In CITIZEN KANE, Kane's most faithful associate and friend, Mr. Bernstein (now Chairman of the Board of Kane's empire) tells the reporter that aging is the only disease that nobody looks forward to the cure of (i.e. death). I'M NOT RAPPAPORT is a look at just how ultimately dreary and awful old age becomes for most of us. Yet it is a comedy - because in humor we manage to find reason to survive and even flourish a little.
I was lucky to see the play on stage with Judd Hirsch and the late Clevon Little. It was a good production, and had less slow spots than the film (which occasionally slows down to try to find something visual to satisfy the viewing audience - sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't). Hirsch and Little had good rapport in the roles of Nat and Midge, the elderly Jewish radical and the elderly African-American super. Both are now considered out-of-date and expendable. In short they are old, and at best are part of the background, and at worst bandied about by careless or vicious younger people.
Midge is suffering from reoccurring cataracts and glaucoma. He is the still smart engineer of his apartment's boiler room (and he demonstrates a remarkable ability to pinpoint a car engine's problems too). But he is 81 or so and the building is turning coop. They don't need an antiquated super for their new image (they are even getting a new boiler so they don't need his expertise!). Nat is in a similar position, but he is imaginative and clings to a fanatical devotion to the socialist-and communist labor viewpoint that permeated the Jewish districts of the lower East Side and Brooklyn from 1900 to 1947. He is able to demonstrate an inventiveness to promote the defense of people's rights. But frequently (too frequently) he does not realize that his actions might injure the people that he thinks he is helping. As he was dying Frederick Douglas yelled to remember to always "agitate!". He was right. But Douglas realized you had to agitate for change that was possible. Nat can't realize this, as he falls under the romance of his various guises and lies.
The play and film covered actually three months, but the first act and second were in the course of a single pair of days. Midge (here Ossie Davis) faces dismissal from the spokesperson of the tenant's group taking over the building (Danford - Boyd Gaines). But Danford is really a softy, and even is willing to try to get a severance package for Midge that is larger than the one he offers. Just as they are about to agree Nat (Walter Matthau) shows up and pretends he is a labor union lawyer nicknamed "the cobra" who will destroy Danford unless he retains Midge in the job. For awhile this works...until a member of the tenant's group eventually finds out Nat lied. Then Midge gets even less than he was supposed to.
Nat (who actually was once a waiter - nothing else) similarly manages to harm Laurie (Martha Plimpton), a recovering addict and artist, who owes $2,000.00 to Cowboy (Craig T. Nelson) for drugs. He pretends to be a "Godfather" with Midge as his bodyguard. Cowboy is not fooled, but is seriously annoyed.
So it goes with all Nat's plans and attempts to spread the zeal of activism. For nobody really cares outside of their immediate self-interest. As his drained but loving daughter (Amy Irving) tells Nat, the old fights are just that...old fights. Nobody cares about them anymore.
And yet the fervor in Nat's voice, recalling an historic rallying point in New York Labor history in 1909, or the sudden care and bravery of Midge when Nat is in danger show these men are worthy of respect. Only one person really comes close to respecting them...Danford. He is younger by decades, but he is aware (in his late 30s) that he lacks the physical strength he only had five years earlier. When Matthau basically says that Davis's only sin is his old age, Matthau reminds Danford that one day he too will be a member of the old age club. Danford is very aware of that.
Matthau brings to Nat his mad vitality (as Hirsch brought a type of intellectual memory to the same role). Davis is not as energetic as Little was on stage, but he does bring a degree of comfort to the role - an African-American of 80 years who knows what is expected by society of his type, but has found ways to circumvent it as much as possible. Irving makes Nat's daughter his tragic, loving victim - caring for him, but finding him rejecting her overtures to care for him. People aware of Nelson as "Coach" will be amazed by his vicious streak - but he is still able to be a good deadpan/straight-man to Matthau at the end. And Gaines certainly makes Danford more thoughtful than one could imagine.
Oh...Willie Howard. "I'm not Rappaport" is an old routine of that Broadway clown, where he drives a stranger crazy insisting he is Rappaport, although he does not resemble the gentleman in any way. Howard never was a Hollywood star, so it is nice that the play resurrected his memory a little here.
I was lucky to see the play on stage with Judd Hirsch and the late Clevon Little. It was a good production, and had less slow spots than the film (which occasionally slows down to try to find something visual to satisfy the viewing audience - sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't). Hirsch and Little had good rapport in the roles of Nat and Midge, the elderly Jewish radical and the elderly African-American super. Both are now considered out-of-date and expendable. In short they are old, and at best are part of the background, and at worst bandied about by careless or vicious younger people.
Midge is suffering from reoccurring cataracts and glaucoma. He is the still smart engineer of his apartment's boiler room (and he demonstrates a remarkable ability to pinpoint a car engine's problems too). But he is 81 or so and the building is turning coop. They don't need an antiquated super for their new image (they are even getting a new boiler so they don't need his expertise!). Nat is in a similar position, but he is imaginative and clings to a fanatical devotion to the socialist-and communist labor viewpoint that permeated the Jewish districts of the lower East Side and Brooklyn from 1900 to 1947. He is able to demonstrate an inventiveness to promote the defense of people's rights. But frequently (too frequently) he does not realize that his actions might injure the people that he thinks he is helping. As he was dying Frederick Douglas yelled to remember to always "agitate!". He was right. But Douglas realized you had to agitate for change that was possible. Nat can't realize this, as he falls under the romance of his various guises and lies.
The play and film covered actually three months, but the first act and second were in the course of a single pair of days. Midge (here Ossie Davis) faces dismissal from the spokesperson of the tenant's group taking over the building (Danford - Boyd Gaines). But Danford is really a softy, and even is willing to try to get a severance package for Midge that is larger than the one he offers. Just as they are about to agree Nat (Walter Matthau) shows up and pretends he is a labor union lawyer nicknamed "the cobra" who will destroy Danford unless he retains Midge in the job. For awhile this works...until a member of the tenant's group eventually finds out Nat lied. Then Midge gets even less than he was supposed to.
Nat (who actually was once a waiter - nothing else) similarly manages to harm Laurie (Martha Plimpton), a recovering addict and artist, who owes $2,000.00 to Cowboy (Craig T. Nelson) for drugs. He pretends to be a "Godfather" with Midge as his bodyguard. Cowboy is not fooled, but is seriously annoyed.
So it goes with all Nat's plans and attempts to spread the zeal of activism. For nobody really cares outside of their immediate self-interest. As his drained but loving daughter (Amy Irving) tells Nat, the old fights are just that...old fights. Nobody cares about them anymore.
And yet the fervor in Nat's voice, recalling an historic rallying point in New York Labor history in 1909, or the sudden care and bravery of Midge when Nat is in danger show these men are worthy of respect. Only one person really comes close to respecting them...Danford. He is younger by decades, but he is aware (in his late 30s) that he lacks the physical strength he only had five years earlier. When Matthau basically says that Davis's only sin is his old age, Matthau reminds Danford that one day he too will be a member of the old age club. Danford is very aware of that.
Matthau brings to Nat his mad vitality (as Hirsch brought a type of intellectual memory to the same role). Davis is not as energetic as Little was on stage, but he does bring a degree of comfort to the role - an African-American of 80 years who knows what is expected by society of his type, but has found ways to circumvent it as much as possible. Irving makes Nat's daughter his tragic, loving victim - caring for him, but finding him rejecting her overtures to care for him. People aware of Nelson as "Coach" will be amazed by his vicious streak - but he is still able to be a good deadpan/straight-man to Matthau at the end. And Gaines certainly makes Danford more thoughtful than one could imagine.
Oh...Willie Howard. "I'm not Rappaport" is an old routine of that Broadway clown, where he drives a stranger crazy insisting he is Rappaport, although he does not resemble the gentleman in any way. Howard never was a Hollywood star, so it is nice that the play resurrected his memory a little here.