The Hudsucker Proxy, 1994
The Hudsucker Proxy, 1994
Written by ... Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, and Sam Raimi
Directed by ... Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
Starring:
Tim Robbins ... Norville Barnes
Jennifer Jason Leigh ... Amy Archer
Paul Newman ... Sidney J. Mussburger
Charles Durning ... Waring Hudsucker
John Mahoney ... Argus Chief Editor
Jim True-Frost ... Buzz the Elevator Operator (as Jim True)
Bill Cobbs ... Moses the Clock Man
Bruce Campbell ... Smitty, Argus Reporter
Harry Bugin ... Aloysius, Mussburger's Spy
John Seitz ... Bennie the Cabbie
Joe Grifasi ... Lou the Cabbie
Anna Nicole Smith ... Za-Za
Steve Buscemi ... Beatnik Barman at Ann's 440
Sam Raimi ... Hudsucker Brainstormer
John Goodman ... Rockwell Newsreel Anouncer (as Karl Mundt)
I came into watching The Hudsucker Proxy without any expectations aside from those reserved for movies by the Coen brothers. However, considering the range of topics, moods, and themes those two cover, that's not saying much--I just expected it to be relatively good. And I was right!
Set in the 1950s, The Hudsucker Proxy chronicles the dumb luck of idealistic Norville Barnes (Robbins) as he finds a job with Hudsucker Industries, a huge, money-eating conglomerate in New York City. He starts as a mailroom boy, but with the death of Waring Hudsucker (Durning [a Coen brothers favorite]), Norville finds himself as the "proxy," the "pawn," of Hudsucker Industries--the board members are looking to bring down the price of the stock so that they can buy Waring's shares now that he's dead. Once Norville takes the reins, prices do indeed fall, and the silent story of this "imbecile" of a company president attracts the news-sniffing journalist Amy Archer (Leigh). She takes a job as Norville's secretary--because Hudsucker Industries won't allow interviews with him--and publishes damaging stories about him from an insider's point of view without him realizing. All Norville seems to want to do is to get his idea "for the kids" manufactured because he wants to make everyone happy with his idea (the only plans of which show up as a drawn circle on a folded piece of paper he keeps in his shoe).
So that's the basic set-up for the plot (I don't want to give too much away because I think you should see it and enjoy it, and I spaced out during some of the other plot-driven sections, so I'm a little sketchy on details), but what I love about this movie is the style and the dialogue. The visual style of the movie is probably a function of Sam Raimi's role in the movie's creation: since it's set in NYC, the buildings and their sleek, shining outlines strike a bleak contrast with the lives and struggles bursting within them. The setting seems surreal, outside of time, which makes this movie's commentary on the nature of time (who controls it? what really makes the world go 'round?) that much more interesting. Aside from that , I think the actors capture the speech/inflections that define the backgrounds of the characters they play--without the speech, these characters would be less striking. Probably the best of the actors with regard to dialogue, Jennifer Jason Leigh plays fast-talking, Judy-Garland-sounding Amy Archer, a lone female in a world of men, in and out of journalism. If she didn't talk the talk, the men she works with wouldn't have won the Pulitzer for her writing. Archer's language is her savior. It's also interesting to see how her dialect changes when she's playing Norville's secretary--the fast-talking side is what might have given her away to Norville, so she has to take on a small-town girl vibe instead.
Aside from the moviemaking techniques that always make the Coen brothers' movies worth watching, I personally enjoyed watching this movie because it seems to support what I've been reading in Stiffed: The Betrayal of the American Man by Susan Faludi (the author of Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women). The first chapter has explained that American men in the 1940s and 1950s felt "stiffed" by post-WWII culture because their fathers had promised them success (a stable job, a family to care for, and a need for them in society), but it never panned out for them. Norville is an excellent example of the American man who is somewhat betrayed by his society: he comes to New York searching for a job and only gets one by a stroke of luck (and possibly karma), not by his hard work. He falls in love with a "career gal" who doesn't need him. And he is being duped by his employers, who only hired him so that they could profit from his stupidity. I found it very interesting to be reading Stiffed and watching The Hudsucker Proxy at the same time--lots of overlap there.
In the end, this movie is uplifting (even if Norville never reallys breaks out of the "successful/betrayed American man" model that Faludi describes) and joyous, and often just downright funny. It's a lighthearted, entertaining movie that half-explores a lot of interesting themes, especially those revolving around the cyclical. Therefore, I recommend it: A.