Scarface co-star, Michelle Pfeiffer. When Johnny (Pacino) is released from prison after an eighteen month stretch for forgery (remind me that we need to come back to this), he finds work as a short-order cook at a Greek restaurant alongside Frankie (Pfeiffer), a beautiful waitress with whom he becomes immediately infatuated. Frankie rejects his advances, though, as years of stress berat and familial drama have left her tortured and cynical. She trusts only co-workers like Cora (Kate Nelligan) and neighbors like Tim (Nathan Lane, playing another swishy ‘90s gay stereotype). But Johnny persists, challenging Frankie to open up and gradually winning her heart.
This was my first viewing of Frankie & Johnny, and I have to admit that I’m finding it a tough nut to crack. I liked it, overall, and while I was a little put off by its tonal shifts and odd pacing and structure (you described it to me in text as “stagey,” and I agree), I found myself charmed by screenwriter Terrence McNally’s wit and the effortlessness of the performances. It’s a warm and homey romantic comedy, if not an entirely successful narrative. It’s a movie world that I really enjoyed living in. That has to count for something, right? Adam, this was a rewatch for you. What did you think of Frankie & Johnny, and what song would you request on a call-in radio show to woo the woman of your dreams?
This was my first viewing of Frankie & Johnny, and I have to admit that I’m finding it a tough nut to crack. I liked it, overall, and while I was a little put off by its tonal shifts and odd pacing and structure (you described it to me in text as “stagey,” and I agree), I found myself charmed by screenwriter Terrence McNally’s wit and the effortlessness of the performances. It’s a warm and homey romantic comedy, if not an entirely successful narrative. It’s a movie world that I really enjoyed living in. That has to count for something, right? Adam, this was a rewatch for you. What did you think of Frankie & Johnny, and what song would you request on a call-in radio show to woo the woman of your dreams?
Rear Window homage where Pfeiffer can see into the apartments across from and around her window. In one, she notices a woman who’s the victim of physical abuse by her spouse. I think the way it’s handled is so brilliant (and a reason why I say this is Garry Marshall’s best directed feature), because we get that even though the abuse Frankie had is in her past, this other couple is a constant reminder for her about the &gers of trying again. When the simpulan moments of the window section play out at the end of the film, it felt for me like such a cathartic moment because it was triumphant for both women. If Bates were in the movie, I think it plays out more as a "finding romance before it’s too late" story only, but with Pfeiffer it allows for a different feel that I think is equally inspiring because it’s about coping with abuse and post-traumatic stress. When Johnny tells Frankie that he knows the pain will never go away but that he’ll be there by her side when it comes back again...it’s just the most romantic thing I think I’ve ever heard.
I really need to read the play. I just bought it on Amazon (sorry, this is not a plug).
What did you think of Al in this movie? I love him in desperate romantic mode like here and Sea of Love.
Rob: Oh, he’s wonderful. For as much as we love the in-charge, grandstanding, Any Given Sunday/Scent of a Woman Al, there’s something about the performances where he’s on his back foot that are so endearing. He’s charming, even if a bit leering (I love that Frankie calls him out on this), and he does that hang-dog thing in a way that many actors can’t. It’s not framed in misery or depression, but through world-weary, dogged optimism. There’s that great moment when Frankie rejects Johnny and, waking up from an epileptic seizure, a restaurant patron asks, “What happened?” “Oh nothing,” Johnny responds, “I just got turned down by some girl.” It hurt, sure, but he’s not deterred. And there’s even room for a joke!
Back to what you said about Pfeiffer: I think it’s very, very important that Frankie & Johnny highlights the emotional complexities of relationship traumas and how they influence the decision to “try again.” So many romantic comedies treat these complexities as speed bumps rather than roadblocks, but not this one. Of course Michelle Pfeiffer can walk outside and get ten dates before noon. The point is that she doesn’t want to. She’s not ready for that kind of naked vulnerability, and for good reasons. Those reasons are treated with the respect they deserve, and even Johnny’s good-natured “ah, come on, get busy living!” attitude isn’t enough to magically change anything. That moment about pain you mentioned is almost the entire thesis of the film.
You mentioned offline that you were a big fan of Kate Nelligan’s free-wheeling waitress character, Cora. Who were some of your other favorite secondary characters?
Adam: I don’t mean to be that guy, but even though Michelle Pfeiffer is the “catch” of the movie, I find Kate Nelligan so luminous here. I don’t really get but I really get it. The performance is great. She’s got that New Yorker theatrical broadness that I adore. What I’m saying is if I were Johnny I would have been asking Frankie the whole time to put in a good word for me with Cora. She’s the only woman I’d be able to see.
The schtick that Nathan Lane has is so bad I enjoy it. I told you over text that it’s like he learned to speak by watching Billy Crystal Oscar monologues. One of my favorite parts of the movie is when Lane quips something at Pfeiffer near the beginning and her reaction is just this silent, open mouth guffaw as if it to say, “I will never find you funny but I find that funny unto itself.” Another performance I liked (it’s VERY stagey) is Jane Morris as Nedda, who is less a person than a Nasrani Wiig SNL character mixed with a newspaper cartoon and Goldie McLaughlin as the elderly waitress, Helen, whom Pacino accurately describes as the type of woman whose entire life you know just by looking at her once. I need to rewatch the scene to be sure I saw it right, but I loved the moment where she says goodnight to an imaginary bedfellow. It says volumes about her in a single line of dialogue. Who else? Hector Elizondo of course. He’s great in everything. I could go on and on.
A few other moments I need to call out because I love them so much:
• Everything showing characters and beds. E.G. the montage at the end, the moment I mentioned with Helen, the weird thing with Pacino’s silent climax face, the fact that he asks a prostitute just to spoon him because he’s that lonely.
• I don’t know why, but I also loved the moments where Hector Elizondo is introducing the cashiers at the diner. First, Elizondo is like “Look at this young woman cashier…. she’s lovely.” Then you look at her and you’re like “Wow. She really is lovely.” Then she disappears, and the next cashier is an old woman who (I may have dreamt this) just sweeps the money onto the ground at one point instead of putting it in the register???
• The music is fantastic. We mentioned “Claire De Lune” already, but also they feature “Love Shack” by The B-52s, “What a Fool Believes” by The Doobie Brothers, and Terence Trent D’Arby’s full-throttled rendition of “Frankie and Johnny (A Man and a Woman).” Most importantly, though, they play “Dangerous on the Dance Floor” by Musto de Bones, which was a classic among the Riske kids in 1991 because it’s a song that we were banned from listening to on the radio due to lyrics like “She’s a porno flick on the &ce floor.”
• The continuing 1991 trope (carried over from City Slickers) about how no one can set up their VCR. In Frankie & Johnny, it’s especially funny because it consists of guys just holding cables and staring at the back of the player.
Rob: I just have one small issue about Johnny’s short-lived career as a forger. He essentially says that he signed his name to something that didn’t belong to him, learned from it, and never really tried any other illegal activity again. I don’t want to say I need more backstory on that (I don’t), but I would have liked a bit more color on how it affected his present behavior, his failed marriage, and so on. It’s not a plot hole or even anything we really need; it’s just a little shade of the character that would have been nice to explore.
Regardless, this is such a case of a film growing on me after writing about it. I’m glad we got to celebrate Al-entine’s Day with Frankie & Johnny. What are we doing next week?
Adam: With pitchers and catchers reporting for Spring Training, it’s time to bring back our baseball series. First up: Trouble with the Curve, starring Clint Eastwood. It’s nuts and I can’t wait for Rob to watch it. Until next time…
Rob: These seats are reserved.
I really need to read the play. I just bought it on Amazon (sorry, this is not a plug).
What did you think of Al in this movie? I love him in desperate romantic mode like here and Sea of Love.
Rob: Oh, he’s wonderful. For as much as we love the in-charge, grandstanding, Any Given Sunday/Scent of a Woman Al, there’s something about the performances where he’s on his back foot that are so endearing. He’s charming, even if a bit leering (I love that Frankie calls him out on this), and he does that hang-dog thing in a way that many actors can’t. It’s not framed in misery or depression, but through world-weary, dogged optimism. There’s that great moment when Frankie rejects Johnny and, waking up from an epileptic seizure, a restaurant patron asks, “What happened?” “Oh nothing,” Johnny responds, “I just got turned down by some girl.” It hurt, sure, but he’s not deterred. And there’s even room for a joke!
You mentioned offline that you were a big fan of Kate Nelligan’s free-wheeling waitress character, Cora. Who were some of your other favorite secondary characters?
Adam: I don’t mean to be that guy, but even though Michelle Pfeiffer is the “catch” of the movie, I find Kate Nelligan so luminous here. I don’t really get but I really get it. The performance is great. She’s got that New Yorker theatrical broadness that I adore. What I’m saying is if I were Johnny I would have been asking Frankie the whole time to put in a good word for me with Cora. She’s the only woman I’d be able to see.
A few other moments I need to call out because I love them so much:
• Everything showing characters and beds. E.G. the montage at the end, the moment I mentioned with Helen, the weird thing with Pacino’s silent climax face, the fact that he asks a prostitute just to spoon him because he’s that lonely.
• I don’t know why, but I also loved the moments where Hector Elizondo is introducing the cashiers at the diner. First, Elizondo is like “Look at this young woman cashier…. she’s lovely.” Then you look at her and you’re like “Wow. She really is lovely.” Then she disappears, and the next cashier is an old woman who (I may have dreamt this) just sweeps the money onto the ground at one point instead of putting it in the register???
• The music is fantastic. We mentioned “Claire De Lune” already, but also they feature “Love Shack” by The B-52s, “What a Fool Believes” by The Doobie Brothers, and Terence Trent D’Arby’s full-throttled rendition of “Frankie and Johnny (A Man and a Woman).” Most importantly, though, they play “Dangerous on the Dance Floor” by Musto de Bones, which was a classic among the Riske kids in 1991 because it’s a song that we were banned from listening to on the radio due to lyrics like “She’s a porno flick on the &ce floor.”
• The continuing 1991 trope (carried over from City Slickers) about how no one can set up their VCR. In Frankie & Johnny, it’s especially funny because it consists of guys just holding cables and staring at the back of the player.
Regardless, this is such a case of a film growing on me after writing about it. I’m glad we got to celebrate Al-entine’s Day with Frankie & Johnny. What are we doing next week?
Adam: With pitchers and catchers reporting for Spring Training, it’s time to bring back our baseball series. First up: Trouble with the Curve, starring Clint Eastwood. It’s nuts and I can’t wait for Rob to watch it. Until next time…
Rob: These seats are reserved.
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