Sad to hear of Kris Kristofferson's passing yesterday, I wanted to go back and see one of his eighties roles. In 1981, he paired up with Jane Fonda and Director Alan J. Pakula (Starting Over, Sophie's Choice) for the financial drama ROLLOVER.
It's a mildly interesting film. For all its still applicable lessons on the world's financial markets, it could probably never be made today.
Jane Fonda, paired again with Pakula, who directed her to an Oscar in "Klute", stars as Lee Winters, a former film star and current wife of a petrochemical business Chairman.
When he is mysteriously murdered in his office high in the World Trade Center, her world is turned upside down.
Kristofferson (A Star is Born) stars as Hubbell Smith, a brilliant Wall Street banker called in by Maxwell Emery (Hume Cronyn) to oversee a troubled bank whose finances are deeply entwined with Winter's corporation.
Pakula created the greatest journalism film of all time when he directed "All the President's Men". He built amazing suspense and intrigue set at desks and meeting rooms around the Watergate story. This time around, he works to create the same fast-paced suspense around the financial markets, and is only marginally successful, in small doses.
When the film is globe hopping in jets, with Fonda and Kristofferson dressed to the nines and negotiating in the Middle East or attending Manhattan soirees, the film hits its stride. The two look great, play off each other well and find mystery in the secrets of those around Hubbell and Lee.
Cronyn (Shadow of a Doubt, Cocoon) is perfectly cast as Emery, the unflappable man behind the world's finances. He seems capable of anything across the spectrum of morality.
Bob Gunton (The Shawshank Redemption, JFK) has his first big screen role as shady character Sal Naftari, the liaison between US bankers and the power brokers of the Middle East.
ROLLOVER isn't all riches. Composer Michael Small, who wrote one of my favorite scores,"Marathon Man" has created an odd blend of music here. His main title is early eighties jazz that drones on forever and sinister moments give way to background music or silence with little rhyme and reason.
Kristofferson was always great playing the moral lawman in films like "Heaven's Gate" or the every man in "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore", but this was a stretch. He argued with Pakula about shaving off his beard for the role. The director told him if he could find one Wall Street banker with a beard, he'd let him keep it. The cleanly shaven Kris on display here seems stiff in the role, especially when he's forced to convey a lot of financial jargon in an attempt to educate the audience. It's borderline awkward, especially when we all know how charming he can be on film. That beard must hold Samson like acting power.
As the film goes on and Hubbell & Lee's relationship merges beyond business, he relaxes into the character. This was his film follow up to the massive bomb that was "Heaven's Gate" and it didn't do much better, barely earning half of its $18 million budget.
The romance and intrigue often seems like two different films shoved together.
And I have real problems with that secret account. By the time a dozen people knew about it and were leaving voice mails about it with strangers, I think the secret has lost its bloom.
The ending is fascinating. The final 15 minutes is very unexpected and I almost wish it would have ended with Hubbell alone in his office. You'll know what I mean if you've seen it.
I'm convinced that audiences of today would never accept the current ending today, or course based on box office, audiences of 1981 didn't much like it either.
Produced by Fonda, its a cautionary tale that attempts to share the dangers of international financial markets with the same horror as "The China Syndrome" that she produced two years earlier.
Head-to head with that film, ROLLOVER is bankrupt, earning a C-.
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