Page 8—SUSQUEHANNA TIMES
Kramer vs. Kramer
Movie Review
by John Raiz
There are a host of
different reasons that can
make any given film worth
seeing. The compelling
reason to see Kramer vs.
Kramer is quite simple. The
casting is impeccable, and
the acting is wonderful.
Dustin Hoffman, Meryl
Streep, Jane Alexander, and
Justin Henry (a seven-year-
old appearing in his first
film) are a joy to behold.
They generate far more
depth of character than one
is accustomed to seeing in 2
Hollywood movie. The pure
acting involved in Kramei
vs. Kramer is so marvelous
that there is an almost
unendurable pleasure de-
rived from merely watching
the four principals perform.
A few satisfying examples:
enjoy how sublty Dustin
Hoffman communicates an
incredulous resignation
while collecting Meryl
Streep’s bric a brac and
packing it away in cartons
when he realizes that she is
not coming back home;
notice Hoffman’s body lan-
guage as he sits silently at
the breakfast table with his
young son; appreciate the
extremely accurate facial
expressions on Justin Henry
when the court awards
custody of him to his
mother; observe how help-
less Jane Alexander looks
while trying to comfort
Hoffman through a locked
door.
Where do I begin to
praise their excellent work.
Let's start with Jane
Alexander’s lovely and ten-
der portrayal of Dustin
Hoffman’s neighbor-friend.
She plays the role with an
unwavering understate-
ment; a primness that
radiates warmth, sincerity
and a passionate willingness
to endure. It doesn’t matter
whether she is quietly
listening to Hoffman's
quest that she ‘‘adopt’’ his
son should a building fall on
him, or cradling her daugh-
ter while she and Hoffman
exchange sad stories, Alex-
ander provides the role with
a steady degree of human-
ity. It is Mill Alexander’s
achievement that without
the slightest trace of
dishonest histrionics she is
able to elicit our sympathy
for her problems and make
us appreciate the pleasures
of her joys—both real and
imaginary. Her gestures
and utterances are refresh-
ing, and her diction is flaw-
less, a rare commodity in
today’s movie world. This is
Alexander’s finest hour. She
has never brought more to a
role than as Hoffman’s
downstairs friend in Kramer
vs. Kramer. Every support-
ing actor should digest what
Alexander accomplishes
with this role. She does what
every supporting actor
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should be required to do:
serve as a catalyst to the
central drama without mon-
opolizing the situation.
Dustin Hoffman belongs
to that tiring handfull of
stars who can truly act. At
this point in his career, I still
think his two finest efforts’
trace back to his early work
in The Graduate and,
especially (Ratso Rizzo),
Midnight Cowboy; recently.
however, he was also gooa
in Straight Time. Now, we
can add Kramer vs. Kramer
to his list of best efforts.
In Kramer vs. Kramer,
Hoffman takes on a role that
is fairly uncomplicated and
not overly demanding. Hoff-
man’s hard driving advertis-
ing executive sparkles while
neatly avoiding all the usual
Madison Avenue pitfalls
inherent in such a role. In
scene after scene, he vividly
captures the intended feel-
ings. But far more important
is his ability to delve deeper
into the pain, grief and
humor of everyday living
until he reaches the point
where we feel exactly what
he is experiencing. Hoffman
achieves this minor miracle
whild providing his charact-
er with an engaging in-
dividuality without losing
his ‘‘average’’ man image.
His best scenes involve his
relationship with his young
son: clowning around with
his boy; testing of his will
over his son’s eating habits
(the chocolate chip ice
cream scene is priceless
without sacrificing an iota of
credibility); loss of patience
when his son spills a drink
over his work papers;
concern over his son’s eye
injury. In each of these
scenes, Hoffman establishes
a bond between father and
son that is more radiant,
deeper and more sincere
than anything you’ve seen
in a long while—outstand-
ing acting can truly perform
magic.
Meryl Streep, the mother-
wife, continues her streak of
solid performances. Within
the short span of four movie
roles, she has won instant
praise from almost every
film critic. Each role has
proven that her range is
extremely broad; her good
looks are both unconven-
tional and changeable. As
the supermarket check-out
girl in The Deer Hunter she
looked entirely different
from the revengeful lesbian
in Woody Allen’s Man-
hattan. As the cool, rich
southern lawyer in The
Seduction of Joe Tynan she
was perfect. Everthing a-
bout her in the latter film
Steve Good is Guard
of the Month at Seiler
Steve Good has been
named the Guard of the
Month at Seiler Elementary
School in Mount Joy.
The sixth grade student
guards the corner of East
Donegal and South Barbara
Streets.
Steve is the son of Linda
and David Landvater, 367
North Barbara Street. He
has one sister.
Steve’s favorite subjects
in school are social studies
and spelling. Outside of
school he likes models and
basehall
Steve Good
January 23, 1980
was flawless: from her rich
voice, well-modulated tones
and perfectly sculptured
phrases, down to her most
insignificant gesture, she
did not make a false move.
In Kramer vs. Kramer,
Streep is almost as good in a
more difficult role. Here,
she is called upon to appear
in the opening ten minutes
of the film and not return
until the picture is more
than half over. Because of
this unusual plot structure,
plus the fact that her
opening scene requires her
to abandon her six-year-old
son, she must immediately
make enough of an im-
pression to leave behind a
shadow that will linger over
the household like the ghost
of motherhood until she
returns. Instantly, in fact
with her opening line, a
simple ‘‘Ilove you, Billy’’ to
her young son, she ac-
complishes her formidable
task. But her burden has not
ended. When she reappears
she not only has to steal our
attention away from the
tender father-son relation-
ship that is building, but
also gain some of our
sympathy while beginning a
court battle to regain
custody rights from her
husband. It surely is a
no-win situation—except for
someone as talented as
Meryl Streep.
An inexplicable general
phenomenon of film history
concerns the ability of
foreign directors to coax
extraordinary performances
from young children (e.g.
De Sica’s Bicycle Thief,
Truffant’s The Wild Child);
[continued on page 15]
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