Verdict
Summary
Bobby Deerfield is the stronger of the two films here. Mill Creek’s release is, overall, satisfactory, if leaving a little to be desired in terms of better transfers and bonus features.
Castle Keep Plot:
A small platoon of American soldiers fortify in a medieval castle during World War II.
Review:
Towards the end of World War II, a small platoon of “walking wounded” American soldiers, led by Major Falconer (Burt Lancaster with an eye patch), find themselves in an idyllic village in Belgium with orders to find a huge medieval castle nearby and to fortify there for a season to anticipate the Nazis. They obtain permission of the owner of the castle to do so, and they hunker down and rest, while also preparing for the day when the Nazis come (which is inevitable). Falconer takes the castle owner’s daughter to bed, while the other soldiers (Peter Falk plays a sad sack who used to be a baker in the states) keep watch or venture into town to make love with the local whores, or in one case the local baker’s wife, and as winter comes, the eventual invasion of the Nazis comes, leading to a last stand at the castle.
With a head-hanging, existential and modern approach to a war film, Sydney Pollack’s allegorical Castle Keep is thought to have been a statement against Vietnam (which I can definitely see), but the movie is so pretentiously presented that it almost feels like a hipster’s take on a fairy tale, as filtered through the guilty and botched soldier characters who hardly feel as though they’re supposed to be real. At times, it’s a sort of comedy, and at other times it’s just a grueling watch with a grim ending that goes for high art, but mostly fails in terms of traditionalism. For its time, it might’ve been considered radical, and through today’s jaded eyes it might feel prescient. Watch for Bruce Dern as a conscientious objector who meets a grisly fate.
Bobby Deerfield Plot:
An emotionally detached racecar champion unexpectedly falls in love with a quirky woman who enters his life by force.
Review:
Bobby Deerfield (Al Pacino at the height of his career) is an unbeatable racecar champion, but when his latest race ends in the death of a fellow driver on the course, his confidence is shaken to the core. Deerfield is known for being a cold hearted, emotionally detached man, and even his own brother and mother have all but written him off while he globe trots on the racing circuit, making himself famous by being the fastest and coldest man alive. His relationships suffer, but he doesn’t seem to care at all. When, by chance, he meets a German woman named Lillian (Marthe Keller), he’s sort of blindsided by her entire approach to an intimate relationship with him, and she breaks all of his rules and disarms him with her playfully curious ways. When he finds himself falling for her despite his best efforts not to, he’s further blindsided by the fact that she’s dying …
Sydney Pollack’s Bobby Deerfield might seem like the wrong movie for superstar Pacino to have starred in, but it’s because of his performance that the movie ended up working for me. He plays Deerfield as so detached that he seems bored almost all of the time, and it almost seems like he isn’t acting at all, but just showing up in the scenes, which is exactly why I realized he’s great in it. He’s so great in it that I found myself studying the character and trying to figure out what he was thinking, which I never do when I watch movies. I usually just end up accepting the movie on face value, but Pacino is giving so much here, even if I didn’t realize it at first. He’s playing a really complex character – a puzzle, really – and it’s sort of astonishing to watch him develop because of the way he’s presenting this guy who’s so detached and cold. I was finally able to penetrate his mystery by the end of the movie, which makes this film a real journey for me. I loved his performance, and the movie ends up being a real success because of it. Underrated, Bobby Deerfield is a special, intimate romance, a melodrama to be sure, but it’s kind of astonishing to watch Pacino work here. Dave Grusin did the score.
Mill Creek’s new double feature Blu-ray release of Castle Keep and Bobby Deerfield comes without bonus features, and while I found the transfer for Castle Keep to be mediocre, the transfer for Bobby Deerfield seemed a little sharper. It’s affordably priced to own.
