Fischer v. Spassky: the movie

[dirac]

In the Hollywood equivalent of ambulance chasing, a Bobby Fischer movie is in the works. At least they waited till after the funeral. Fischer would have been entirely unsurprised.

It will be interesting to see how they try to tell this story. I assume it has attractions as a Cold War drama. Fischer was cute and a smart dresser in 1972 and the role will presumably attract a hot young actor looking for a nomination. Had he been one of those short pudgy guys with the glasses and the math major corduroys I don’t think this project would be considered very seriously.

It seems to me, however, it has to run aground on the same shoals that defeated “The Aviator”: the protagonist is just too weird to be a viable movie hero and they’ll have to do a lot of softening and faking to make him so. By ’72 Fischer had been going on about the Jews for years, although not on the radio, obviously. (And, like Hughes, Fischer wasn’t always terribly sympathetic even when he was more or less normal.)

The NYT obit.

In this obituary and others I’ve read Fischer is getting a bit of a raw deal in relation to the championship match. Yes, he was a diva and a chronic complainer, and sometimes rude – in short, he was Fischer at a big competition -- but some of the match conditions were bad, the cameras were not unobtrusive as promised but were great hulking things whirring away right by the players, there were Icelanders bringing the kiddies in to see the show, and so forth.

[Cliff]

I'd reserve judgment. An excellent movie was made about insane mathematician John Nash, "A beautiful Mind." Mathematicians being well known for their sartorial sense.

[papeetepatrick]

I'd also add that, while I thought 'The Aviator' was a well-made failure, it was primarily to me because DiCaprio was very good but not insane. About 10 days ago, that dreadful 'On Faith' blog that WaPo has (dreadful because the blog-writing is the palest imaginable, you haven't any idea how they can pass this off at first, then when you do realize how, it's even worse), there was a link to Tom Cruise's Scientology video that even Scientology wanted to suppress; and a few days later, they again did, because links I sent to people to watch this were no longer working. It's almost indescribable what you see in his presentation of such things as 'You're either IN or you're OUT' and 'It's because you're a Scientologist. And you better know it...you better know it..' with the ostinato of the 'Mission Impossible' theme going on below (but generally unrecognized by the blog commenters, who were primarily interested in an old-fashioned religion-fight; and amusing because Cruise was all about how this was 'Mission Possible to the Point of Fore-Ordained' and how he 'wants to get rid of all those SPECTATORS', I don't know about the movie audience ones). But while his impromptu performances like this are stellar more in his own mind, such insanity suited 'Magnolia' perfectly, and he outshone his then-wife in 'Eyes Wide Shut' by light-years, IMO. If he'd done Howard Hughes, it would have required absolutely no effort whatsoever, just like falling off a log; he would have been, with prodding by a director, able to CHANNEL Howard Hughes, not just struggle like a mere actor like DiCaprio to turn in the best performance he could without having to become borderline.

[innopac]

About 10 days ago, that dreadful 'On Faith' blog that WaPo has (dreadful because the blog-writing is the palest imaginable, you haven't any idea how they can pass this off at first, then when you do realize how, it's even worse), there was a link to Tom Cruise's Scientology video that even Scientology wanted to suppress; and a few days later, they again did, because links I sent to people to watch this were no longer working.

Tom Cruise's Scientology video is now on youtube and Gawker.

[papeetepatrick]

Tom Cruise's Scientology video is now on youtube and Gawker.

Many thanks, innopac. I hadn't really thought they could suppress such things from the internet so thoroughly.

[dirac]

I'd reserve judgment. An excellent movie was made about insane mathematician John Nash, "A beautiful Mind." Mathematicians being well known for their sartorial sense.

Thanks for posting, Cliff. Russell Crowe was stupendous but I thought the movie itself was blah -- it seemed to be driven by the notion that serious mental illness could be cured or ameliorated by the Love of a Good Woman. In addition, mental illness was the subject of the film, whereas in The Aviator it was just something awkward that the filmmakers had to deal with. You can argue about what was wrong with Fischer but he wasn't as ill as Nash IMO.

And yes, I do think it helped that Nash was an attractive man wih a pretty wife.

[zerbinetta]

My (mercifully) brief encounter with Bobby Fischer:

In the early seventies I took judo classes at the same dojo as BF. He was, then, a third degree brown belt; I was a raw beginner. Because of some added function taking up one of the rooms, the beginners and advanced classes were combined one day. I was partnered with BF. I was a 106 lb girl & BF was, I guess, in his early thirties & twice my weight and close to a foot taller.

Judo is about finesse & trickery, a physical sort of chess game. It levels the field by use of balance, fulcrum, quickness, sudden shifts of direction; it is not about brute strength.

In our encounter, Fischer picked me up by the shoulders and threw me to the mat. Three times, which was the match. Brute strength, no use of artistry or finesse whatsoever.

What remains with me is the rage I could see and feel emanating from him. I could understand disdain or mockery but, if they were present, they were consumed by this overwhelming and very personal anger. I was not embarassed; I was frightened.

After a couple of years, when I reached brown belt status, I hoped to get a re-match but I never did see Fischer again.

This was a very angry man.

[dirac]

This was a very angry man.

Indeed. Thanks for that story, zerbinetta.