Eugene Ionesco's Rhinoceros

source: Eugene Ionesco's Rhinoceros

The main selling points for seeing 'Rhinoceros' were Gene Wilder and Zero Mostel. Both immensely gifted and much missed performers and their partnership in 'The Producers' deserves legendary status. The source material that 'Rhinoceros' will never be one of my favourites, but it is interesting and entertaining. That it is one of the films making up the American Film Theatre series was another interest point and did expect a fair bit. 'Rhinoceros' to me is one of the weakest of this inconsistent series of films adapted from plays, one that started off so well but was very mixed from 'A Delicate Balance' onwards. Of the other films in the series, only 'Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris' is worse and the film is a not a patch on the earlier winners 'The Iceman Cometh' and 'The Homecoming'. 'Rhinoceros' definitely has its good things, but it primarily suffers from trying too hard and taking the wrong approach to the source material. As said, there are things done well. Wilder had always been a very funny and expressive performer and actor, he shows both here beautifully whether verbal or non-verbal. Mostel is larger than life, without dominating too much, and often riotous. His finest being his transformation scene. A very memorable scene, for Mostel's delivery and the very effective use of shadows and POV camera angles. Wilder and Mostel are a dream together, having lost none of what made their chemistry so memorable in 'The Producers'. Karen Black's honest performance is the standout of the rest of the cast, the overall standard of the rest of the cast being not bad at all. The dialogue is still fun, although there are a number of deviations and changes (most of the adaptations of the American Film Theatre series were actually quite faithful). There is some nice photography, particularly interesting in the transformation. However, a lot doesn't work. As said, 'Rhinoceros' does try too hard and is very bizarre. Absurdist humour is meant to be strange but usually not this strange, this film goes overboard to beating around the head degrees and like some incredibly weird, increasingly confused and uncomfortable dream that one can't wake up from. Cohesion is lost as a result and the tone felt muddled. Some of the imagery in the more bizarre scenes are pretty cheap and at odds with the dialogue. The pace can be too frantic but it also can be tedious from doing too little with its content. For example what makes the play so relevant and the political references are both too toned down and preachy, as well as now out of date. It would have been better too if the humour was delivered in a more deadpan way, that way it wouldn't have felt so over the top, strained and vulgar. A consequence of approaching from too farcical an approach and overdoing the farce. The music also dates the film and very of the time. There was a sense to me that 'Rhinoceros' didn't know what it wanted or was trying to be and was instead experimenting the entire time. Summing up, one-time watchable but the second weakest of this interesting but uneven series of films. 5/10.

Gene Wilder becomes depressed when everyone in town begins to turn into rhinoceroses. It is, of course, based on the Eugen Ionesco play, and top-billed Zero Mostel recreates his Tony-winning performance from the 1961 Broadway version. Although it's still clearly a one-set play, largely placed in Wilder's shabby apartment, it's been opened up competently at the beginning and end, and with enough varying camera set-ups to keep it visually interesting. I've had problems with the play, since I first read it in high school. In large part, it always struck me as a gloss on Kafka's THE METAMORPHOSIS, an uneasy mixture of absurd comedy and existential dread. Wilder brings some of his nebbish comedy from THE PRODUCERS into the mix; he was reportedly cast because of his work with Mostel in that movie. However, the central issue - what would you do if everyone started to turn into a rhinoceros? - elicits a shrug and "I'll worry about that when it happens" from me. Wilder's performance, as well as that of Karen Black as his sometimes girlfriend, annoys me. Maybe it plays better in French. I suppose the performances are good, and technically it's well produced, but it leaves as cold as the run of zombie movies, bereft of any symbolic content.

When I went to my local library to check out DVDs, this one caught my eye because of the two stars pictured on it with their names prominently displayed: Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder. Anyone who's watched Mel Brooks' The Producers knows who they are and what a great team they made. So I included it among four others and brought it home with me. I must say while the movie itself is a little uneven (that scene in Wilder's accounting office with his coworkers was a little too frantic for my tastes), whenever Gene and Zero are on screen together they're nothing short of hilarious especially when Mostel does his transformation. Karen Black is also on hand as Wilder's love interest providing a sweet and sexy presence to the proceedings. In adapting Eugene Ionesco's play to the big screen, director Tom O'Horgan does a nice transition from farce to serious drama in the last 30 minutes that made me think about how conformity can be enjoyable if stifling after a while vs. how individuality can be liberating if lonesome because of not-as-many takers. Of course, anyone expecting a conventional slapstick comedy would probably be disappointed with the whole thing but despite some unevenness, I highly enjoyed and recommend Rhinoceros.

One of my favorite Gene Wilder films was 1974's Rhinoceros. The film, directed by Tom O'Horgan, was based on the play by Eugène Ionesco of the same name. Gene Wilder was reunited with Zero Mostel to illustrate the dangers of herd mentality among the populous. When there is one man left in a city that is quickly seeing all of its inhabitants turn into rhinoceroses, he remains steadfast in the notion that he must maintain his individuality. Stanley (Gene Wilder) is a man that is exhausted from the mundane existence that has become his life. Stanley hates his job and does not feel that he is exercising his full potential. Stanley's best friend John (Zero Mostel) is trying to make a decent man out of Stanley, encouraging him to take an interest in the arts and be mindful of the way he dresses. After several talks in which John berates Stanley for his drinking and lifestyle, Stanley promises to give up drinking and be more of the man John is suggesting he should be. The impetus for Stanley attempting to be a better man is a woman he works with that he has fallen for. Daisy (Karen Black) works in the male-dominated paper business with Stanley and is often seen with another man that they work with who is more like John. Just as Stanley is on the brink of changing who he is to fit in better at work and have a chance with Daisy, the entire town is turning into rhinoceroses. As the four-legged creatures are seen storming the city, more and more people are turning into them and defending their lifestyle. Stanley sees the transformation as preposterous and becomes convinced that it is no way to live to become a rhinoceros. Stanley makes a vow to himself that even if he is the last human being left in the world, he will not succumb to the ways of the rhinoceros. Rhinoceros is a wonderful celebration of individuality. The film doesn't try to hide or thinly veil its message, it comes across as an overt warning of what happens to people that forgo their uniqueness in order to fit in. The magic of the film comes from its message, but also the chemistry of the reunited principles. Mostel and Wilder had lost nothing in the 7 years that passed between The Producers and Rhinoceros in terms of chemistry. The two played well against each other as tough love friends looking out for each other in their own way. There was a hilarious opener in which the audience is reassured that the following story could never happen in real life as the world is flat. This opening was an exceptional way to set the premise of the film before it ever started, and a touch I had missed on my preceding viewings of the film. Wilder stole the show in this film, but Zero Mostel had a wonderful scene in which he transformed into a rhinoceros. His transformation scene was long and intense and incredibly well-acted by the veteran actor. As noted, Wilder's performance stole the show. This was the film that I first noticed how beautiful his voice is to listen to. Like melted butter to the ears, Wilder encouraged me to buy as many of his audio books as I can. What really shines in this film is Gene's attention to detail. The nonverbal acting he performed in this movie shows what an actor should be, and endears you to his character despite his many flaws. With or without a subtle message, Rhinoceros is a joy of a film to sink your horns into, and one I would recommend highly.

I stayed up very late one night to see this film, largely because the idea interested me and also because it had Gene Wilder and Zero Mostel in it(The Producers is another of my favourite films). I was pleasently surprised,as the TV guide had slated it. In a nutshell, this film concerns a town which is overrun by a plague of sorts, which causes people to turn into Rhinoceroses (Rhinocerii???). Why this is happening is never properly explained, though at least one explanation is implied. This film presents the central themes of conformity and pack mentality pretty well, and becomes quite powerful towards the end. However, its main flaw is trying to present some segments of it as a comedy. This does not work, it is a piece of absurdism, and just does not work as a farce. The whole thing could have done with being played far more deadpan, for instance, the scene where the woman's husband (now a rhinoceros) besieges the office, and the scene where Gene wilder and the girl(whose name escapes me)are in the flat together, near the end. Still, despite all this, it manages to be a very good and underrated film. Gene Wilder and Zero Mostel both give excellent performances, especially Mostel. His descent into Rhinocerosness and the loss of his dignity mange to be funny and horrifying at the same time.

Tom O'Horgan's "Rhinoceros" is based on Eugène Ionesco's play. An exercise in the theater of the absurd, the play was intended as an indictment of Nazism, showing how everyone simply acquiesces to events around them. I guess that the movie doesn't really focus on the political aspect as much, but it's still a funny movie. Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder basically reprise their roles from "The Producers", only this time it's a world in which all the people are turning into odd-toed ungulates. Nothing can stop the transformations! Admittedly, it's a totally outlandish idea. But, that's a characteristic of the theater of the absurd. We don't actually see any members of the family Rhinocerotidae, we just hear their snorts. Nonetheless, I was laughing almost the whole time. Wilder is particularly funny as the uptight office clerk who falls apart as he watches all his acquaintances change. Zero Mostel's transformation is the best, while Karen Black's character is the most dynamic in the whole movie. Pretty neat.

As with others that commented on this film, I first saw Rhinoceros because it starred Gene Wilder. At the time, in the mid 1970's, Wilder was near the peak of his popularity. The film was a complete surprise to me. Very bizarre, nothing that I expected. Years later, I remember that I was quite disappointed with the movie and wondered just what it was that Wilder was doing. Years later, however, I find that the memory of this film has never left me. The premise of the movie, that of all the towns-people turning into Rhino's, escaped me. Today, I relate this film, in some ways to the novel 1984. I see the resemblance of the Rhino to sheep and/or cattle. This Wilder film is not comical. It is, however, a strangely unsettling satire that is difficult to forget. I, for one, am looking to purchase a copy of this film on DVD. I'm sure that it's meaning will be more apparent to me today than it was when first viewed 40 years ago.

I loved this film. I was trying to find it to buy it, just for the scene between Wilder and Mostel, priceless. I laughed so hard mostly because of how brilliant Mostel was at portraying his transformation. I told my children about this film and they wanted to see it. I recall reading once that Wilder himself, didn't like the film but I don't have his perspective. The tension between Mostel and Wilder in that particular transformation scene is palpable, Wilder's reactions, Mostel's intensity, I laugh at just recalling this scene. I don't recall much else about the film except this particular scene. I highly recommend this film to all Wilder and Mostel fans.

A hungover Stanley (Gene Wilder) meets his pompous and condescending best friend, John (Zero Mostel), at a restaurant. John's inevitable criticisms about Stanley's drinking and dishevelment are interrupted by a rhinoceros charging through the street outside. This provides the staff and the patrons some amusement until the creature charges through the restaurant and destroys everything. At the office, Stanley arrives late as the boss and the other workers are having an argument about the absurd news reports regarding these animals. The attractive but not overly bright Daisy (Karen Black) insists she saw the rhinoceros with her own eyes. Stanley says the same thing, but it's not until a coworker on the street below changes into a rhinoceros before their eyes that they grasp the importance, and absurdity, of what is happening. Soon, everyone is becoming a rhinoceros, and Stanley is feeling the pressure to conform. "What you are about to see," reads the introductory title card, "could never take place. Several eminent scientists have assured us of this fact, for, as they are quick to point out... the world is flat." Are they? That dismal attempt at irony is an omen for the rest of the movie. Whatever value Eugène Ionesco's absurdist play may have had on stage, this film adaptation is a leaden allegory, filled with room-wrecking slapstick, that is exhausting, exasperating and tedious. Zero Mostel, who won a Tony for playing the same role on Broadway in 1961, has a transformation scene that is fascinating for its sweaty excess, but his antics can be better appreciated in "The Producers" (1968) in which he and Gene Wilder are actually funny. In this film, the two play off each other just as well, but it doesn't come to much. No rhinoceroses appear, which might sound like admirable restraint (if not an impoverished budget), but the movie already opened up the play considerably and added a dream sequence and a lot of Keystone Comedy antics. Not showing us rhinoceroses just seems irritatingly coy.