An Enemy of the People [1977] Steve McQueen

http://bayimg.com/NAAJOaadD An Enemy of the People (1978) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075993/ Dr. Thomas Stockmann is a popular citizen of a small coastal town in Norway. The town has recently invested a large amount of public and private money towards the development of baths, a project led by Dr. Stockmann and his brother, Peter Stockmann, the Mayor. The town is expecting a surge in tourism and prosperity from the new baths, said to be of great medicinal value, and as such, the baths are a source of great local pride. However, just as the baths are proving successful, Dr. Stockmann discovers that waste products from the town\'s tannery are contaminating the waters, causing serious illness amongst the tourists. He expects this important discovery to be his greatest achievement, and promptly sends a detailed report to the Mayor, which includes a proposed solution which would come at a considerable cost to the town. The townspeople - eagerly anticipating the prosperity that the baths will bring - refuse to accept Stockmann\'s claims, and his friends and allies, who had explicitly given support for his campaign, turn against him en masse. Steve McQueen ... Doctor Thomas Stockmann Bibi Andersson ... Catherine Stockmann Charles Durning ... Peter Stockmann Richard Dysart ... Aslaksen Michael Cristofer ... Hovstad Michael Higgins ... Billing Eric Christmas ... Morten Kiil Robin Pearson Rose ... Petra Stockmann Richard Bradford ... Captain Forster John Levin ... Ejlif Stockmann Ham Larsen ... Morten Stockmann Louise Hoven ... Randine An Enemy of the People (original Norwegian title: En folkefiende) is an 1882 play by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. Ibsen wrote it in response to the public outcry against his play Ghosts, which at that time was considered scandalous. Ghosts had challenged the hypocrisy of Victorian morality and was deemed indecent for its veiled references to syphilis. An Enemy of the People addresses the irrational tendencies of the masses, and the hypocritical and corrupt nature of the political system that they support. It is the story of one brave man\'s struggle to do the right thing and speak the truth in the face of extreme social intolerance. The play\'s protagonist, Dr Stockmann, represents the playwright\'s own voice. Upon completion of the play, Ibsen wrote to his publisher in Copenhagen : \"I am still uncertain as to whether I should call it a comedy or a straight drama. It may [have] many traits of comedy, but it also is based on a serious idea.\" Steve McQueen had a very successful career playing a tough guy loner who battled and won against a hostile conformist society. While he was a movie star, he was also an actor and quite a good one. It is difficult to imagine films like The Great Escape, The Sand Pebbles (for which he received an Academy Award nomination), Bullitt or The Getaway with anyone but McQueen in the leading role. So what in the world was someone like McQueen doing in a film based on an Ibsen drama? McQueen was contractually obligated to make one last film for the First Artists production company and he opted to go with a project that would have no commercial viability. But frankly, I don’t see that as being the whole story. By the time An Enemy of the People was made, McQueen wanted to move beyond the Steve McQueen persona and show that he was more than capable of creating a fully textured dramatic performance. If McQueen were to maintain his Steve McQueen persona, he would’ve clearly handled the issue with some well-placed fists or a few rounds of bullets. But since this is Ibsen (adapted by Arthur Miller), knockabout was out of the question. McQueen clearly wanted to lose his old persona and go deep into his character of Dr. Stockmann. And here, it seems, is where things became problematic. In his role, McQueen sought to become a new personality and he lost himself under yards of hair. In fact, he was probably the most hirsute screen presence this side of In Search of Bigfoot. With his long, flowing locks and deep bushy beard, McQueen was a startlingly strange presence. Wire-rimmed glasses covered his instantly-recognizable eyes and a generous amount of padding hid his movie star trim physique. But once the actor begins to speak, that distinctive voice immediately makes McQueen recognizable. The effect is jarring – it almost feels as if McQueen is dubbing some hairy guy’s performance. Getting over the shock of McQueen’s appearance takes some time, but once the viewer is used to his unlikely new style An Enemy of the People begins to work magically. McQueen is aces as the dedicated doctor whose attempts to save his community from an ecological disaster and a money-obsessed government is harrowing and heartbreaking. McQueen’s scenes with Charles Durning (who plays his vile brother) resonate with difficult issues of internecine pettiness played against a greater socio-economic backdrop. The dialogue is sharp and harsh. Durning is marvelous as the embodiment of seething evil, but McQueen is more than up to the challenge of portraying the essence of ineffective righteousness. While George Schaefer’s direction often feels stagy, An Enemy of the People is never stagnant. By the closing moments when the community revolts against their would-be protector with a shower of stones through the glass windows of his home, the film has packed a gluttonous amount of food for thought. As a study of the corruptive mix of greed and power, An Enemy of the People is the ultimate denunciation of how government easily works against the people it is supposed to serve. And as a presentation on the ease which the general population can be manipulated to accept the most reprehensible of lies, the lessons of Ibsen’s work are timeless. Alas, Warner Bros. felt very differently about this movie. An Enemy of the People was shelved after its completion – the studio, which had the distribution rights to the movie, felt it had no commercial value and it refused to gamble on having the audience accept McQueen in such an offbeat role. The film reportedly turned up on pay TV networks in the pre-cable television era of the late 1970s, but few people subscribed to those services then. McQueen would go on to make two more features (Tom Horn and The Hunter, a pair of forgettable Westerns) before he died of cancer in 1980. The year after his death, Warner Bros. gave An Enemy of the People a scattershot and incoherent U.S. release – it played at New York’s prestigious Public Theater but in Chicago it opened without promotion at a suburban drive-in. The film had a somewhat more substantial release in global markets.

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cerebropirate (2010-11-11)

thank you!

Hitman86 (2012-04-05)

Your info is incorrect, making this film more difficult to find. This film was made in 1978.

wertham (2012-07-16)

Many thanks for this!

Gabri77 (2013-01-12)

Thank you so much!

jimaa66 (2013-07-28)

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Terrific!!
Thank you!

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