A Gentle, caring Al Pacino

AUTHOR! AUTHOR! (1982)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Along with the forgettable "Bobby Deerfield," "Author! Author!" may be the least known Al Pacino film of his entire career (of course, even lesser known is "Chinese Coffee" or "The Local Stigmatic"). That is a shame because Pacino shows his gift for comedy and it comes through with obvious hard edges. There is also a gentleness we often don't see from Pacino.

Pacino is an Armenian Broadway playwright, Ivan Travalian, who lives at home with a largely absent wife, Gloria (Tuesday Weld), and their four or five kids (I lost count). Ivan needs another big Broadway hit to keep his townhouse and his kids and wife happy. Nothing is as easy as it seems. Gloria is clearly having an affair yet remains mum about it. After Ivan is desperate for honesty from her, she admits to it and claims she needs a new husband (apparently, she is a serial wife!) Ivan is left with the kids to take care of, as most of them are stepchildren and foster children. Some of them leave the house to be with Gloria and her new husband, others with other stepparents, and so on. This drives Ivan nuts, to the point that he confuses names of his associates in the theatre world with other people, and he is also having problems with the second act of his play. Just when things could get worse, a movie star (Dyan Cannon) expresses interest in starring in his new play. Ivan and the actress have a fling and she ends up moving in to his apartment.

Talk about complications, and Pacino is the only actor alive who can make a messy existence tolerable and funny. One of Pacino's gifts is how much he can insinuate without doing his trademark hollering. He has moments where he does holler, particularly the scene where the producers of the play come to his house and ask him for a rewrite of his second act, while Ivan juggles a personal problem with a stepfather who wants custody of the daughter. All this leads to Ivan driving all the way to Connecticut from New York in a cab, and back (I'd hate to see how much that fare costs).

But Pacino also evokes Ivan's romantic side, and how easily women could fall for him (consider the scenes with Dyan Cannon who laughs at his wild antics). And there is a precious moment, exceedingly well- directed and timed, where Ivan is in his office typing, listens to a phone message where Cannon reveals her sexual demeanor while one of Ivan's sons stops in his tracks and listens attentively. It is Pacino's sly smile that sells the scene.

"Author! Author!" was not a success at the box-office and it may be because the public thought this was a family-friendly Al Pacino romantic comedy - they would've rather seen Pacino in "Godfather" mode possibly. A shame really because it is not a romantic comedy, though it has some elements of both. Instead it is a genteel, insightful adult drama of a man trying to keep his family together. As directed by veteran Arthur Hiller, this is not a sentimental family film nor does it end with the usual expectations (let me say that Dyan Cannon's character has some surprises in the narrative). It is Pacino at his most reserved and at his funniest, minus much of the hollering of course.