"American Playhouse" Who Am I This Time? (1982)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

Jonathan Demme

Writers:

Neal Miller (writer)
Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (story)

TV Series:

"American Playhouse" (1982)

Original Air Date:

2 February 1982

Genre:

Biography | Drama | History

Plot:

From a short story by Kurt Vonnegut. Christopher Walken is a shy hardware store employee. But whenever...

Plot Keywords:

Telephone Company | Audition | Hardware Store | Actor | Oscar Wilde

Cast

Susan Sarandon	...	Helene Shaw
Christopher Walken	...	Harry Nash
Robert Ridgely	...	George Johnson
Dorothy Patterson	...	Doris
Caitlin Hart	...	Lydia
Les Podewell	...	Les
Aaron Freeman	...	Andrew
Jerry Vile	...	Albert
Paula Frances	...	Minnie
Mike Bacarella	...	Stage Manager
Ron Parady	...	Vern
Debbi Hopkins	...	Christie
Maria Todd	...	Heather
Sandy McLeod	...	Flirt #1
Edie Vonnegut	...	Flirt #2

Runtime:

55 min | Argentina:95 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:TV-PG | Argentina:Atp

Filming Locations:

Evanston, Illinois, USA

Company:

Rubicon Film Productions Ltd.

Trivia:

The quotations recited by the actors in the various plays, from "Cyrano" to "A Streetcar named Desire" to "The Importance of Being Earnest", are often paraphrased). In the opening act, we watch Harry Nash deliver the final lines of "Cyrano," which were taken not from the well-known translations or any of the other standard texts, but from the film adaptation Cyrano de Bergerac (1950) with translation by Brian Hooker. Edmond Rostand's final two words in the original French were "My panache!" which is usually used in translations. Hooker's version changes it to "My white plume!" Another slight variation occurs in the final lines, when Helene accepts Harry's proposal of marriage and says, "I hope that after we marry, you'll always look at me just like this... especially in front of other people!" In the original play by Oscar Wilde, the line is "I hope you will always look at me just like that, especially when there are other people present."

Quotes:

[Right after Helene has sobbed her self-confession to George and Doris, they hear Harry shout from the doorway - in full Stanley Kowalski mode]
Harry Nash: Are you ready for me yet, George? There's nobody else outside!
George Johnson: Harry, come here. I'm, I'm sorry I kept you waiting, Harry. Excuse me.
[Helene surreptitiously wipes her eyes]
George Johnson: Uh, Harry, this is Helene Shaw. Helene, this is Harry Nash. Ehh, now, if you get the part of Stella, he'll be your husband in the play.
[Helene turns to look at Harry and her eyes widen. Music suggesting imminent romance begins to play. Harry is still in his dorky hardware-store outfit, with glasses, hat, and bow-tie, but he removes his glasses and smiles slightly as he looks her up and down appreciatively]
George Johnson: Say, I, uh, I wonder if, uh, if you two would read a scene for me from this play, all right? Right here.
[Helene tears her eyes away from Harry to look at the playbook]
George Johnson: Could you do that?
Harry Nash: Sure! If Stella's game.
[...]

how to act and love, by Demme and Vonnegut, starring Walken and Sarandon, what more could you want?

To answer that question: that it was longer. Then again to counter that own point, maybe this was a film that was very close to Vonnegut's original story, thus not extending it to feature length or making it an actual theatrical release. As it is it should be just a trifle, but it's more than that. Director Jonathan Demme adds a light air of circumstance to the proceedings, and plants some of his trademarks (notably the precise positioning of the camera on faces, as we all know from most of his films) while letting the actors have at it. And it's quite an amazing piece for those who love theater, and how an actor's mind meets with heart. At the same time it's not sentimental; this story of a woman (Sarandon) who keeps moving from town to town and never settling anywhere or meeting anyone, and a man (Walken) who is an introvert who lets himself out through incredible community theatre productions, who meet on the set of Streetcar Named Desire and fall for each other in the oddest way is about as charming as one could imagine.

Aside from the power of seeing Walken take on iconic parts (i.e. Cyrano, Stanley Kowalski), he's fantastic at being incredibly subtle and at underplaying his meek clerk-turned-star. If you want to see him outside of being the Continental or giving gold watch speeches, come here. And Sarandon is excellent too, in a role that requires her to be compassionate and kind and understanding and blah blah and she does it without flinching in a step. It's short, and sadly not longer (though I'd love to see the 95 minute cut from Argentina!), but it's one of Demme's better efforts of the 90s, a true small-town chamber piece of love.