A Thin Time for ‘Fat Man’
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If director Roland Joffe wants to know why “Fat Man and Little Boy” isn’t drawing audiences, he need only look as far as his trailer (Outtakes, Nov. 12). Instead of a sober profile of the men behind the Atomic Age, the movie is presented in the trailer as a pious, bombastic, partisan star vehicle for Paul Newman’s favorite pinup boy, Paul Newman.
Newman is miscast, like having Tom Cruise as Westmoreland, or Dan Quayle as President.
WILLIAM J. BECKER JR.
Hollywood
Roland Joffe brought us “Fat Man”--wasn’t such a fun day, Now he wonders where he went wrong (Outtakes, just last Sunday). Says he thinks its message may have been rejected
“At some gut level” by the public -- Now he’s all dejected.
Methinks there’s just a whiff here of Hollywood self-delusion,
My only gut reaction was yawns and deep confusion .
The action dragged, the dialogue sagged,
Clear plot was an illusion .
Paul Newman hammed it as General Groves
(No wonder we all stayed away in droves) .
So, Roland, if you’re contemplating “Fat Man Number 2,”
Do us all a favor--don’t drop the other shoe!
JACK MANCHESTER
Long Beach
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