I’m not a big movie-watcher, so it’s a bit odd to initiate this blog with a movie-related list, but I wanted something topical. The death of Robin Williams was shocking and sad. I watched Mork & Mindy as a kid. I had a crush on Mindy, and I loved science fiction, so it was a natural. Later I would see Robin Williams on the various night-time shows, like Johnny Carson, and there were times when he was so amazingly funny, stream of consciousness, that he hurt my stomach from laughing too hard.
So I thought I’d generate my first list – My Favorite Robin Williams movies. Understand, I have by no means seen all of them, even some of the most-acclaimed. This blog isn’t about making best-of lists. I make no attempt to be authoritative. It’s about making best-of-to-me lists, so it’s more about what I’ve experienced than what’s true of the world.
Here they are:
7. RV (2006). RV is one of those films that falls into the category “Despite sounding absolutely god-awful, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.” That is all.
6. Dead Poet’s Society (1989). I have not seen this movie since I was a senior in high school, so it comes with a very big asterisk. It was a movie made for who I was in 1989 – a smart high school kid with big dreams who was convinced he knew better than most adults. Now, as an adult who is convinced he knows better than smart-ass high school kids, I have the distinct impression I would no longer like this movie. Indeed, there’s a very real risk that I would despise it. But what can I do? This is a list of my favorite Robin Williams movies, and all I have to go on is the memory that I very much enjoyed it when I saw it.
5. Bicentennial Man (1999). This one is not on the list for Robin Williams, and it wasn’t even a great movie (though it wasn’t terrible). However, it’s really the only instance of an Isaac Asimov story made into a feature-length film, and Asimov is, without question, my favorite author. (Will Smith’s I, Robot was loosely based on Asimovian stories, but the script did not come from any particular story of Asimov’s.) And the story this movie is based on is an example of Asimov’s finest work – Asimov outdoing Asimov. The later novelization of the short story (called The Positronic Man by Robert Silverberg and Asimov) is one of the most outstanding novelizations of a short story in the annals of science fiction. Bottom line – the movie was okay, but the story – that’s brilliant.
4. Good Morning, Vietnam (1987). One of Williams’ first screen roles, and probably the first sign that he was destined to be a true movie star. It was kind of the perfect vehicle for him – a chance to be outrageous, but also a chance to show off broader acting skills.
3. Mrs. Doubtfire (1993). I have to admit, I’m a bit squeamish with the whole cross-dressing thing that Hollywood seems to be somewhat fond of. And yet I liked Tootsie too. I think I also liked Tom Hanks in the TV show Bosom Buddies, but I saw a few episodes recently and… well, Tom’s better work was still to come. But Mrs. Doubtfire – predictable and manipulative as it was, was nonetheless pretty entertaining, and Williams managed to make a believable character, voice, mannerisms, and expressions. And this man… this man was about the hairiest man to ever put on a dress. So, he’s got that going for him.
2. The Birdcage (1996). This movie was somewhat of a surprise. Nathan Lane is a funny guy, but you’ve got Robin Williams – and you give Lane all the funny bits? That’s what I remember most about The Birdcage – Williams took the straight man role. (And yes, I’m perfectly aware of the incongruence of calling Williams a straight man in his role of gay husband.) It was one thing for Robin Williams to stretch as an actor and begin doing dramatic roles in the late 1980s, but this had to be his biggest stretch – put him in a comedy and make the other guy funny. I guess it worked.
1. Awakenings (1990). There aren’t too many movies about science that are really good. In an effort to dramatize science, a lot is fabricated, sped up, or made overly dramatic. With Awakenings, that wasn’t necessary – partly because the true story is so incredibly dramatic, and partly because the movie wisely focused on characterization – mostly of Williams’ character Dr. Sayer, and of course of Robert DeNiro’s character, Leonard. Williams (like DeNiro) was, frankly, brilliant in the part – believable as an overwhelmed neuropsychologist wrestling with the chaos of a state institution, shy, awkward, but full of human feeling.
I rarely remember the details of movies, but there’s a scene in Awakenings I have remembered all my life. Dr. Sayer is looking out the window and notices a girl playing hopscotch, jumping over the pattern of the boxes. Sayer has an inspiration – painfully hitting his head on the window frame. He realizes that his encephalitis lethargica patient Lucy was able to walk in shuffling fashion toward a water fountain but got stuck midway because the visual pattern of the tiled floor ended. He and a colleague paint the remainder of the pattern on the patternless portion of the floor. It works – Lucy, formerly frozen midway to the fountain, is able to use the visual cues to shuffle further in the room. Dr. Sayer is fascinated as Lucy bypasses the fountain and instead looks longingly out the window of the institution she has been trapped in for decades. It is only at that moment that Dr. Sayer has confirmation that his encephalitis patients – for the most part unable to speak or move – are not brain dead or unaware. They are merely trapped inside bodies that won’t respond, full of emotions of desperation and heartache. It’s shattering, and Williams – in real life the outrageous, kinetic comic – captures it perfectly.
In fact, this may be the only great movie on the list, but it’s worth it. Take all the other Robin Williams roles away, and this one remains a testament to the man’s talent.
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