Tempest (1982)

the audience applauded

As Good As It Gets

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Released in 1982 and loosely based on Shakespeare's play, "Tempest" stars John Cassavetes as Phillip, a rich architect in a troubled marriage in New York City. When his wife (Gena Rowlands) decides to return to acting and things blow-up, he escapes to Greece with his daughter (Molly Ringwald), where they unite with a free-spirited singer (Susan Sarandon). Meanwhile, Phillip's wife hooks up with his former boss (Vittorio Gassman) and they come to Greece looking for the daughter. Raul Julia plays an eccentric goatherd on the island while Sam Robards appears as a teen lothario. While I'm sure the Greece cinematography would be spectacular on the big screen (it certainly is on the small screen), "Tempest" isn't a film I'd likely want to see in the theater (it flopped at the box office). Yet it works fine as a likably offbeat drama in the home.If you're a Sarandon fan you'll definitely want to check this out because she's in the prime of her life (35 years-old during filming) and is splendidly portrayed by the director, Paul Mazursky, from the get-go, typically in alluring Mediterranean apparel. Likewise, statuesque Lucianne Buchanan appears in the final act as blond Delores. This was Ringwald's debut. She was fine for the meaty role of the daughter, but I was never enthralled by her, which isn't to say I don't like her. Actually, I'm not enamored by any of these women, but they're all certainly agreeable, one way or another.There are several highlights, like Phillip coming home drunk to his wife's showbiz party where he awkwardly asks her producer (director Paul Mazursky) to dance. Needless to say, it's the epitome of an uncomfortable social situation. The best part about "Tempest," however, is that it's essentially an island flick, although the cast aren't necessarily castaways and the "island" is a little bit North of the tropics. If you're a sucker for island flicks, like me, then "Tempest" is worth checking out. It's uniquely entertaining and somehow warmhearted. I realize Phillip (Cassavetes) is the Prospero character from The Bard's play, and Prospero was a magician, but the movie never explains Phillip's seeming ability to control the elements. We're just supposed to accept it. Why sure! In any case, I presume he's projecting his mental-spiritual struggles on to the forces of nature. For those not in the know, Cassavetes and Rowlands were husband & wife for almost 36 years, which ended with the former's passing in 1989 at 59 years-of-age. He died of cirrhosis of the liver. The film runs 142 minutes was shot in New York City; Atlantic City, NJ; and, mostly, Gytheio, Greece, which isn't an island, but the southern tip of the remote Mani peninsula of the Peloponnesus of Greece. WRITERS: Leon Capetanos & Mazursky. GRADE: B-

"Tempest," derived very loosely from Shakespeare's play, is an interesting concept fatally marred by its length. If a ruthless film editor had been employed to cut the final print, this might have been a really good film. It certainly has the right cast: John Cassavetes, Gena Rowland, Susan Sarandon, Molly Ringwald and Raul Julia. Cassavetes, an excellent actor who largely avoided the mainstream, is the "Prospero" of this film, a "world-famous" architect with magical powers, while Raul Julia is Caliban, recreated as Kalibanous, the lone inhabitant of a Greek Island to which the architect retreats along with his daughter (Molly Ringwald) and his young lover (Susan Sarandon), leaving behind his estranged wife (Gena Rowlands). Each of the five performs extremely well, but there are a host of peripheral characters who should have been left on the cutting room floor and many inessential scenes that should have been dispensed with altogether. Unfortunately, Paul Mazursky, the producer, director and co-author of the script indulged himself and was apparently unable to separate the necessary from the surplus. Still, there are the pleasures of this film: the young Susan Sarandon at her sexiest, Molly Ringwald, not yet famous, Raul Julia, an antic, horny Caliban, and Gena Rowlands and Cassavetes at the peak of their talents. Without those pleasures, I would have given this film a much lower rating.

Just lovely. It is long. No climax. Don't wait for anything to happen. Great for a rainy day. About a man in a mid life crisis who takes his family to a secluded area of the Greek isles. I saw this in my teens and still love it 20+ years later. I have been unable to find it in video stores however. Molly Ringwald is a cute average teenager who basically wants to go home and then kind of settles into the place. There are no phones, no TV, boredom, which when hit with quietness like that, the human condition is to be bored and then to reflect. And each character does so. Susan Sarandon plays a beautiful woman who wants to be sexually involved with John Cassavetes' character, but he is unable to, well, you know. Gina Rowlands, is the wife that loves him but is just about to give up on their marriage. He is demanding and frustrating to everyone. There is another character in the movie, a Greek who talks to Molly Ringwald inappropriately about sex, but things that she is curious about. But he is irritating and horny and i didn't like this character. The locale of the film is what makes this film so so good. It wouldn't work if filmed anywhere else. I recommend this film and give it a 9 on a scale of 1 to 10.

I love this movie and all aspects of it, well directed as a comedy and as a drama. The acting is tremendous, performed by an all-star cast who play the high society New York perfectly. The scenery is incredible, totally breathtaking. I also love the story: a successful NYC architect who is going through a midlife crisis leaves his cheating wife and runs off to a Greek island to hide out with his daughter who chooses to go with him.I just cannot express my love affair enough regarding this movie. "Show me the magic".