The Fabulous Baker Boys

For anyone who ever tried to parlay any sort of musical talent into a monetarily rewarding venture, this film is for you. Whether you are the proverbial "weekend warrior" musician or a renowned and financially secure artist, you have to go through all the metaphorical "hoops" to get wherever you are. Beau, Jeff and Michelle ever so poignantly take you through those hoops in an utterly realistic, no-holds barred fashion. How many groups have you seen like this: the average-joe player who gets the gigs basically due to his business acumen; the prodigy who seems to disdain all beneath him, which to him is just about everybody; the chanteuse who pretty much wants to have it "my way or the highway"; the endless and sundry flock of wannabee auditioners who need just one chance to prove themselves? Sound familiar? Then you need to watch and absorb this one-of-a kind movie.Beau and Jeff are so realistic in their roles that you have to wonder if the two of them, brothers in real life, actually did musical gigs together when they were younger. It seems as if sibling warfare in real life spills over in this drama. The mounting tension among the three principals is deftly crafted by the director/writer, Steve Cloves, who carefully and slowly weaves his story line to include not only musical issues but also how all this tension affects other facets of their lives. The supporting characters, whom many other reviewers have noted, are superb in their more minimal yet effective roles. No wasted motion in a simultaneously tough and tender movie. But all the above would go for much less were it not for Dave Grusin's gorgeous sound track and keyboard renderings especially as they pertain to the ever so hauntingly soulful recurring theme. All this good stuff takes me back to the days of my lounge lizard gigs, days that I'll always cherish, the good with the not so good!

How do you attempt to write a review for one of your favorite films? I fondly recall The Fabulous Baker Boys as a cinematic highlight in my life, and know that the following review will probably not do it justice, but well....In his debut feature, writer-director Steven Kloves' took some very old plot-lines and with care, skill and sheer respect for the film medium, created a minor masterpiece which bears up to repeated viewing and guarantees hours of endless entertainment - trust me, I've seen this film so many times, it's embarrassing to reveal the exact number.For 31 years, Frank and Jack Baker have played piano together. Child stars turned lounge lizards, the two peddle their middle-of-the-road tunes in any bar they can book. Times are tough, and the once fabulous act has grown tired, hackneyed and somewhat embarrassing, especially for younger brother Jack (Jeff Bridges), who's embittered and weary of the muzak he plays, the dead-end life he leads. Older brother Frank (Beau Bridges) sees their act as a business, a means of supporting his wife and children, something to do in order to survive. Unlike Jack, Frank has no dreams of musicality and, quite honestly, he's a hack who doesn't really like what he does, but who is content to keep on doing it.As the duo hit a particularly lean patch, they decide to take on a singer to spice up their act, and after a hilarious montage of terrible wannabes (including a particularly inspired Jennifer Tilly), the dubiously named Suzie Diamond (Michelle Pfeiffer) slinks into their lives and so begins a happy professional collaboration that garners them success, respect and a small measure of fame. Personally, however, Suzie's arrival marks the beginning of the end for Frank and Jack. An ex-social escort too proud to tell the many tearful tales she has, she's a kindred soul for Jack, two cynical losers who may have a chance at happiness.Things turn sour when a commitment phobic Jack bails on Suzie, and she leaves the act. The Baker brothers are reduced again to small-time acts, and in a particularly demeaning engagement, Jack and Frank's long seething resentment and frustrations come to the surface. When the dust settles, each goes his own way, their relationship changed but intact. The question is, would Jack ever stand a chance with Suzie?This film is a smoldering scorcher, packed with pitch perfect performances and a script that is as surprisingly deft as its ideas are old and unoriginal. Steven Kloves' dialogue is music to the ears. He expertly captures the tone and mood of the characters, and crystallizes years of hurt, longing and pain in short, succinct sentences that speak volumes. Using a confident, sure hand, he steers his sleepy, slow-burn script to classic status. The pace is just right, and the languid charm the film possesses is one of its greatest assets.Of course, much of the film's credit must also go to the actors, all of whom are flawless. The top-lining brothers give career-high performances in this film. Beau embodies the domesticated suburban quality which defines Frank so fully that it is hard to imagine him as being any different in real life. Although a somewhat pathetic character, Beau nonetheless finds the dignity and respectability in Frank and it is his clear and honest portrayal of these qualities which make his story so much more poignant and touching than it appears on paper. If there were a "sad" life amongst the trio of leads, Frank's would be the saddest simply because he's chosen to be oblivious to his own disappointments and regrets - the price of fatherhood and of being a husband and provider have forced his hands and shaped his life, and Beau's performance, made up of small revealing gestures and silent looks tells the whole story behind the man.As Jack, Jeff Bridges again turns in a startling portrait of a man gone wrong fighting his way back. Jack Baker has talent, and he knows it; he sticks with Frank because he's lazy, but also because deep down inside, he's fearful of taking the chance and not having anyone to blame should he fail. Everything about Jeff's performance speaks of Jack's abject misery, anger and the restlessness that's always chafing against him. Not only does he look the part, he seems to become the character. It is hard to imagine another actor being able to so fully play the part with the same level of complexity, depth of emotion and completeness. It helps tremendously, as well, that he lights up the screen beautifully opposite Michelle Pfeiffer in a career-altering role.Long relegated to window dressing or showing up in undeserving projects, Pfeiffer's career suffered a major setback due to her involvement in Grease 2. With Sweet Liberty and Into the Night, however, her luck began to change; when The Witches of Eastwick came along, she became a newly-minted star. The Fabulous Baker Boys, however, gave her credibility. As the sexy siren who wreaks havoc in the lives of two brothers, she's a modern-day Lauren Bacall, sensual, intelligent and bruised. Pfeiffer's Oscar-nominated performance here is stunning; there's not a moment where she makes a wrong move or wanders into shaky terrain, and she completes the incredibly realized triangle that Kloves' script has engineered.The scene of Pfeiffer crooning "Makin' Whoopee" whilst lolling about on top of a baby grand piano is often sited as the highlight of modern cinema this film offers. I suggest an alternative: the scene where Suzie makes her stage debut with the Baker boys. Nervous but too tough to admit it, she drops her cue cards, swears colorfully into the microphone and gropes about for a recovery. A frantic Frank then forces a bemused Jack into an impromptu duet of "Ten Cents A Dance" before Suzie returns in fine form and the three of them begin to make lounge music history. As it plays, this scene is amusing, and arguably slight, but the subtext of three desperate souls relying on each other, clinging onto the shreds of dignity they are left with in order to make a shot at something better, and succeeding, is both exhilarating and melancholic. The audience knows that before they go on the stage, the act was nothing; when they leave, they would begin the journey of success and eventually falling apart. The time on that stage was the one moment everything was perfect for them. In a canny and sublime way, The Fabulous Baker Boys captures this magical tension and wonder amongst them, and sustains it for its entire duration.This is one the best films you'll ever see. Trust me on this.

The movie in my opinion is excellent. That part would be five stars, but the MGM DVD would be one star. I've had the MGM DVD for years, recently re-played it, and it stopped and got stuck at about 58:20, just before Michelle Pfeiffer's performance of "Makin' Whoopee" on top of the grand piano. I couldn't get the DVD to do anything after that...back up, go to the next chapter, let me try setup again...anything. I couldn't find a blemish on the DVD, but cleaned it twice looking for smudges or scratches. I didn't see anything serious enough to warrant the mis-play (freeze). So I ordered a brand new one (on Amazon), sealed with the title tape stuff one has to remove, and the DVD looked pristine. Then it failed at the same point. MGM needs to look into this and re-manufacture or whatever.

Writer-director Steve Kloves’ 1989 film provides a great example of how genres (here, essentially, the romcom) can be successfully reinvigorated with the aid of a witty, bittersweet script and a core (here, a trio) of perfectly judged acting performances. The boards have been well and truly trodden for cinematic tales of the struggling artist, but here Kloves provides an intriguing variation to the concept with his trio of perennial losers – the 'too comfortable’ (real-life & fictional) sibling pairing of Beau Bridges’ respectable family man and lounge pianist, Frank Baker, and brother Jeff’s cynical, stage partner, Jack, the pair’s musical act being augmented by the dulcet tones and disruptive influence of Michelle Pfeiffer’s feisty, ex-call girl, Susie Diamond. Kloves writing here is particularly adept at getting under skin of the fraternal relationship, as well as turning what could have been a rather syrupy romantic affair into a more subtle, thoughtful drama with themes of ambition, honesty and self-respect.Perhaps unsurprisingly, the film is probably best known for Pfeiffer’s (admittedly irresistible) sultry turn – culminating in her sliding across the top of Jack’s piano to the tune of Makin’ Whoopee – or perhaps for Jeff Bridges’ depiction of the emotionally detached loner harbouring (likely) unrealisable dreams of a 'serious’ music career and whose only soul-mates are his ageing dog and his neighbour’s lonely young daughter. Both Bridges Jr. and Pfeiffer are excellent, of course, but I would also make a strong case for elder brother Beau, whose pitch perfect delivery of his smooth, corny on-stage (forced) banter with Jack is an absolute highlight. Similarly memorable is the transformation in Frank’s facial expressions from despair, at witnessing the hilarious series of no-hoper auditions the brothers are forced to sit through, to astonishment, as Susie finally delivers her revelatory, near-orgasmic rendition of More Than You Know. Kloves’ skill and versatility is also evident via the understated treatment of the romance between Jack and Susie, and the later, highly-charged stand-offs between Jack and each of Susie and Frank.Also worthy of mention is a brilliant little cameo from Jennifer Tilly as the unsuccessful and (typically) ditzy auditioner, Monica, who makes a reappearance towards the end of the film in a nicely poignant moment, as Jack manages to resist the worst of his natural instincts. This encounter actually reminded me of Jack Lemmon’s Christmas Eve equivalent with Hope Holiday’s Margie MacDougall towards the end of Billy Wilder’s film The Apartment and, indeed, Kloves’ film has a similar tone to that of Wilder’s masterpiece. And, you really can’t get a higher recommendation than that!

I'd pay to see Jeff Bridges reading the telephone-directory - one of the most under-rated actors of his generation, though becoming more respected as he grows older - so maybe I'm prejudiced in favour of this film. But the tensions between the two (real-life) brothers (Frank played by Beau Bridges and Jack, played by Jeff) was both engrossing and ultimately moving (and could possibly be an example of art imitating life, one imagines). Michelle Pfeiffer was utterly believable as a vampish, bohemian chanteuse Susy Diamond and hats off to her for doing her own singing. I love understated films which demand intelligence from the viewer and this is a fine example: Jack's persona is developed subtly and incidental characters, like the booking-agent, Jack's dog, the little girl downstairs, are introduced to further our understanding of him The cocktail waitress whom he casually bonks in the first reel tells him after the one-night-stand that he has "great hands" (put to good use during the sex act, one assumes); Susy, the catalyst who changes his life, appreciates the way those "great hands" play jazz and by showing contempt for his acceptance of the status quo, pushes him into rejection of the shallow showbiz he's hated for 17 years and rejection also of his brother's values. He also comes to realize for the first time ever that it's possible to commit to a woman and see her as something other than a one-night-stand.A subtle film that pays watching over and over again.

I never got around to buying this DVD til recently. The last time I saw it was on my VHS of a TV broadcast and they must have edited it for language. The four letter words do mar it slightly. But it's feelgood movie, with lovely music by Dave Grusin, including saxophonist Ernie Watts. The piano miming by the Bridges brothers is brilliant and Pfeiffer's vocal performance is very good for a non vocalist by trade.

This is the best movie ever made. It envelops you in the environs of the movie, whether it's the city, the venue, the peoople. The characters are fully rounded and thoroughly engaging. The main actors are second to none. The story is brilliant, the secondary characters add to the film without distracting from anything. You've never seen Makin Whooppee until you've seen Michelle and Jeff (Suzie and Jack) do it and you will never see it as good again. I've watched it over and over again over at least 20 years and still love it as much. The heart and soul, the music and the passion and the grit. This is just like a list but as far as talking about this film, the list is endless. Ultimately it is one thing: perfect.

low key 80's movie, watched it years ago but its kind of therapeutic to watch. All 3 stars in this shine : Michelle Pfeiffer is dazzling when she sings Makin Whoopee on the piano, in a very famous scene & the chemistry between all 3 is great . Jeff & Michelle sizzle together in their scenes together too . Since the film is set around Xmas & new year , now is a great time to watch it .