0/5

Phil Spector

HBO's telemovie is rife with legal disclaimers, but Al Pacino and Helen Mirren will draw you in.

Al Pacino and Helen MirrenHe produced some of the pop’s most enduring songs: (You’ve Lost) That Lovin’ Feelin’, Unchained Melody, Imagine, Let it Be, He’s a Rebel, Proud Mary, The Long and Winding Road, River Deep – Mountain High, Be My Baby, Da Doo Ron Ron, and My Sweet Lord.

But in 2003 62 year old Phil Spector was charged with the murder of actress Lana Clarkson, found dead in a pool of blood at his mansion. His driver had called 911, reporting gunfire inside the home and quoting Spector’s words “I think I’ve killed someone.”

America was about to become hooked on another celebrity murder trial, this time with an eccentric senior at its centre.

It took nearly three and a half years before Spector’s case would reach trial and nearly ten years for it to become an HBO telemovie starring Al Pacino and Helen Mirren.

The screenplay has been written by playwright David Mamet (Glengarry Glen Ross, Speed-the-Plow, American Buffalo, The Verdict, Wag the Dog, Hannibal,The Untouchables, The Postman Always Rings Twice), who is also its director.

Bizarrely, it opens with a title card: “This is a work of fiction. It’s not ‘based on a true story.’ It is a drama inspired by actual persons in a trial, but it is neither an attempt to depict the actual persons, nor to comment upon the trial or its outcome.”

Huh?

While this sounds like something HBO lawyers have whipped up, there is no such ambiguity in the story. Pacino’s Spector resembles the eccentric Phil Spector in appearance and demeanour. His actions follow those documented in news reports. The soundtrack uses his famous “Wall of Sound” recordings. I’m calling foul on the HBO disclaimer.

Without wanting to give too much away, there were two trials for Spector and this telemovie focusses on the first. Mirren plays defence attorney Linda Kenney Baden. While she is battling her own demons (her health), she tries to build a case for Spector. She replaces attorney Bruce Cutler (Jeffrey Tambor) who had “a difference of opinion” with Spector on strategy.

Spector is his own worst enemy, filled with delusions of grandeur, vanity, and an awful lot of bad wigs (they become more outrageous as the movie progresses). He is so unlikeable a jury would probably convict him regardless…

Ultimately the telemovie takes a sympathetic view of Spector and raises doubts about the evidence. This seems unfair to the memory of Clarkson given that we know he was ultimately found guilty. Whether he was unfairly convicted is up to the audience to judge, but it is only dramatised from one perspective.

Better then to draw value from the theatrics of this tale, rather than its argument.

Mirren is, as always, resolute in her performance as the woman charged with the impossible. Linda Kenney Baden works like a lion tamer to defend her client (and sometimes Spector very nearly resembles one). The scenes with Pacino’s larger-than-life Spector are where this drama sings best.

Unlike the wonderful Game Change telemovie about Sarah Palin, this fails to get beneath the surface of its central character, but I suspect the two leads will probably still be shortlisted come awards season because they are in there boots and all. On that level I enjoyed this yarn.

Phil Spector premieres 8:30pm Saturday Showcase.

One Response

  1. Great review David, i was somewhat shortchanged by this movie, having got to it with such high expectations. The acting is of course superb, but it feels strangely simplisitc and thin, especially considering the usual gravitas of David Mamet in the driver’s seat. Nice to see Jeffrey Tambor some fine work. Overall It feels like a missed opportunity.

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