source: Butley

Trailer—Butley

Butley

This really plays much like a filming of a play. The direction is almost minimal. That's probably for the good given that what remains is a great bit of showmanship. Alan Bates is stunningly good as the lead Butley. He's a brilliant professor and writer at the end of his career. There is some amazing scheming between his character and younger more promising acolytes that he is jealous of. The only reason to watch this is for the dialogue which is sharp and literate -- one wonders what became of this. The version I saw was a film version of the play. Not much of production value but the playwright's craft is still preserved. Even mentioning all of this, it's amazing how well this holds up almost 40 years later. That's probably due to Bates' bravura performance.

This American Film Theater presentation of Simon Gray's play about a bisexual professor of English whose life is in full collapse is a wordy affair. Alan Bates, in the title role, talks almost nonstop.... or perhaps I should say that he speaks. Harold Pinter directed this production like a stage play, and the performances are theatrical. I found it impossible to work up any sympathy for Bates' character, who seems to have sabotaged his life through bad choices. Likely that was Gray's point. He taught at Queen Mary College for a quarter of a century, and this looks like an illustration of the irony that the in-fighting in academia is so vicious because the stakes are so small. Of course, these are people fighting for their lives, but they don't seem to care much for those lives, just in scoring hateful points off each other. In any case, I found the show as unpleasant as the self-absorbed characters.

"Butley" is a film version of the play by the same name that also starred Alan Bates. This is fortunate, as so often when plays are brought to film, the producers completely recast the actors. And, I must say Bates did an amazing job in the lead. That being said, although Alan Bates did a great job playing a very caustic man, the film itself if probably NOT something most folks will enjoy. He plays a cynical, lazy, nasty alcoholic....the type person you really WOULDN'T want to spend much time with nor build a film around them. In other words, Bates did a great job playing someone you'll strongly dislike...or worse. There really is NOTHING to like about Butley...nothing. And that is why this is an unusual film...very well made but thoroughly unenjoyable after a while.

When I first saw this film, Ben Butley fascinated me (my cousin, who saw it with me, hated him). I've seen the film many times since then--I bought the video before I had a VCR to play it on--and it remains my favorite movie. And Alan Bates remains my favorite actor, although he's not at all like Butley. I wouldn't recommend the film to everybody, because it's a filmed play, totally in one room, all talk. Ah, but what talk, what dynamics between characters, what vicious game-playing and ruthlessness and humor. Simon Gray's never written a better play.

The Long Gay's Journey into Night. Nothing but bileous dialogue. Unwitty, uninteresting and unbearable. This is one of the most excruciating films I have ever seen. I can't believe the good reviews. They must have bought the pretense.