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Educating
Rita |
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A very good writer can give a very good actor plenty to work with in just a few lines. See, for example, what Shakespeare gives the soldier Michael Williams in "Henry V" and what actor Michael Williams does with the role. A not-so-gifted writer can hamstring an actor, and this seems to be what happened to Michael Williams in the film "Educating Rita" (1983). At least 90 to 95% of the film belongs to Michael Caine and Julie Walters, both of whom are excellent. Caine plays Dr. Frank Bryant, a once-gifted poet who has stopped writing and started drinking in earnest. Walters plays a blue-collar woman in her mid-20's, driven by a hungry mind to become educated. Her assigned tutor is Caine. This main story is believable and charming -- a kind of "Pygmalion." The minor characters don't fare as well, unfortunately. As Caine's friend and department chairman, Michael Williams has three short speaking appearances (and one or two non-speaking appearances). He is at his best in the final appearance when, declaring his love for the woman who has been Caine's girlfriend, he has the opportunity to be more than a caricature. He has the same opportunity in the first half of his second appearance and uses it well, but someone's hand -- the writer's or the director's -- regrettably turns a scene with subtlety and potential into a one-dimensional, heavy-handed guffaw. "Educating Rita" is well worth seeing, but if you're a Michael Williams fan, be prepared for a very small role. It is to Mr. Williams' credit that he handled it as well as he did.
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