These Were The Days

Author(s): Stefano
Location: Italy

“Those were the days"

Directed by Ang Lee
Written by Larry McMurtry, Richard LaGravenese
Original music by James Newton Howard
Cinematography by Stephen Goldblatt
Produced by Sydney Pollack

Principal Cast:

Edward Norton – Kevin Parker
John Cusack – James “Jimmy” Gardiner
Rachel Weisz – Lucy O’Neill
Peter Sarsgaard – Nicholas Blunt
Emily Mortimer – Elizabeth “Betty” McDougall
Albert Finney – Rex McDougall
Lynn Redgrave – Helen McDougall

Tagline: “There are things that last for a lifetime…"

Synopsis:“In 1965, Kevin (Edward Norton), Jimmy (John Cusack) and Nicholas (Peter Sarsgaard) are three young friends from New York who have left their hometown and their everyday life to go fightin’ in Vietnam under the military service. In Vietnam, Kevin is seriously injuried and is send to the military hospital, where he meets Lucy (Rachel Weisz), a kind and beautiful nurse, who assists the boy and takes good care of him during his convalescence. It doesn’t take much time until Kevin falls in love with Lucy: soon they begin a romantic affair, and two years later they come back together to New York. Kevin finally graduates and starts working as an english-literature teacher, while Lucy, who wants to be an actress, continues to attend auditions.

After a few years, in the early 1970s, Kevin, Nicholas and Jimmy meet again in New York. Kevin is now a voluntary supporter of McGovern election campaign, Nicholas is a journalist, while Jimmy has completed his law-studies and has a job in a law firm. When Jimmy meets Kevin and his girlfriend Lucy, he feels immediatly attracted by her, and despite his friendship with Kevin, he got involved in a passionate relationship with the young woman; so Lucy leaves Kevin and goes to live with Jimmy.

The three men’s lives, in the following years, take opposite directions. The idealistic Kevin is a political activist with strong anti-war opinions; he and Nicholas are still great friends. Jimmy, instead, is very ambitious and completely devoted to his rising career: he decides to leave Lucy and marries a rich english girl, Betty (Emily Mortimer), the daughter of an important and sharp business-man, Rex McDougall (Albert Finney). Jimmy doesn’t love Betty, but he’s only interested in her father’s business, and their marriage is everything but happy.

Abandoned by Jimmy, Lucy is desperate and has one night love affair with Nicholas; then, tormented by the feeling of guilt, she leaves New York. Meanwhile, after McDougall’s death, Jimmy takes the lead of the company, but he still regrets his love for Lucy and his old friends. Jimmy’s wife Betty, neglected by her husband, falls into depression, and she’ll suddenly find death in a tragic car accident (probably a suicide).

Years go by and, in the early 1980s, Kevin and Lucy meet again by coincidence: she has moved to Hollywood, trying unsuccesfully to become a movie-star, and now is working in New York as an extra on the set of a commercial. Kevin and Lucy discover they still love each other like the first time, so they decide to have another try and soon get married. The story ends one night in 1985, when Kevin, Jimmy, Nicholas and Lucy have a last encounter under Manhattan sky: this reunion will be the occasion to make a balance of their different life-experiences through the last twenty years.

What the press would say:

Academy Award winner Ang Lee (“Brokeback Mountain”) is the director of this american remake of the famous 1974 italian classic, Ettore Scola’s “We all loved each other so much”. Larry McMurtry and Richard LaGravenese’s brilliant and moving adaptation of the original movie, a marvellous mixture of drama and comedy, tells the story of the longtime friendship between three young men who all fall in love with the same woman. Through the narration of the events in the lives of these four people, the film is also a chronicle of twenty years of american history, including some crucial moments as Vietnam War, the killing of Robert Kennedy, Richard Nixon’s presidency, the Watergate scandal and Ronald Reagan’s era. And the characters of the film just rapresent the incarnation of the hopes, dreams and disappointments of that generation, with their ingenuous but constant expectations for a better future.

Very similar in themes and style to other big-screen classics as “The way we were” or “The big chill”, Ang Lee’s “Those were the days” is both a riveting romance and a morality tale about the importance of ideals. The movie is provided with an outstanding cast, with great performances from Edward Norton as the idealistic Kevin, John Cusack as the cynical and opportunist Jimmy, Peter Sarsgaard as their wise friend Nicholas and Rachel Weisz as their love-interest Lucy. The cast also enclose a terrific Albert Finney in the role of the old tycoon Rex McDougall and Lynn Redgrave as his wife Helen.

The film score features original music by James Newton Howard and several well-known hit-songs of those years, including Bob Dylan’s “Like a rolling stone”, the Beatles’ “Help!”, the Bee Gees’ “To love somebody”, Mary Hopkins’ “Those were the days”, Stevie Wonder’s “My cherie amour”, Simon & Garfunkel’s “America”, Carole King’s “It’s too late”, Rod Stewart’s “Reason to believe”, Don McLean’s “American pie”, Elton John’s “Crocodile rock”, the Eagles’ “Best of my love”, Peter Frampton’s “Baby, I love your way”, Billy Joel’s “New York state of mind”, Linda Ronstadt’s “It’s so easy” and Bruce Springsteen’s “My hometown”.

FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION:
Best Picture
Best Director – Ang Lee
Best Actor – Edward Norton
Best Actress – Rachel Weisz
Best Supporting Actor – Albert Finney
Best Supporting Actress – Emily Mortimer
Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Original Score
Best Original Song
Best Cinematography