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Original Essays | June 27, 2009

Fran Cannon Slayton: IMG On Wakes and Rum (and Coke)

1 comment By Fran Cannon Slayton

"Unfortunately, I've been to my fair share of wakes." Continue »
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    When the Whistle Blows

    Fran Cannon Slayton
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Hoax (Widescreen)

Hoax (Widescreen) Cover

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Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

Golden Globe® winner Richard Gere (Shall We Dance?, Chicago) leads a stellar cast in The Hoax, the thrilling and unbelievably true story of the man who almost pulled off the biggest literary con of the 20th century. When the charismatic Clifford Irving (Gere) convinces a major publishing house that Howard Hughes, the bigger-than-life billionaire recluse, has asked Irving to pen his authorized autobiography, Irving must concoct an elaborate scheme to prove his fake manuscript is real. Inspired by Irving's tell-all book The Hoax, and directed by Lasse Hallstrom (Chocolat), this tensely comedic story of deception, international intrigue, powerful corporate empires and beautiful women is a wild ride down the slippery slope of a lie run amuck.

Review:

"A surprisingly layered vehicle for a maniacally conniving Richard Gere, backed up by a superb Alfred Molina as his accomplice." Variety

Review:

"[A] serious and amusing black farce that does without obvious heroes or villains." Los Angeles Times

Review:

"Richard Gere, nearly unrecognizable with blackened hair and a fake nose, gives one of his very best performances as Clifford Irving." Rolling Stone

Review:

"[A] terrific film." Richard Roeper
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Average customer rating based on 1 comment:
Grady Harp, October 18, 2007 (view all comments by Grady Harp)
Ramifications of a Hoax

Clifford Irving (Fake, Trial, Final Argument, The Spring) became a sort of national hero when he contrived to publish 'The Autobiography of Howard Hughes', a 400 page phony but well researched book that, while it was never published, did cause enough of a stir among the New York publishing cognoscenti and those surrounding the then President Richard Nixon that it now is recognized as a HOAX of writing that triggered the final discovery of the Watergate Scandal and the subsequent dethroning of Nixon. Those facts alone make this sometimes rather tepid film interesting enough to sit through. Screenwriter William Wheeler has adapted Irving's book into a study of the 1970s and Lasse Hallström gives it just the right balance between soft crime and strange comedy to keep it afloat.

Clifford Irving (Richard Gere) is down on his literary luck, searching for the right kind of story that will set is publisher Andrea Tate (Hope Davis) on fire. Irving wife Edith (Marcia Gay Harden) is an active painter and doesn't give Irving the support he gets from his pal Dick Suskind (Alfred Molina), but on the messy floor of Edith's studio is a rag magazine with a cover picture of the mysterious Howard Hughes and bingo! up comes the idea for an 'autobiography' of the wizard as confided to Irving and researched by Suskind. That is really the plot then, how these two men squirm around lies and good luck to forge papers and gain the favor of the publishers. Of course it all caves in, but in the publicity about the book Nixon's secrets are revealed and the rest is history.

Gere, Molina, Harden, Davis, Stanley Tucci, Julie Delphy and Eli Wallach add immeasurably to the success of the film. No, it is not a heavy story, but the scandalous years of the 1970s are treated realistically and provide a lot of memories, both good and bad, about how we all changed in that post Vietnam time. Worth watching for that! Grady Harp
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Product Details

UPC:
00786936702019
Studio:
Buena Vista Home Video
Publication Date:
2007-10-16
Credits:
Gere, Richard
Binding:
DVD
Rating:
R
DVD Features:
Color, Dolby Digital 5.1 RE, English Soundtrack, French Subtitles, Spanish Subtitles, Widescreen
Region:
US and Canada
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