Director:
Fred Zinnemann
Writers:
Lillian Hellman (book)
Alvin Sargent (screenplay)
Cast:
Jane Fonda ………. Lillian Hellman
Vanessa Redgrave ………. Julia
Jason Robards ………. Dashiell Hammett
Maximilian Schell ………. Johann
Hal Holbrook ………. Alan Campbell
Rosemary Murphy ………. Dorothy Parker
Meryl Streep ………. Anne Marie
Relase date: February 7th
Twentieth Century Fox presents
Running Time: Approximately 117 Minutes.
Rated: PG
The Movie
Julia was first released in 1977 and is directed by Fred Zinnemann, who is famous for, among many other things, directing High Noon. The screenplay was written by Alvin Sargent whose writing credits include everything from Paper Moon and Ordinary People to Spider-Man 2 and What About Bob? In the film, Jason Robards plays Dashiell Hammett. There are Nazis.
All of those things make it acceptable for one to watch what is essentially a 30 year old chick flick.
And when one actually watches the movie, one sees that “chick flick” isn’t the most appropriate term for it. Granted, it is the story of the power of friendship between two women, but it is also a lot more. The film is about the haves versus the have-nots, fame, power and responsibility, It’s about the remarkable ability of people to ignore the problems around them. Mainly though, it’s about people. That’s what they did in the ’70s; film-makers made movies about people.
Though nowadays, when we subsist on a diet which contains quite a bit of “music video guys making movies about loud noises,” Julia will come off as rather slow. So it goes; it will not be enjoyed by everybody.
Fonda is adequate as Lily, around whom nearly every scene is set. She doesn’t drag the picture down, but is often upstaged by her co-stars. i.e. Vanessa Redgrave’s performance is wonderful and Jason Robards is magnetic.
And for you trivia folks, Julia is the film debut of Meryl Streep. You mighta heard of her. She did the voice of one of Bart Simpson’s girlfriends.
Score: 7.5/10
The DVD
The Audio and The Visual:
It is a beautifully shot film, and DVD seems to treat it well. The sound is adequate.
The Box
The design is fine, but there is nothing in the box. No chapter list, no coupon, nothing.
Special Features
We get a trailer, random other trailers, different language tracks and subtitles. In terms of DVD extras that translates to basically nothing.
Score: 3.5/10
