*Get "One from the Heart" on Amazon here*
*Get "One from the Heart: Reprise" on Amazon here*
*Get Francis Ford Coppola 5-Film Collection on Amazon here*
*Get "One from the Heart" Original Motion Picture Soundtrack on Amazon here*
**SPOILER REVIEW** Frannie (Teri Garr) and Hank (Frederic Forrest) are two everyday Joes who live together and are having relationship difficulties. Frannie works in a travel agency, wishing she could visit the places she sends others to. Hank works at a wrecking yard, salvaging old neon signs and creating a little piece of heaven in the back of the garage. The couple calls it quits, and Frannie meets Ray (Raul Julia), a waiter/wannabe singer who wants to go to all the places Frannie dreams about. Hank meets circus girl Leila (Nastassja Kinski), who loves his little playland behind the garage, and also wants to run away with him. The new couples bed down, and Frannie prepares to go to Bora Bora with Ray, and Hank has second thoughts.
I cannot describe how dull this film is. It took me two days to plow through it. Garr and Forrest are terrible. They have a few moments of drama that play like bad network TV, and their attempts at screwball comedy are unfunny. Julia is okay, I miss him in better films. Kinski is there and gone so quickly, I did not know why she was listed so high in the credits. Leila warns Hank that she will disappear if he does not stay with her. In her exit scene, he walks away from her when she is standing by a car, and in the background you can see her head as she ducks behind the vehicle. Forrest turns around and she is "magically" gone. Coppola decided to recreate the Las Vegas Strip on a soundstage. The first credit at the end of the film reads something to the effect: "This entire film was shot on the stages of Zoetrope Studios." Really? I guess the constant spotting of the edges of the backscreen in the exterior scenes was not a bold cinematic statement, but sloppy direction. In one gaffe, as the camera looks up at Forrest, you can see the ceiling of the giant building they created this massive set in.
Teri Garr gives the same performance she always did. Coppola puts her through THREE clothes-changing scenes, for the gratuitous nudity. Garr and Forrest are supposed to be playing average folks like you and I, but if this is what Coppola thinks the rest of America is like, he needs to get out of California's wine country. Lainie Kazan and Harry Dean Stanton are dragged out in the thankless roles of Frannie and Hank's best friends. Tom Waits and Crystal Gayle sing all the songs on the soundtrack. The songs are okay, but they do not belong in this film. Coppola pulls all the tricks out of his magic movie fun bag, and each one fizzles. Average special effects are thrown in because the budget was huge, not because a scene demanded it. Scenes run too long, have no point, and you can almost hear Coppola whispering "this entire film was shot on the stages of Zoetrope Studios."
"One from the Heart" feels like one to the groin. Coppola's film making career never fully recovered from this.
Stats:
(1982) 107 min. (1/10)
-Directed by Francis Ford Coppola
-Screenplay by Armyan Bernstein & Francis Ford Coppola, Story by Armyan Bernstein
-Cast: Frederic Forrest, Teri Garr, Raul Julia, Nastassja Kinski, Lainie Kazan, Harry Dean Stanton, Allen Garfield, Jeff Hamlin, Italia Coppola, Carmine Coppola, Tom Waits, Rebecca De Mornay, Edward Blackoff
(R)
Media Viewed: Home Video
*Academy Awards*
-Best Original Song Score/Adaptation (lost to "Victor/Victoria")
