HEFE'S REVIEW OF:
AMADEUS (1984)

OPENING THOUGHTS

    Those of you who read my reviews often will know that I am not usually a fan of historically inaccurate movies, nor am I a fan of period dramas. This movie has the great misfortune of possessing both of those traits, and yet somehow it has managed to win me over. Even more amazing it didn't get in my good graces the cheap way by showing nudity or swearing a lot either. Let's explore this strange phenomenon together shall we?

ACTING

    F. MURRAY ABRAHAM has the biggest role in the film playing the role of court composer Antonio Salieri, and he won an Oscar for his efforts. There is no doubt he did a good job with the role, but I honestly think he was outworked by his co-star Tom Hulce, who incidentally was nominated in the same category and lost to Abraham. I can't explain even what it is that I didn't like about it, just that I liked Hulce's performance better because it was so much more interesting. I will say this, watching this movie now more than twenty five years after it's release, it is really easy to see how far makeup processes for making the young look old have come. In the scenes where he is supposed to be an aging hipster it looks like he is wearing a bad Halloween mask, and this won the Oscar for Best Makeup!
    TOM HULCE was to me, the true shining star of the movie, and also the biggest reason for me returning to watch this movie on repeated occasions. He gives Mozart this ridiculous character, and unbelievable laugh that really humanizes him, and the movie at the same time. One of the reasons I hate period pieces so much is that everyone and everything is so wooden and proper. It's frustrating to sit through a movie where no one is allowed to emote. Hulce though turns this idea on it's head, shattering the proper wig wearing image I would have had of the composer and replacing it with the personality of a frat boy. It is a ton of fun to watch, especially since everyone else in the film is busy the rest of the time trying to maintain those wooden ideals that I mentioned earlier.
    JEFFREY JONES put in the only other noteworthy performance in the film, and really he was only noteworthy in the sense that I have always liked Jeffrey Jones. Jones is not the best actor in the world, but he is usually a good fit as an "everyman" supporting actor. What was interesting was that in this film he played the Emperor, although I didn't really get that from his performance. He seemed a little too laid back for such an important position. But hey I like the guy, so he was still a welcome sight.

DIRECTION AND SCRIPT

    MILOS FORMAN did an excellent job with the direction of this film. He managed to make me like a historically inaccurate period drama that's running time is nearly three hours long. You know you are watching an excellent movie when that amount of time can pass in the blink of an eye. He does an excellent job of recreating the time from the sets to the costumes, but he also dos a great job at keeping the music a central part of the story telling. The way he incorporates Mozart's music in the film, in some cases substituting for words was genius. I think it was the excellent use of music that really kept this movie on course and made the pacing of the film feel so tight, despite it's long ass running time.
    PETER SHAFFER adapted this screenplay from his own play, and where he got the idea for this is beyond me. Maybe he just thought it would be a good idea to write a play that could feature nothing by Mozart songs and went from there, who knows. What I can tell you is this film is not even close to historically accurate, so if you have a test on the history of Mozart don't watch this movie instead of studying, because you will flunk the shit out of that. From an entertainment standpoint though, this was a really cool story to watch. I kind of like the idea of fictionalizing real people to the point where it doesn't matter that it is inaccurate. It must have been fun to write without being held in by those boundaries and being able to create these bizarre personalities for people that a lot of people have heard of, but almost no one knows anything about.

THE VERDICT

    This is a great movie from start to finish. It is filled with great performances, superb direction, excellent writing and of course Mozart's soaring music. Don't be intimidated by how old the film is or even how long the movie's running time is. This is a great movie that is definitely worth watching at least once. At the very least I don't think you will ever forget Tom Hulce's laugh, it will be seared into your mind forever.
 
 

RATING: B +

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