ROUND-TRIP DETECTIVE
DEPT. OF HOOPLA
Half a dozen men and women were sitting around a table at Enjoy!!!, a tea
room in Ossining, New York, the other day when a stretch limousine pulled up.
Out stepped Peter Falk, in from the West Coast to promote a new movie and to
spend an afternoon in Ossining, where he grew up, in celebration of a street’s
being named after him. He’d arranged to meet up with some childhood friends
before the ceremony: “My God, Pete!” “So good to see you, Pete.” “Peter, get a
load of you.” One man said that for decades he’d been meaning to thank Falk for
sending a TV set to his mother’s house so that his family could watch “Columbo.”
Falk had on zippered boots and an
orange-and-pink flowered shirt. He grinned and made a V in the air with his
arms.
It’s been a while since Falk has been seen in
Ossining, which is about thirty miles upriver from Manhattan. “The last time I
was here?” he said. “Let’s see, it’s a photo finish between my fiftieth
high-school reunion in 1995, and the time I went to visit Alan Arkin, in
Briarcliff.” He continued, “When I got there, Alan said, ‘Congratulations.’ I
said, ‘For what?’ He said, ‘For the great reviews for the movie.’ I said, ‘For
that piece of crap I just did?’ He said, ‘No, for “The In-Laws.” ’ I said,
‘Alan, we did “The In-Laws” a long time ago.’ He said, ‘Yeah, but they just did
a remake with Michael Douglas and everybody’s saying it’s not as good as the
original.’ I got better reviews for the second one than for the one I was in.”
A white-haired man said, “Pete, were you in the
class when they put the artificial dog poop on the floor?”
“I don’t know,” Falk said. “Something tells me I
must have been.”
Another man, a retired Avon executive, said he
had a picture of Falk from his days in the merchant marine. Falk said. “To
join, there were eye tests. I once had an eye test, the guy told me to cover my
right eye; I did twenty-twenty. Then he told me to cover the other eye; I said,
‘I can’t. I got a glass eye.’ He said, ‘Well, do the best you can.’ ”
After about half an hour, Falk got back into his
limo and headed for 73 Prospect Avenue, the house that he grew up in. Two
hundred people had assembled in the street in front of it. “I’ll be a *~#!,” he
said. The mayor of Ossining read a letter from Hillary Rodham Clinton. Six other
town officials said a few words, then directed Falk to look up at a signpost on
the corner. The top of the post was covered with a tan trenchcoat, which, when
Falk pulled it off, revealed a sign that read “Peter Falk Place.” Falk held the
coat to his face for a long moment. “My real coat, they say it’s in the
Smithsonian now,” he said. “I had it for thirty years. I took good care of it. I
put out a saucer of milk for it every night.”
Finally, Falk got back into his car and asked
his old friend Eileen O’Connor, a retired legal secretary, to give him a quick
tour. They drove by the high school and the former site of the dry-goods store
that belonged to Falk’s father. Falk asked the driver to pull over at the
entrance to Sing Sing, the prison. “The school used to bring the ball team here
to play the inmates,” he said. A guard came over and asked if the group was
there to visit an inmate, then he recognized Falk.
“Columbo!” he said.
“You’re under arrest,” Falk said.
Falk was relatively easy choice for role
as father in 'Folks'
By Janice Page, Globe Correspondent
|
Of all the ways that Peter Falk has ever won a movie
role, counting back even to his Oscar-nominated performances in 1960's ''Murder,
Inc." and Frank Capra's 1961 comedy ''Pocketful of Miracles," he says he's
proudest of how he got hired for ''The Thing About My Folks," now playing
locally. He's also kind of amazed, because he can't think of any other jobs he
landed almost 20 years before he reported to work.
As writer and costar Paul Reiser explains it, the
semi-autobiographical ''Folks" began hatching one day back in the mid-1980s,
when Reiser noticed his dad, a hardworking health foods wholesaler, guffawing
over Falk's delicious Humphrey Bogart sendup in a TV broadcast of Neil Simon's
''The Cheap Detective." In that moment, the ''Mad About You" creator says
something clicked, and he knew he wanted to write a script that poured Falk's
distinctive voice and uniquely compatible rhythms into his own still-marinating
father-son tale.
It then took a marriage (see Reiser's 1994 book, ''Couplehood"),
two kids (see Reiser's 1997 book, ''Babyhood"), and the better part of two
decades for the author to focus his thoughts into a road movie about headstrong
men who only come to appreciate each other after the family matriarch walks out,
leaving a cryptic note tacked to the refrigerator door. The story was fictional
-- Reiser never bonded with his dad while cruising upstate New York in a classic
car, trying to make sense of his parents' crumbling union -- but its characters
and conversations sprang at least in part from the actor's own life. When Falk
got the script on the same day it was finished, he said ''yes" after reading
just the first few pages.
''I was instantly attached to my character," Falk
recalls. ''I liked him because of the way he handled himself, despite the fact
that the rest of the world knew he was wrong." But it was only after agreeing to
do the film that the actor learned the role had been conceived with him in mind,
and the writer's late father had presided over his audition.
''That's the nicest reason I've ever been hired for a
part," remarks Falk after hearing Reiser recount the story for the umpteenth
time over lunch at Jer-ne restaurant in the Ritz-Carlton, Boston Common.
''That's much better than 'He's the right height.' "
At 78, this talented veteran is among the most
respected actors of his exemplary generation. Still, Falk seems sincere when he
says he's uniquely flattered to have been an inspiration for Reiser's ''fresh,
compelling" script, which he somewhat recklessly mentions in the same breath as
works by Simon and legendary pal John Cassavetes (''Husbands").
''Those acting opportunities are becoming rarer and
rarer," he concedes when pressed to evaluate contemporary cinema, adding that
today's movies are too noisy.
''OK, but mention he didn't sound cranky when he said
it," Reiser interjects playfully, for the record. ''You pushed him. Happy now?"
Actually, yes. So, while we're at it, here's Falk's
take on multiplexes too:
''Well I am going to sound grumpy -- you know me, I
sound grumpy anyway -- but the movie experience used to be better. I used to
love to go to a neighborhood theater. Now, you get on an escalator with 60,000
other people and you feel like you're part of the herd. And then, to get there
and watch ads . . ."
Falk, who by the way seems perfectly content when he's
occupied by a Caesar salad and a tuna fish sandwich, has plenty of reasons to be
feisty. He grew up in New York, lost an eye to cancer when he was 3, and is
frequently assumed to be Italian when in fact he's a
Russian-Hungarian-Czech-Polish mix -- Jewish, like his Sam Kleinman character in
''Folks." For some reason, his pool-hall education gets far more ink than his
master's degree. And most important, he's part of a hardworking showbiz
tradition that doesn't make films, it makes ''pictures."
''Peter is a very sociable fellow, but his work ethic
is intense," says ''The Thing About My Folks" director Raymond De Felitta (''Two
Family House"). ''What I saw was a man who was alone in his trailer working on
his lines all the time, and when he got to the set, he really wanted to make
sure he was squeezing all the juice out of it."
Consequently, De Felitta gave Falk plenty of room, and
as many digital video takes as could fit into their five-week,
low-budget-independent shoot. He didn't do what most of us would: Ask to be
regaled with stories or classic movie quotes (what fan of ''The In-Laws" can
forget ''serpentine!"?) from an impressive career that spans Nicholas Ray to Jon
Favreau. He just applauded along with the rest of the crew when Falk nailed a
key speech that may give the actor another shot at an Academy Award.
''Early on, Peter said: 'If you can, kind of shoot over
the shoulder, but don't worry about it,' " the director recalls. ''And then I
found myself thinking about it all the time, and I said, 'I can't do this; it
doesn't make sense.' So we just shot the movie.
''Anyway, he sees more out of one good eye than most of
us see out of two mediocre ones."
To the envy of his costar, the veteran actor is adept,
if obvious, at dodging interview questions. Just ask him if the themes and
family dynamics in ''Folks" have any personal resonance.
Falk: ''Whenever I try to reduce the emotion in this
picture to words, all I'm aware of is how inadequate those words are, compared
to the actual emotion that I experienced when I read it, when I acted it, and
when I see it and see other people see it."
Reiser: ''That's a great answer. I've got to listen to
him more. Listen to how smart and thoughtful his answer is. . . . But anyway,
what words would you use if that weren't true, what you just said?"
The two actors often edit and rib one another (''Peter
was just telling me he was in that 'Columbo' show. Apparently he was one
of the policemen."), to the point that a meal with them can resemble a scene out
of their movie. They seem plausible as father and son, assuming you can get
beyond regarding 48-year-old Reiser as some combination of his ''Mad About You"
and ''My Two Dads" characters, the smart aleck from ''Diner," and the guy doing
bright blue standup in ''The Aristocrats." Falk at least can shed his rumpled
detective's trench coat, even though he might be locked in your mind as any of a
hundred other things he's played, including a folk-hero thief (''The Brink's
Job") and everybody's favorite grandpa from ''The Princess Bride."
In real life, we know that Falk is married to actress
Shera Danese (his costar in ''Checking Out," slated to play November's Boston
Jewish Film Festival) and spends his spare time drawing. Reiser is a baseball
fan, sentimental over talcum powder (less random-sounding when you've seen the
new movie), and openly dedicated to his psychotherapist wife and two young sons,
who continue to supply him with an act.
But the thing about ''The Thing About My Folks" is it
doesn't really matter how much fact intrudes on the fiction. You can buy these
two guys as Sam and Ben Kleinman, or you can imagine the movie as a fantasy riff
on what might happen if Reiser went to bed one night and woke up as Falk's son.
''I just wanted to make a movie where Peter gets to be
my dad," Reiser admits.
Twenty years later, mission accomplished.
Falk, Reiser Make 'Folks'
Family Affair
Duo Tours Country To Give
Fans Personal Look At Film
10:18 am EDT September 21, 2005
 How's this for a
surreal situation? You and your father watch a
movie by one of your all-time favorite actors,
which inspires you write a script for that actor
to essentially play your father on the big
screen.
Celebrated actors
Peter Falk and Paul Reiser are now living in
that parallel universe, having teamed together
for the new comedy-drama "The Thing About My
Folks."
Based on
Reiser's experiences as a son, husband and
father, the movie tells the story of father and
son Sam (Falk) and Ben (Reiser) Kleinman, who
embark on an impromptu road trip after they find
out wife and mom Muriel (Olympia Dukakis) has
bolted on Sam after 47 years of marriage. Making
several stops on the road to upstate New York,
Sam and Ben confront past issues and effectively
get to know each other like they never have
before.
Reiser and Falk
joined me for recent @ The Movies interviews to
talk about the project, which in some ways was
20 years in the making. Also starring Elizabeth
Perkins, the film opens nationwide Friday.
"I got the
idea 20 years ago, but have to clarify to people
that I wasn't writing that slowly," cracked
Reiser, the talented co-star and co-creator of
the smash sitcom "Mad About You." "I didn't
write it until 19 years later. I always had the
idea that I wanted to do it, which was before I
met Peter. "When I did, it was very
casual, but I never told him about the project
because at best I knew he'd say, 'Great, let me
read it' and I'd have to say, 'It's not written
yet.' So I didn't say anything," Reiser added.
"When I finally did get done writing it, I
called him the next morning to say, "I'm
bringing this over to your office, if I may."
The interesting thing
is that Reiser didn't tell Falk that the script
was written exclusively for him.
"Paul never told me
anything about why he wrote it -- he never
mentioned his father and he never mentioned my
father," Falk recalled about reading the script
for the first time. "He never put me in a
position in which I would feel a lot of external
pressure other than wanting my reaction to the
script. That's the
way a real professional would do it.
That's the proper way to do it."
The great thing about
talking with Falk is that you know from the
get-go that you're going to get brutal honesty.
And, in the case of Reiser's script, the veteran
film and television star said that it wouldn't
have mattered knowing that the character in the
script was written for him -- even if it was
personal for the writer.
"It's not proper to give
someone a script and say, 'Listen, I'm going to
give you a script but this means an awful lot to
me because it's about my father and mother" --
the person who reads the script, they don't give
a s--- about that," Falk said. "What does he
care? What does an actor care about when he
reads a script? He cares about whether he can
score or not. He cares about whether or not the
audience is going to identify with him or
whether they're going to laugh or be compelled
by the story. The reason I said yes is because I
enjoyed it."
For Reiser, writing the
script for Falk, whether he knew it or not, was
no question a risk of putting all the eggs in
one basket. After all, if Falk said no, what
would he have done?
Fortunately, Reiser never
had to ask himself that question. In fact, he
was so certain that Falk was going to love the
script that the thought of rejection didn't even
enter his mind.
"Once in a while you
get a moment of clarity -- an inspiration -- and
they don't come that frequently," Reiser
observed. "This was one of those situations
where I didn't know whether it would work or
not, but it certainly appealed to me to try it.
"Over the years, there
certainly have been plenty of ideas that I've
had and given up on, but for this one, the only
thing that was standing in its way was me doing
it -- I just had to write it," Reiser continued.
"And then if it didn't happen, it didn't happen.
But I didn't want it to be for lack of effort on
my part, so I had hunch that it would be a good
story and that we would work well together. And
it certainly worked out that way."
Reiser told me that
since he was a fan of Falk's, he had the rhythm
of the legendary actor's delivery constantly
swirling in his head. That no doubt explains why
after 19 years of thinking about the script,
Reiser was able to write it in about 2 weeks.
But the connection between Reiser and Falk goes
far beyond one performer adoring another's
achievements. In this case, it was much more
personal. "There's a certain
similarity between me and him, and his
generation and my father's generation, so to
think of us together doing the film together
wasn't such a big jump," Reiser said. "I could
hear Peter say the kind of things my father
said. He talks like my father a little bit
anyway."
Gaining IndependenceShot on a shoestring
budget by today's standards, the independently
produced "The Thing About My Folks" is relying
on good old-fashioned word-of-mouth publicity to
get moviegoers in touch with the film.
For the most part, it's
involved Falk and Reiser traveling city to city
to not only meet with the media, but hold
screenings where everyday moviegoers can view
the film and participate in a question and
answer session with the duo afterwards.
What Falk and Reiser are
finding is that the film is connecting with
audience members on a very personal level.
"After these
screenings, inevitably, there's some woman that
picks up the microphone and says, 'I'm going to
get my husband to see this picture' -- you hear
that a lot," Falk said, laughing. "You also hear
fathers say, 'I gotta get my kid to come see
this thing' and kids say, 'I gotta get my father
to see this.' Everybody believes they're right,
but most times, really, everybody is only
half-right. I don't know of any married couple
that doesn't have issues. I don't know any
parent and child, any father and son, or any
mother and daughter, that don't have issues. And
that's what this movie is about."
Plus, it no doubt helps
that Falk and Reiser are familiar faces to
audiences who have spent countless nights in
their living rooms thanks to "Columbo" and "Mad
About You."
But Reiser doesn't
treat the tour like it's about him. It's
all about Falk, and he can't say enough about
his inspiration. In fact, Reiser is hoping
that the film will earn Falk a long-overdue
Oscar. "He is a treasure of
American cinema," Reiser said. "What I'm finding
as we're traveling around is that everybody
loves this guy. I see it in people's faces.
He's been so good for so long. Women want
to hug him and guys want to give him a pat on
the back. I think that's one of the reasons the
movie starts off so well. As soon as you see his
mug on the screen, people are at ease. They go,
'I know this guy. This is comfortable.'"
Given the huge number of
fans he's encountered on the road trip with
Reiser to promote the film, it's inevitable that
many of them bring up to Falk their love for his
characters in such film classics as "Robin and
the 7 Hoods," "The In-Laws" and, of course, "Columbo."
And while some actors have
issues with being constantly identified with a
particular character, Falk couldn't be happier
that people remember him for his past roles.
"If people asked me
whether I'm annoyed or tired or whatever
adjective they use about being typecast, I look
at them like they're crazy," said Falk, who just
turned 78. "I'm just very grateful.
"I've been able to play an
interesting character for a long time. The only
thing I could say is that I feel like I'm the
luckiest guy on the face of the globe," Falk
concluded.
|
Fast Chat with Peter Falk
Freelance
writer Lewis Beale
September 16, 2005
Peter Falk was working as
an efficiency expert for the state of Connecticut when,
at 29, he quit his job and moved to New York to be an
actor.
Let us give thanks to the Connecticut State Budget
Bureau for boring him to death. In his 50-year
performing career - from "Murder, Inc." to "The In-
Laws," "A Woman Under the Influence" to "Columbo" -
Falk, 78, has proven to be a consummate actor. Now, he's stealing
yet another film, which opened Friday in limited
release: "The Thing About My Folks," in which he plays a man whose wife leaves a Post-It note on
their refrigerator saying she's leaving him.
Freelance
writer Lewis
Beale caught up with the garrulous Falk at a midtown
hotel.
What attracted you to "The Thing About My Folks?"
"You read a barrel of scripts all the time, it doesn't
take long to recognize 'This is a cliche, this is fake,
I don't believe the character, I don't believe these
scenes.' So when this came along, immediately I thought
'Oh, these are real people.' Then, 'It's an interesting
film.' Why is it interesting? Well, I'm a sucker for a
note on a refrigerator door. When the note says, 'Don't
forget a dozen eggs and some orange juice,' it's not
interesting. But when that note turns the whole family
upside down, that captures my interest."
The film is about the relationship between your
character, a driven businessman, and his son, played by
writer Paul Reiser. What was your relationship with your
own father?
"When I read the script, I said, 'This is my father.' It
turned out it was Paul's father. They're very much the
same. My father had a store which opened its doors at 9
in the morning, he was sweeping the sidewalk at 6:30.
What the hell he did between 7 and 9, I don't know."
Do you use your personal experiences to help you with
your roles?
"No. I don't do anything like that. I don't understand
that type of thing. I go by the scene I'm reading. Does
the scene interest me? Does the character interest me?
If you're playing Napoleon, and you think you're
Napoleon, they gotta take you away to the nuthouse."
So what exactly did you do when you worked as an
efficiency expert?
"I was supposed to go around, go to places like the
Motor Vehicle Department, see if we could make it more
efficient. I don't know what the hell I did. I was
faking it. My real day started at night. They had a
great community theater there [in Hartford], the Mark
Twain Maskers. I'd go over there and do one play after
another."
When did you realize you could actually make a living as
an actor?
"The
first picture I made ("Murder, Inc.," 1960- not actually
his first film, but the first that brought him major
attention), I got nominated for an Academy Award. Then I
made my next picture ["Pocketful of Miracles," 1961],
and I got nominated again. That was about the time I
thought to myself, 'Maybe I could make a living at
this.' "
Despite all the movies you've made, there's little doubt
that the role you'll most be remembered for is that of
the rumpled and sly-like-a-fox Lt. Columbo. Does it
bother you to be typecast in that way?
"Being typecast is not cancer. Get down on your knees,
thank the Lord above; you're the luckiest * on the face
of the globe. Who gives a * if you're typecast? I
don't think people wake up in the morning and say, 'Oh
my God, we gotta do something about this problem?' I
don't give it a second thought. I get courtside seats at
the basketball game. I only have to look at the
left-hand side of the menu [prices are on the right].
And the character of Columbo is a rich, wonderful
character."
You're an artist in your spare time. What kind of work
do you do?
"I like to draw naked women. I use charcoal and pencil.
I'm a slow guy. I've been drawing for about 25 years,
and I'm beginning to use color."
Of all the movies you've made, is there one in
particular you'd take with you to a desert island?
"I think "The In-Laws" is a very funny picture."
What about parts these days? Now that you're older, what
kinds of roles do you get offered?
"Roles for older men."
You and your friend John Cassavetes made some memorable
films together, including the classic "A Woman Under the
Influence." What was it about him as a director that
made him special?
"His distrust of technique. His distrust of words, of
analyzing, of intellectualizing. What he wanted was to
clear your mind away from all that, hear the other
actor, and you say the line and let's see what happens.
It's liberating. You don't clutter your mind. You
haven't predesigned the scene - it's gonna be fast here,
loud here, I'm gonna do this then - none of that. It
takes a while to get accustomed to a director who really
means it when he says, 'Don't think about it. Do
whatever the * you want.' "
September 14, 2005
Peter Falk Shares the Facts about the Folks
by Dan Lybarger and Uri Lessing
When you’ve been a prominent,
multi-award winning actor for over forty years, plugging
your current film can be a challenge, especially when
each of the reporters at the table has a different pet
film they want you to talk about.
Peter Falk
finally gets a question he likes.
Fortunately, Peter Falk was more
than ready to meet the challenge during a forty-five
minute free-for-all in Kansas City on September 1, 2005.
The actor was armed with a couple sheets of paper to
help him plug The Thing about My Folks just in
case any of the journalists at the table talked a little
too much about his thirty-five year stint as Lieutenant
Columbo (no, he won’t tell you the detective’s first
name).
Even though Falk is best known for that role, it’s
immediately obvious that he’d have to be a pretty good
actor to pull off the disheveled detective. He turns 78
as of the day his new film opens (September 16), but
Falk walks with an erect confident posture that his
fictional counterpart would envy.
Therefore, it’s not hard to imagine him playing Paul
Reiser’s rambunctious father in The Thing about My
Folks. Despite the fact that Sam Kleinman (Falk) is
dealing with his wife (Olympia Dukakis) leaving him
abruptly after over four decades of marriage, Sam can
line dance, shoot precision pool and even win bar
fights.
Fishing and Farting
While Falk for the most part relied on Reiser’s script
for humor and poignancy, there were some moments of
unexpected hilarity while filming a scene where the
father and son go fishing. Falk explained, “Whenever we
screen the picture people just roar at that scene. And
what actually happened was before we started to shoot
the scene we had the props, and I had never fished in my
life!
“Paul didn't look like he did much fishing. And I had
nobody else to ask. So I was asking him about the props.
I said, ‘This hook, where does that hook go?’ ...I said,
‘There's no worms.’ And the director, you talk about
what a director, he was smart. He said, ‘Turn the camera
on!’”
Fishing wasn’t the only area where Falk had to prepare.
Falk sharpened his pool skills, grappled with stuntmen,
wrestled with a fish and drove an antique car. There was
one deed where whether Falk used a stand-in is in
question, “…I did do my own stunts. This is something,
at one of the question and answer periods after the
picture, in regards to the passing of gas. The question
came up, ‘Did you have a stunt double?’ The answer was
no.”
My Father Laughs
Falk was not a random choice for the role. Reiser wrote
the semi-autobiographical script with the veteran actor
in mind. It was almost as if Reiser’s father had picked
the man who would eventually play him.
“I’ve never been hired (before) on the basis that I was
hired for this picture,” Falk recalled. “(Reiser) didn’t
tell me this until after the picture was all over. But
when the picture was over, he told me that this is what
happened. He went to visit his father, and his father
was watching TV. And his father was watching one of
those Neil Simon pictures I was in, Murder by Death
or The Cheap Detective.
“But whenever (I) came on the screen, his father started
to chuckle. And he said to himself, my father laughs at
this actor more than any other actor. And then it
occurred to him, that actor that my father was laughing
at, he should play my father.”
Falk then paused and quipped, “Usually, I get hired
because I’m tall.”
Falk praises the script and working with the author. “It
was a very quick picture (25 days of shooting). We shot
it fast. It worked out. There was no time to rehearse
but somehow or other it just clicked. The stuff with me
and Paul just fell into place like magic.”
Delightful Dukakis
While Falk found working with Paul Reiser magical, he
found working with Olympia Dukakis positively
phenomenal. Falk reminisced, “It was like a miracle. I
met her the day we shot the final scene. I never spoke
to her before, and it was like ten minutes before we
shot the scene and there she is.
“That was an amazing thing. It really was. I have never
felt so comfortable so fast with anyone I ever met
before. I mean in five or six minutes I felt like I knew
her my whole life.”
Falk went on to add, “If you have that relationship with
your wife, maybe that’s the answer.”
As Falk talked about working with Dukakis, his memories
became more vivid, “… we shot the final scene at the
world’s fair first. We knew each other ten minutes and
we were into it. I don’t know. There was just something
about her that put me so at ease. So comfortable. She’s
one of a kind. She was wonderful.”
The One-Week Rule
Falk’s promotion schedule involves the type of traveling
that would make any younger actor wince. Falk
proclaimed, “We’ve been going pretty good. Oh boy! We’ve
been in Boston. We’ve been in Philadelphia. We’ve been
in Minneapolis. We’ve been in Chicago. We’re here in
Kansas City. We’ll go to LA.
“We’re moving round pretty good. And we’re doing it
because that first week is so crucial. That’s why I’m on
my hands and knees, begging people, that if they’re
interested in this picture, to go to…
myfolksmovie.com”
Falk has plenty of reason to worry. He recognizes that
studios will often ax a film after a week of dismal
returns instead of giving it a chance to gain momentum.
“It can’t slowly build and attract,” Falk complained,
“You’ve got to do it in one week.
“Suppose that was with a book? The book comes out, and
you’ve got five days to read it …suppose it was a
painting, and you’ve got six days, and then it goes
away. You can’t see it any more. …that’s the only thing
that drove me crazy.
Falk does have faith in the intelligence of his
audience. “in terms of barnstorming and in terms of this
picture, it lives or dies after the first week. What I
want to do is I want people to help us out. That’s why
we’re going from city to city, and I think the average
person out there can help us."
“Not a Lot of Maulings and Killings in this Picture”
There’s a lot of pride in Peter Falk’s voice when he
compares The Thing About My Folks to the other
films Hollywood has produced. Falk said, “First of all,
people should know this film doesn’t have one explosion
in it. Not one, so that’s one big contrast. And there’s
not a lot of maulings and killings in this picture.…”
Peter Falk is obviously not the biggest fan of modern
Hollywood films, and shared a moment of glee relating a
story about the remake of one of his classics, “As far
as the remake of The In-Laws, I was working on
something; I don’t remember. And I got a call from Alan
Arkin, and he congratulated me on the reviews. I didn’t
even know what he was talking about.
“I said, ‘Alan, I don’t even have anything coming out.’
“He said, ‘You didn’t see the reviews?’
“I said, ‘What the hell are you talking about?’
“He finally told me they were the reviews for the remake
of The In-Laws. He said we got better reviews for
the remake than when the first one came out.”
“I never understood a word he said.”
Despite being adamant about staying on the topic of his
latest film, we were able to gently steer Falk toward
the subject of his most famous collaboration: with his
long-time friend, John Cassavetes.“ John was totally
original. Totally original,” Falk explained, “The main
difference is there was an unpredictability. There was
an informality. There was a spontaneity. There was what
I would occasionally call a wackiness. Somewhere he knew
what he was doing.
“What I always say, and it’s true. I never understood a
word he said. And I think he did that deliberately.
“Deliberate in the sense that he said if you really
understand something then your mind is at work, and if
your mind is at work, we’re in danger of reproducing
another cliché. And if we can keep our minds out of it
and our thoughts out of it, maybe we’ll come up with
something original. And if we just rely on our
instincts, take a chance and don’t worry about it
because I’m not going to print it. That’s probably what
he was doing.”
“I’m just looking to get through the Day”
Filming The Thing About My Folks had a special
appeal for Falk. It was shot a few miles from where he
grew up in Ossining, New York. “I never realized that
right across the river was so beautiful,” he said.
Peter Falk, ultimately, is a private man and a humble
actor. He intentionally does not connect his work with
his life experiences, and refuses to get caught up in
attempts to sound profound. When asked how he saw
himself as a performer, Falk replied, “I tell ya, I've
had questions not exactly like that but similar. I
always answer the same thing. I'm just looking to get
through the day. I don't have any grand things. I never
ask myself that question.”
As for future ambitions, Peter Falk’s wishes are pretty
simple, “The only mountain that I would still like to
climb: I’d like to break 85.
Uri’s Peter Falk Pick
Mikey & Nicky: Elaine May directed this
performance-driven masterpiece. Peter Falk and John
Cassavetes are mesmerizing as two childhood friends who
are both in the mafia.
Nicky (Cassavetes) has embezzled
from his bosses and is hiding. Is Mikey (Falk) trying to
help his old friend escape or play him straight into the
hands of his bosses? The current DVD is an excellently
restored print.
Dan’s Peter Falk Pick
The In-Laws: Don’t let the remake (Albert Brooks
was more fun as the voice of a fish in Finding Nemo)
scare you away from this cleverly imaginative comedy
about a dentist (Alan Arkin) who finds himself tormented
by his new brother-in-law (Falk). The mystery man might
be a CIA agent, a criminal mastermind or a complete
lunatic. I’m voting for all three. Check out some great
supporting performances by Richard Libertini as a
dictator gone horribly wrong and David Paymer as a cab
drvier who makes Travis Bickle seem like a master of
caution.
"The Thing About My Folks"
Film Review
- 9/13/2005
Touchingly fulfilling, and satisfyingly
sentimental, THE THING ABOUT MY FOLKS provides down to earth
home-style comedy, and a dramatic familiarity, that families
everywhere are going to embrace. Peter Falk is a pure talent in his
role as Sam Kleinman, and achieves a new perspective to the kind of
pain in the ass father who you just can't help but fall in love
with. The part was written especially for the "Columbo" star by Paul
Reiser, who plays Falks anxious and unresolved issue plagued son,
Ben Kleinman.
Keep an eye on Peter Falk in the coming months because his role as
Sam will certainly be catching award nominations and I won't be
suprised if he wins a few. Sam is so mutidimensional and charismatic
that upon watching Ben treat him with contempt and embarrassment for
an hour and a half I ended up calling my own father just to say,
"thanks for everything and sorry for all the crumby things I've said
and done to you over the years." And thanks to this film, my father
is going to be getting away with belittling me a little more than
usual for some time to come.
The film is a reflection upon the time Ben spends with his parents
soon before they pass away, a time where he is given the opportunity
to get to know them as people aside from just being his folks. One
night, as he and his wife are putting their two little girls to bed,
Ben's father shows up at the door unannounced and alone. Restless
for an explanation for the visit, the couple finds out that several
days earlier, Sam's wife Muriel left a note upon the refrigerator
stating she has lost herself over the past 50 years and needed to
get away. After telephone calls to his three wacky sisters turn up
no news as to Muriel's whereabouts, it is determined that Sam will
spend the night and accompany Ben on a trip to Upstate New York to
look at a farmhouse the couple is considering to purchase while the
girls investigate.
In the morning, Ben takes an old letter addressed to Sam out of a
box hidden away and places it in his bag and they are on their way.
The beginning of the trip is where we get to see what type of
relationship these two guys really have. Sam is full of comfortable
conversation, throwing out his opinions on just about anything his
son brings up, while Ben responds in a defensive and irritated
manner and remains short fused and nagging with his father. Just at
the point where Ben has had enough, Sam lets out some serious
flatulence and looks at his son and says "How'd you know it was me?"
in a tone of voice that implies this is a running gag between them
that Ben neither finds funny nor charming.
They get to the farmhouse, where the older man showing the place has
lived most of his life. It is a dream scene, and Ben has immediately
fallen in love with it. Dad, on the other hand, can only manage to
bring up the fact that it is in a valley and that the pond will
smell really bad during hot weather due to all the septic tanks
draining into it from higher up the hill. Back on the road, Sam and
Ben get into an argument about the mother. Ben thinks his father
neglected his mother's emotions and took her for granted and becomes
so angry and resentful that he decides to pull the trump card out
and show his father the old letter in the back seat. His father
yells, "Keep your eyes on the road" and just then, they crash into a
tree. Uninjured, this accident ends up being one of the best things
that could have happened to either of them.
After the accident, Ben shows his father the old letter that was
written by his mother two weeks before he was born. It is a long
flashback to a time where she was young and in love with Sam, how
she felt when they met, what she has done for him, and how he has
taken her for granted. It is a letter of frustration and desperation
written by a woman who has given up on trying to change her husband
and given up on trying to get him to make her feel special. Deeply
heartfelt and thorough, this letter depicts all the emotions of a
woman overcome by isolation and sadness who only wants her husband
to notice her. This is also the big first moment in this film to
capture Reiser's maturity and gift with writing. The author of two
successful books "Couplehood" and "Babyhood", this film is only his
first screenplay but shows the depth Reiser taps into the conditions
of his characters, giving a level of humanity that is not commonly
developed in cinema. Taking over 20 years to develop the screenplay,
Reiser believes it took the experience of growing up, marriage, and
having children to accurately approach the film as both a father and
a son.
After reading the letter his wife had written almost 50 years
earlier, Sam becomes angry, and says that he did everything he could
for his family and his wife and during the whole time he was happy.
He also says that his wife came from an unhappy home with parents
who didn't nurture her, and that she has just always been an unhappy
person. With all this talk, and their car being totaled on the side
of the road, Sam yells at Ben to call a tow truck and then announces
he has to pee and starts to urinate right were he stands.
Trapped in a small town, they spend the night in a small hotel room
and share a bed where Sam farts in his sleep and Ben continues to be
annoyed. The next day at the car repair shop they find out that it
will take a long time to fix the car, and since there are no cars
for rent nearby, they have to find some other arrangement. Just
then, Sam sees a 1940 Ford Deluxe, which happens to be the same car
he always wanted when he was younger. In an uncharacteristic movie,
Sam decides to buy it and take his son on a road trip to make up for
all the things they never got to do together in the past. The
journey begins where father and son become reacquainted with each
other, and learn a little more about them selves in the meantime.
In scenes that are almost uncomfortably familiar to real life
father-son relationships, the two hang out, stop for fresh peaches,
go fishing, catch a local baseball game, and have a great time
making up for all the time they have lost. A night on the town of
drinking and dancing ends in emotional outbursts on both ends, and
ends with a rekindling of the bond that faded years ago. Sharing a
few moments of comfortable companionship, they pass out contently on
the ground in a forest under the stars and wake up the next morning
to find the news that Muriel has been found.
While the film is pulling to an end, the story comes full circle by
resolving all the emotions from the past and leaving us with some
hard learned lessons. As Muriel (Olympia Dukakis) says when
questioned by Ben about the old letter, "Don't believe everything
you read. Maybe I meant it though. People change... people don't
change, they change their expectations."
So take Muriel's advice and don't believe everything you read.
Instead, call your dad and invite him to go see THE THING ABOUT MY
FOLKS in a theater near you on October 16th, and while you're at it,
pay for the tickets. You'll laugh, you'll cringe... it'll be good
for you.
Saturday, September 10, 2005
By Lisa Bernhard
"The Thing About My Folks"
Next Friday, look for the sweet and poignant film
"The Thing About My Folks," written by and starring Paul Reiser,
with Peter Falk.
It's a father/son road trip tale with Falk
playing Reiser's dad.
I had both actors come into the studio recently
— look for their full interview on-air and on the Web next
week (with extra tidbits for FOXNews.com readers). Until then,
a morsel from our chat...
I had both actors come into the studio recently — look for their
full interview on-air and on the Web next week (with extra
tidbits for FOXNews.com readers). Until then, a morsel from our
chat….
Falk, who turns 79 on Sept. 16, the movie’s opening day, said
he’s gearing up for yet another turn in the trenchcoat as
Columbo.
Falk: We got two "Columbo" scripts. Small problem: I like one
better than the other one. And the other one, the network likes
better than the one I like.
Reiser: (Smiling) I have money on which one I think is gonna get
made. [To Falk] So this guy never retires, Columbo? There's
always something, huh? He’s 142, "Ehhh ... one more thing ..."
Peter: (Laughing) That's right. They’ll be two guys pushing him
up the stairs.
Folks came out
of the woodwork here at
FOX
News to meet Falk and ask him about Columbo. Said Reiser,
“It’s like being with the Pope, although Peter curses more — at
least I hope he does.”
Art
Miniatures
Art Menu
Dans
son livre de souvenirs, Juste une dernière chose… Les
mémoires de Columbo (Michel Lafon), le comédien
américain Peter Falk décrit son parcours dans le théâtre
d’avant-garde new-yorkais, puis à Hollywood et dans le
cinéma dit d’auteur. Il évoque aussi la série télévisée
mythique Columbo qui l’a rendu mondialement célèbre. 
Les premiers pas à Broadway
Columbo
smoking star of the
ever-popular TV
detective series "Columbo," who confides, "I'll smoke anything
anybody gives me. I'm not particular. On 'Columbo' I smoke the
cheapest cigars you can buy. They come six to a pack. "I love
the smell of cigar smoke," continues Falk, who finally quit
smoking
cigarettes a couple years ago. "I remember Joe Mantegna inviting me to a party at this
restaurant on Beverly Boulevard that Jack Nicholson owned. I think
it was called the Monkey Bar, and it was also part cigar club. Well,
when I walked in there, there was such a thick cloud of cigar smoke
that you could hardly see across the room. I got hit by that great
smoke. Oh, it was heaven. It reminded me of the old Madison Square
Square Garden or my days in the pool room when I was a kid growing
up in Ossining, New York. You just don't find many public places
today where you can go and fill your lungs and nostrils with
delicious second hand smoke.