If vernacular was an index of smarts, a lot of people would be misguided. Holbrook as Abner, and the enemy's daughter Pamela, the old man and the child, are the ones with the clearest heads and best reasoning in the script.
Holbrook always seems to come across as the intellectual ground zero in any movie or role. Here he's 83 playing an 80 year old, but razor sharp and tough. And he established himself as a master of vernacular 60 years ago.
And, being Hal Holbrook, he's believable. Ray McKinnon, as the nemesis, is more complex. Basically a sadistic loser, his meanness only goes so far, as we see near the end, and the plot has an unexpected compromise sort of solution, a resignation, a sort of defeat with dignity that opens new possibilities, in a situation that looks like it will escalate into a clash of the Titans, where there can only be one decisive victor. I suppose the good guy does win, but pays a messy price.
I'm not sure the plot is even the point. It's well scripted and a good story, but it clearly is the acting that grabs more then the story. It's a guy near the end of his life (in the film) putting all his strength into the play he's making, against someone who always seems deviously lethal but has weak spots that Abner makes it his business to ferret out.
I'm slipping into plot again. I suppose because that is easier to quantify then the quality that makes a role believable, or what makes a given performer great instead of very competent.
Simply, it's a satisfying movie in every way and a winner.
Holbrook always seems to come across as the intellectual ground zero in any movie or role. Here he's 83 playing an 80 year old, but razor sharp and tough. And he established himself as a master of vernacular 60 years ago.
And, being Hal Holbrook, he's believable. Ray McKinnon, as the nemesis, is more complex. Basically a sadistic loser, his meanness only goes so far, as we see near the end, and the plot has an unexpected compromise sort of solution, a resignation, a sort of defeat with dignity that opens new possibilities, in a situation that looks like it will escalate into a clash of the Titans, where there can only be one decisive victor. I suppose the good guy does win, but pays a messy price.
I'm not sure the plot is even the point. It's well scripted and a good story, but it clearly is the acting that grabs more then the story. It's a guy near the end of his life (in the film) putting all his strength into the play he's making, against someone who always seems deviously lethal but has weak spots that Abner makes it his business to ferret out.
I'm slipping into plot again. I suppose because that is easier to quantify then the quality that makes a role believable, or what makes a given performer great instead of very competent.
Simply, it's a satisfying movie in every way and a winner.