Mon 12 Jun 2023
A Movie Review by Dan Stumpf: THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS (1971).
Posted by Steve under Mystery movies , Reviews[12] Comments
THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS. Universal, 1971. George C Scott, Joanne Woodward, Jack Gilford, Lester Rawlins, Al Lewis, Rue McClanahan, Oliver Clark, F. Murray Abraham, Paul Benedict and M. Emmet Walsh. Written by James Goldman. Directed by Anthony Harvey. Currently streaming on YouTube (see below).
A promising misfire.
I use the word “promising†advisedly. Well, that is to say, no one actually advised me to call it “promising, “ but I couldn’t help thinking how aptly it applied to a film with an intriguing premise and a story-line strewn with clues that seem to be leading up to something that turns out to…..
For starters, Giants centers around George C Scott as a paranoid psychotic who believes he is Sherlock Holmes, and sees the hand of Moriarty at work in everything that happens his way. He is also a man of considerable personal charm — distressingly rare in actual paranoids — and persuasiveness — distressingly common in paranoids who run nations, but I digress.
As the film opens, Scott’s brother is trying to get him committed for venal reasons of his own, and Psychiatrist Mildred Watson (Joanne Woodward) is called in to evaluate him and sign the papers. When her boss at the Mental Hospital pressures Dr Watson (get it?) to skip over the evaluation, she digs her heels in and takes time to really get to know a clearly delusional man who refuses to act like a patient. And as the film progresses, she gets drawn further into his fantasy… or is it fantasy?
Okay I better post a (WARNING!!) because I’m gonna hint at some plot developments here. And the problem is, there are plenty of developments, but they only lead to other developments. The story seems to be going somewhere, but it never actually gets there — or much of anywhere. Every clue leads to another clue instead of a solution, every action runs to a dead end, and every climax turns to anticlimax, leaving the film meandering and irresolute.
Perhaps it’s all the more frustrating because there are some clever ideas and good lines here: a pithy comment on Westerns, “There are no masses in Dodge City, only individuals taking responsibility for their own actions.†Scott’s assessment of Woodward’s usefulness, “Just keep saying to yourself, ‘I’m adequate. ‘ “ or “I think if God is dead he laughed himself to death.â€
I could go on. The movie itself sure does. But basically all that cleverness is just elegant gift-wrapping on an empty package.
June 12th, 2023 at 11:36 am
On the plus side, it spawned a quirky band: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NhjSzjoU7OQ
From Wikipedia:
At their first concert, They Might Be Giants were introduced as and performed under the name El Grupo De Rock and Roll (Spanish for “the Rock and Roll Band”), because the show was a Sandinista rally in Central Park, and a majority of the audience members spoke Spanish.Soon discarding this name, the band assumed the name of the 1971 film They Might Be Giants (starring George C. Scott and Joanne Woodward), which is in turn taken from a Don Quixote passage about how Quixote mistook windmills for evil giants. According to Dave Wilson, in his book Rock Formations, the name They Might Be Giants had been used and subsequently discarded by a friend of the band who had a ventriloquism act. The name was then adopted by the band, who had been searching for a suitable name.
June 12th, 2023 at 3:24 pm
I have to admit, I really like this film. I agree that there’s no real resolution, but it worked for me. Haven’t seen it in more than 20 years, so it might not work now.
June 12th, 2023 at 5:49 pm
I haven’t seen the movie, but I’ve always meant to. Both the premise and the cast are top notch, at least to my way of thinking. I’ve always found George C. Scott very … interesting … as an actor.
June 13th, 2023 at 9:51 am
Interesting that Universal must have gotten cold feet about the Sherlock Holmes angle. That poster looks like any romantic comedy from the era.
June 13th, 2023 at 10:05 am
The film was a failure, with neither lead capable of selling this film or any other without co-starring help, in Joanne’s case, from her husband. Nothing and no one helps Scott. Ill-advised from conception.
June 13th, 2023 at 10:37 am
Memory Time:
– I first saw They Might Be Giants in its initial theatrical release in 1971, at the Carnegie Theatre in Chicago.
The Carnegie was a boutiquey place on the Near North Side, what would come to be called an “art house”.
The ads called attention to George C. Scott’s Oscar win for Patton, and nothing else; this was no help at all in drawing an audience.
To show how Giants fell through the cracks in ’71 – Roger Ebert didn’t even review it! (Or if he did, he didn’t bother to save the review; you won’t find it in his website archives.)
Anyway, I saw it at the Carnegie when it opened there, and I really liked it a lot.
I liked it so much that I went back the next week and saw it again.
And again, a week after that.
(This was before showcase booking came along; “little movies” like Giants could play art houses like the Carnegie for weeks at a stretch, if the crowds held up. All told, I think Giants stuck around for about a month and a half.)
Anyway, after Giants left the Carnegie, I couldn’t see it again until NBC showed it on the network about a year or so later.
This was before home video, so I had to be in place for the telecast; I was surprised to see that there were added scenes – specifically the supermarket scene, which was quite a bit longer on TV (I came to believe that if Universal had left that scene in, Giants might have gotten a better deal, but I’m just guessing there …).
Eventually, home video came along – first VCR, then DVD – so I covered myself there.
Additionally, I was able to track down James Goldman’s screenplay, which Lancer Books put out as a mass-market paperback when the movie was released in ’71 (this book came out in virtual secrecy at the time, or I certainly would have gotten it new, at 75 cents; years later, I found a used copy on the Net for about $20 or thereabouts, which only goes to show).
So that brings us to 2023.
I still have the deluxe DVD, which I keep in a place of honor; I watch it whenever I feel like it (which is the way God intended).
I also still have that old Lancer paperback, which I sometimes keep at hand as I rewatch the DVD (and you’d be surprised at just how much of James Goldman’s words are in the actual movie).
And in rewatching, I can still shock myself at how many later-familiar faces turn up during the movie (of course, I also notice how many of them have passed on in the years since; best not to dwell on that …).
… And I wait around for They Might Be Giants to get mentioned on blogs like this, so I can show off my vast (or half-vast) knowledge of the subject.
And I thank you for your attention – or your indulgence, at any rate …
June 13th, 2023 at 11:09 am
Great great memories, Mike! After reading your life history with the movie, I’m really going to have to watch it tonight.
June 13th, 2023 at 9:23 pm
Sherlock Holmes, Moriarity, and the Scarlet Pimpernel, but sadly it sort of fizzles. I recall enjoying it while watching it, yet not feeling I needed to watch it again. Scott roars too much and Woodward in full introvert becomes a hero form is both too timid and too easily swayed.
It keeps almost starting, almost catching the interest, almost becoming what it might be, but the ending which tries to have it both , ways ultimately just annoyed me.
Scott tries too hard, but I wouldn’t mind him tackling Holmes seriously (though I found his Dupin tiresome), and Woodward just feels all over the place.
I think I might have better enjoyed Jack Gilford’s the Scarlet Pimpernel than Scott and Woodward’s Holmes and Watson.
June 18th, 2023 at 6:27 pm
I’ve seen this flick –and I might very likely agree with any criticism laid at its door –but I can’t help enjoying George C. Scott in just about anything.
But I’m posting this remark really, to praise another such “Holmes delusion” TV movie –quite similar to this one –which I very much enjoy.
I don’t know what it was called but it starred Larry Hagman in the role of pseudo-Holmes. He is a California Highway Patrol motorcycle officer and his girl-Watson is his social worker.
It may arguably be much worse than this Scott/Woodward romp but personally I was very much charmed by it.
June 18th, 2023 at 10:00 pm
Lazy Georgenby:
The TV movie you’re referring to is The Return Of The World’s Greatest Detective, which Larry Hagman made when he was shopping around for a TV series that he could do (this was long before Dallas.
As memory serves, this was earmarked as a possible entry on NBC’s Mystery Movie wheel: six or seven movie-length episodes a season, which would leave Hagman, Jenny O’Hara (Dr. Watson), and Nick Colasanto (the resident cop) free to do other stuff during the year.
The writer/producer was Dean Hargrove, who was specializing in Mystery Movies at Universal at this point; he would have been the “showrunner”, had this been picked up.
NBC floated a bunch of possible spokes for their wheels over the years, most of then coming up short; you can look up most of the rest at other sources.
Anyway, once Larry Hagman hooked up with Dallas, it was all academic …
July 5th, 2023 at 5:32 pm
I’ve run across a long and thoughtful review of this film that’s just been posted online by another blogger. Well worth your time, I think:
https://mysteriesahoy.com/2023/07/05/they-might-be-giants-holmes-on-film/
October 9th, 2023 at 8:14 pm
A Question for our Esteemed Mike Doran:
Does the Lancer book add any additional information or alternative to the ending or to help explain or expand on the ending?
I’ve been looking for a copy of the Lancer book for some time with no luck and I was wondering if you could please assist.
Thank you!