This week's Hidden Gem (#75) is a '70's film starring Michael Douglas still not available on DVD! If you've seen this one, please share your thoughts. If not, please let us know if it's a film you'd like to see:
I have a 16mm dye transfer print. Very good white-collar to blue-collar character drama. Really good cast including Anne Gwynne doing a voice appearance (phone call) as Adam's mom.
Generally absorbing drama, although the Missourians are perhaps portrayed as more simple-minded than necessary - I suppose to play up the sophisticated city boy/fish out of water storyline.
Produced by Steve McQueen's Solar Productions for National General - and when Douglas and his local honey go to the drive-in "The Reivers" is playing. We get to hear John Williams' end credits (which is a balm for the ears as the music for "Adam" itself goes for obvious "country hick" sounds - lots of harmonica and lazy guitar.)
Michael Douglas is a semantics professor in this (but experiences a change of pace during his summer in the Missouri backwoods working with his hands [and suffers a scary on-the-job accident in one scene] as a laborer.) Douglas' Adam describes semantics as the study of the meaning of words and how people, even using the same language and words, sometimes can't understand each other because of their personal perspectives and where they've come from. And that sums up the theme of this movie - relevant to the times 50 years ago and still so today.
