As for the grain, it's unproblematic and looks fairly natural. Olive has chosen to place the film on a 25GB disc, which is fine given that it runs considerably less than two hours and there are no extras.
The sound is presented in DTS-HD Master Audio Mono. The film is driven by its dialogue and contains few major sound effects, and the score is subdued but for a few instances. As such, the mono more than adequately serves the medium's requirements. There are no issues with sound being muddled or voices being difficult to understand. The track is both consistent and clear. Unfortunately, the BD offers no subtitles for the deaf or hearing impaired.
There are no extras.
The Final Word:
Film historians interested in seeing the decline of a master director in his later years will be interested in checking out Such Good Friends. It's a comedy that isn't very funny and a drama that isn't very engaging, but it does have occasional flashes of the old Preminger brilliance. Thankfully, Olive has placed the film in a box set containing three of the director's later films, each on its own disc and in its own slipcase. Purchase the collection for the other two films and consider this one a freebie.
Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!
