Dreams Are What Le Cinema Is For: The Fan - 1981

THE FAN 1981lecinemadreams.blogspot.com/2015/09/the-fan-1981.html

At a time when most of her industry peers were retired, forgotten, or guesting on episodes of Fantasy Island andThe Love Boat, 56-year-old Lauren Bacall was enjoying a career resurgence and public visibility rivaling that of her1940s heyday when she was known as “The Look.” In 1981 Bacall was headlining in the Broadwaymusical Woman of the Year; topping the bestseller charts with the paperback release of her 1978 memoir, ByMyself; shilling everything from jewelry to cat food in TV and print ads; and, most remarkably in those pre-MerylStreep/Helen Mirren years of elder-actress marketability, starring in a nine-million-dollar major motion picturerelease.

The Fame Game

The Fan, a suspense thriller based on Bob Randall’s 1977 epistolary novel about an aging Broadway star stalked byan obsessive fan, gave Bacall arguably the biggest role of her career. Certainly the first to require her to carry anentire film on her own.

Filmed on location in New York from March to July of 1980, The Fan was poised for release at the most opportunetime to take advantage of Bacall’s already-in-motion Broadway and bookshelf publicity. Unfortunately, as The Fan’sPR-friendly release date of March 15, 1981 neared, several real-life, obsessive fan-based tragedies occurred(targeting John Lennon and then-President Ronald Reagan), conspiring to make this fame-culture melodrama seemmore an exercise in bad taste than a film of ripped-from-today's-headlines relevance.

1/12

Lauren Bacall as Sally Ross

Michael Biehn as Douglas Breen

Maureen Stapleton as Belle Goldman

2/12

James Garner as Jake Berman

Hector Elizondo as Inspector Raphael Andrews

Kurt Johnson as David Barnum

If musical theater geeks, Glee habitués, and folks capable of making it through an entire Tony Awards broadcastever longed for an '80s slasher film to call their own, then The Fan more than fills the Playbill. This unappetizinglybloody, yet oh-so delectable/derisible blend of backstage musical, 1940s career-woman soap opera, slasher-flick,and woman-in-peril melodrama, is high-camp movie nirvana. An upscale cousin of the hagsploitation genre of the'60s, The Fan might have substituted seasoned glamour for the usual grotesquery, but in keeping with therequirements of the sub-genre, The Fan's raison d'être remained the prolonged persecution and victimization of a

3/12

mature star from Hollywood's Golden Era.

When The Fan opened in theaters in the spring of 1981, the film –to borrow a line from one of the hooty Louis St.Louis (Grease 2) showtunes sung in the film– "Got no love” from either audiences or critics. Patrons old enough tobe enticed by the film's elder cast risked having their blue rinses turned stark white by the movie's copiousbloodshed and the artless, Bogie-wouldn't-stand-for-this dialog: “Dearest bitch, see how accessible you are? Howwould you like to be fucked by a meat cleaver?” Similarly, the teen demographic ordinarily drawn to slasher filmsdidn’t quite know what to make of a movie set in the Sardi's and cigarettes world of the New York theater. Anatmosphere totally devoid of comely, scantily-clad bimbos, and whose median character age hovered somewherearound the fifty-five mark. A wholly uninspired publicity campaign only added to the film’s troubles.Had The Fan been a play, it would have closed in Boston. Whiskedoff screens within weeks of its release, The Fan resurfaced withsome regularity on HBO and Showtime throughout the '80s beforeultimately disappearing into relative obscurity. Obscurity so completethat Robert De Niro's unrelated but same-titled 1996 sports-themedfilm has totally eclipsed Bacall's The Fan in the public's memory.Happily, The Fan's release on DVD has rekindled awareness of thisvery '80s curio. A glimpse back at a New York still atmosphericallyseedy. A vision of a world populated with record stores, typewriters,payphones, legwarmers, and heavy smokers. All with nary aStarbucks in sight. And while no undiscovered classic, The Fan doeshave its merits (most of them camp-related, I'm afraid) which make ita movie worthy of rediscovery. Not the least of them being LaurenBacall, a smoking, drinking, tough-as-nails star of Broadway and thesilver screen, playing a smoking, drinking, tough-as-nails star ofBroadway and the silver screen. And convincingly, too!

The psychological subtheme of The Fan

And the audience LOVES me! And I love them! And they love me for lovin' them and I love them for lovin'me. And we love each other. And that's 'cause none of us got enough love in out childhoods. And that's show biz, kid! - Fred EbbNo low-budget gore-fest populated by a cast of nondescript teens stalked by a masked phantom, The Fan was

4/12

conceived as a stylish, A-List, Hitchcockian thriller along the lines of Eyes of Laura Mars (1978) and Brian DePalma’s Dressed to Kill (1980). The latter garnering '50s sexpot, Angie Dickinson, some of the best notices of hercareer. At least that's how things started.Produced by movie/music mogul Robert Stigwood on the downturn side of a '70s winning streak that included youth-centric films like Jesus Christ Superstar , Saturday Night Fever, and Tommy; The Fan was Stigwood’s mostexpensive film to date and first stab (if you’ll pardon the pun) at cracking the adult market. To this end he amassed adistinguished cast of New York actors, pedigreed Broadway composers (Marvin Hamlisch and Tim Rice collaboratedon two–fairly terrible–original songs). On the production end he secured the talents of up-and-coming first-timedirector Edward Bianchi (from TV commercials and music videos) and choreographer Arlene Philips (Can’t Stop TheMusic, Annie).

If you've ever seen a Lauren Bacall musical, you know that her being lifted andcarried about is a choreography requisite. I was surprised at the number of onlinereviews that questioned Bacall's "believability" portraying a Broadway musicalstar in The Fan. Reviews which later expressed surprise upon learning that shewas indeed a musical theater star in real life. Bacall was the Best Actress Tony

Award winner for both Applause and Woman of the Year.

But as the saying goes, the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry, and somewhere between screenplay tomovie-house, The Fan transmogrified into a film beset by:1) Bad decisions: Friday the 13 became a hit during The Fan's post-production, prompting Paramount to orderreshoots to ratchet up the violence. 2) Bad timing and bad decisions: Three months before The Fan's release, John Lennon was killed by an obsessivefan outside NY’s Dakota apartments (as it happens, also the home of Lauren Bacall), after which it is said the film'soriginal downbeat ending (if true to the novel) underwent some 11th-hour tinkering.3) Bad luck: Bacall's idea of promoting The Fan was to express to the press her disappointment in the finishedproduct. Making matters worse, three weeks into The Fan's less-than-illustrious release, an attempt was made onPresident Reagan's life by a Jodie Foster-obsessed fan. Suddenly a film few people were interested in in the firstplace, began to look like an exercise in exploitation and bad taste.

5/12

Bacall the BuzzkillBacall: "The Fan is much more graphic and violent than when I read the script."

Anna Maria Horsford (who appeared in Stigwood's Times Square in 1980) asdetective Emily Stolz

Stigwood severely scaled back his usual bombastic pre-release publicity for The Fan (STD results have beenreleased with more fanfare), while Paramount added a disclaimer to its theatrical trailers claiming The Fan was inno way inspired by the tragic death of John Lennon. This latter decision prompting the outspoken Bacall to declareto People magazine: “I think it’s disgusting, revolting and exploitive!”

In the end it didn't really matter, for The Fan wound up being one of those rare films capable of offering audiencessimultaneously contradictory experiences–none of them satisfactory. Stylishly shot, overflowing in chichi urbangloss, and embellished with a chilling Pino Donaggio score (Carrie, Don’t Look Now) The Fan ultimately failed tofind an audience because it clearly didn't know who the hell that was. Classic movie fans familiar with Lauren Bacallthought the film was too classy to be so trashy; slasher fans thought the film wasn't trashy enough. Gays had theirown problems with the film.

Strangers in the Night

The Fan did itself no favors by alienating the very audience most receptive to a film offering up ample doses musicaltheater, backstage drama, showtunes, tight male bodies in various states of undress, and Lauren Bacall in fullMargo Channing mode. On the heels of Windows (1980), a stalker thriller about a lesbian psychopath, and Cruising(1980) a crime thriller about a homosexual psychopath; many members of the gay community felt The Fan'scloseted theater-queen stalker was one gay psycho too many.

None of that applied to me, however. I’d read The Fan back in i978, really getting a kick out of how the book used

6/12

the thriller genre to comment on what I’ve always felt to be the odd love /hate relationship between stars and theiradoring public. As a fan of Lauren Bacall from her movies with Bogart on The Late Show, the Broadway musicalApplause (the 1973 TV broadcast, anyway), and Murder on the Orient Express; I was thrilled when I heard she hadbeen cast.

More exciting for me still was the fact that Edward Bianchi was hired to direct and Arlene Phillips was to do thechoreography. Bianchi & Phillips had collaborated on a series of eye-popping Dr, Pepper commercials in the late'70s for the advertising agency of Young & Rubicam. Commercials I had been been inspired by and borrowed fromfor a couple of my film school projects. When I also learned that Broadway great Maureen Stapleton had joined thecast and that Bacall’s rumored paramour, James Garner, was also on board, The Fan swiftly became one of themost eagerly-awaited films of the year...for me.

I saw The Fan on opening day at Grauman’s Chinese Theater, and the smallish audience of young people inattendance (clearly in search of a good scare) was underwhelmed. I, on the other hand, felt as though I’d died andgone to camp film heaven. Not since Eyes of Laura Mars had I seen a thriller capable of being enjoyed on so manylevels at once. I saw it three times before it disappeared from theaters.

Shot on location, The Fan provides many great glimpses of of 80s-era New York.Here the famed Shubert Theater is the site for Sally Ross' opening night in Never

Say Never; the fictional musical providing The Fan with so much of its campappeal

WHAT I LOVE ABOUT THIS FILMWhat brings me back to The Fan time and time again are its many sequences depicting the behind-the-scenescreation of the fictional Broadway musical, Never Say Never. Much is made of it being Sally Ross’ singing anddancing debut, and we don't doubt it for a minute. Bacall's foghorn baritone and reliance on chorus boys to lug andlift her about give the scenes a comic authenticity.

7/12

Populated with recognized Broadway dancers, shot in actual NY rehearsal studios with a knowing attention toprocedural detail; the show in question may look terrible, but these sequences are great fun. The '80s vibe isirresistible (all those short-shorts, spandex, legwarmers, and Arlene Philips' trademark Hot Gossip choreography),and the risible music ("No energy crisis, my professional advice is...") gets caught in your head like an earwig. Ofcourse, it certainly doesn't hurt that I saw this film during my early days as a dancer and that in 1983, when I tookmy first trip to New York, I studied dance at Jo Jo's Dance Factory, the studio used in the film.

All the Boys Love Sally

Choreographer Arlene Phillips wouldn't actually choreograph for Broadway until 1987's Starlight Express

8/12

Call Her Miss RossBroadway dancer Justin Ross (l.) appeared in the film version of A Chorus Line ,

and dancer Reed Jones (r.) originated the role of Skimbleshanks in Cats

PERFORMANCESIf you’re going to make a film about the kind of old-school, glamorous, show-biz diva capable of inciting the flames ofobsessive fandom, you couldn’t do much better than landing all-around class-act, Lauren Bacall. Her gravitas as afull-fledged movie star from the golden era gives The Fan a shot of instant legitimacy every time she appears. In oneof the largest roles of her career, Bacall is not always filmed as flatteringly as you'd expect, but the effect is ratherrefreshing. She looks marvelously lived-in, and her still-striking looks serve as a welcome change from the botoxedmannequins we've come to grow used to. Playing a role which can't be considered much of a stretch in some ways,she's awfully good. So good in fact, that I kept wishing the film would just allow for the natural character drama ofthis ageing star grappling with loneliness, self-doubt, and vulnerability, play itself out minus all the genremachinations.

Bacall's appearance on Garner's TV show The Rockford Files in 1979, followed bytheir re-appearance in Robert Altman's HealtH (1980) and yet again here in The

Fan, really had gossip-columnist tongues wagging about a romance between thetwo

THE STUFF OF FANTASYThe '80s come vividly alive in the film's Broadway musical sequences, which are sort of Solid Gold meets Can't StopThe Music. As would be the case with the Broadway musical numbers in 1983s Staying Alive, it's near-impossible toimagine just what kind of Broadway this could be, as the numbers look more appropriate to a Las Vegas revue.

9/12

A Remarkable Woman

Hearts, Not Diamonds

Disco Bacall - Has to be seen (and heard) to be believed

THE STUFF OF DREAMSI've never considered The Fan to be as bad a film as its reputation has led people to believe. Its screenplay isclichéd to be sure (the stage doorman is actually named “Pop”) and the violence needlessly gruesome for such avisually distinguished and stylish film (Bianchi’s music video background is in full evidence), but with a provocativetheme and talented cast, The Fan has quite a bit going for it even with its flaws. One might have wished for a littlemore finesse in the areas of motivation and character, but I seriously have a soft spot in my heart for thismovie...mostly centered around the Broadway setting, the images of a still gritty and grimy New York, and reminders

10/12

of my early years in dance. And, of course, it really is great to see late-career Bacall–with that amazing GenaRowlands-like mane of hair–command the screen once more. Who was it that said, "Nostalgia ain't what it used tobe"?

BONUS MATERIAL

"Deep Brewed Flavah!"

During the '80s Lauren Bacall's commercials for High Point instant coffee were the stuff of lampoon legend. In honorof The Fan, here's one of her most Sally Ross, "theatah"-themed ones. HERE

11/12

Before "Be a Pepper!" became the company's slogan, Dr. Pepper was sold as "The Most Original Soft Drink Ever."Edward Bianchi directed this stylish and award-winning commercial from 1975. HERE

Copyright © Ken Anderson

12/12