The Sun Also Rises (1984 film)

The Sun Also Rises is a 1984 television miniseries adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's 1926 novel The Sun Also Rises. Hart Bochner, Jane Seymour, Robert Carradine, Ian Charleson and Leonard Nimoy have starring roles.[1] It aired on NBC on Sunday, December 9, and Monday, December 10, from 9–11 pm.[2]

The Sun Also Rises
Screenplay byRobert L. Joseph
Directed byJames Goldstone
StarringHart Bochner
Jane Seymour
Robert Carradine
Ian Charleson
Leonard Nimoy
Music byBilly Goldenberg
Country of originUnited States
Original language(s)English
Production
Producer(s)Jean-Pierre Avice
John Furia
Robert L. Joseph
Editor(s)Richard E. Rabjohn
Robert P. Seppey
Running time200 minutes
DistributorNBC
Release
Original release
  • December 9, 1984 (1984-12-09) (United States)

Plot

American expatriates journalist Jake Barnes (Hart Bochner), war veteran Bill Gorton (Željko Ivanek), and novelist/boxer Robert Cohn (Robert Carradine), take advantage of the Paris night life. Barnes meets former paramour Lady Brett Ashley (Jane Seymour) who is about to divorce her husband to marry Scotsman Mike Campbell (Ian Charleson). Barnes' attraction to Ashley causes him to follow her movements and Gorton and Cohn follow as Cohn becomes enamored as well. Ashley expresses continuing interest in open relations. The group ventures to see bullfighting in Pamplona, Spain, where Ashley develops an appetite for matador Pedro Romero (Andrea Occhipinti). Cohn pummels Romero upon discovering her latest conquest although it does not impress Ashley. A bruised Romero enters the bullring as the curtains come down.[3]

Cast

Production

NBC had to acquire the production rights from 20th Century Fox, which produced the 1957 film adaptation.[4] Like the source, the work is set in France and Spain.[3] In an attempt to be true to the 1920s setting, some Pamplona scenes were shot in Segovia and some Paris scenes were shot in Versailles, because Paris and Pamplona did not look as they had 60 years earlier.[5]

Critical commentary

According to John J. O'Connor of The New York Times virtually all nuances that differed from the source were not well executed.[6] People's Fred Hauptfuhrer notes that "Hemingway purists" may be offended by some of the changes.[5] Arthur Unger of The Christian Science Monitor described this production as "a minor literary classic, which has now been turned into a major miniseries disaster".[2] Stephen Farber of The New York Times recounts numerous elements depicted in the film that were not in the source material such as

A grieving Jake Barnes attends the funeral of a prostitute he had visited several times before being wounded and rendered impotent in World War I. Pedro Romero, the handsome young Spanish bull fighter, uses his sword to murder a vindictive count who has threatened the life of Lady Brett Ashley. Jake's best friend, Bill Gorton, takes an airplane, goes up on a daredevil flight and crashes to his death.[4]

Screenwriter Robert L. Joseph defends the addition of mortally wounded characters as necessary for dramatic depiction.[4] While the 1957 film starred a 43-year-old Tyrone Power and 34-year-old Ava Gardner, the 1984 adaptation starred a 27-year-old Bochner and 33-year-old Seymour, who the filmmakers thought could better depict the youthful characters of the source novel.[5]

Notes
  1. Buck, Jerry (December 5, 1984). "Jane Seymour Plays in 'The Sun Also Rises'". The Times-News. Associated Press. Retrieved March 31, 2014.
  2. Unger, Arthur (December 3, 1984). "Deadening of a novel: 'The Sun Also Rises' sinks as a miniseries". The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved March 26, 2014.
  3. "The Sun Also Rises-Synopsis". Fandango. Archived from the original on November 28, 2011. Retrieved March 26, 2014.
  4. Farber, Stephen (December 3, 1984). "NBC MINI-SERIES BASED ON 'THE SUN ALSO RISES'". The New York Times. Retrieved March 31, 2014.
  5. Hauptfuhrer, Fred (September 3, 1984). "The Sun Also Rises for TV". People. Retrieved March 31, 2014.
  6. O'Connor, John J. (December 7, 1984). "TV Review; 'The Sun Also Rises,' Expatriates in Europe". The New York Times. Retrieved March 26, 2014.
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