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Child's Play (1972)
Rate:
3
Viewed:
2/15
2/15:
The sight of the dopey-looking Beau Bridges walking down the halls kick-starts Child's Play.
It's not that film with the demonic doll but rather about satanic behaviors among Catholic schoolboys, leaving the school
authorities bewildered. Although it appears that James Mason and Robert Preston (whose role was supposed to go to Marlon Brando who
was coming off the success of The Godfather, but he got thrown out by the producer for wanting to make some changes to the script which
led him being cast in Last Tango in Paris; hence, the rumor about Brando not wanting the role because of the fear of being upstaged
by James Mason is factually untrue) had given good performances, they undermine the film by acting stiff and talking too much.
Having been bored to tears by enduring so many "being a teacher is everything" speeches, I lost interest at the hour mark
and didn't care much for the anticlimactic revelation. Considering the fact that Sidney Lumet was the director, I
expected more, but he would make up for it in the next picture Serpico.
One of the biggest problems is the paucity of teachers and students involved; it's hard to believe this is an
actual school. In reality, when the situation becomes serious enough, that usually calls for the police, but the idea is never
discussed by the church officials. Sometimes, the Vatican is consulted, and they may send out the appropriate personnel to
deal with such strange matters.
In the meantime, there's a lack of interaction when it comes to students who are only shown whenever bad things happen;
otherwise, they're one-dimensional and have no personality. Beau Bridges is unconvincing and doesn't do much.
Ditto for his priest colleague who's another wasted character.
All in all, Child's Play has The Omen-like potential, but the incessant talk by the two principal characters
virtually kills it.