I’ve been bending the rules of “Throwback Thursday” recently.
With that in mind, I was on a mission to find a true “Throwback Thursday” film.
Released in 1991, “The Fisher King” is a wild ride from start to finish. It’s hard to categorize the film. There are plenty of dramatic moments, some comedic and some that are pure fantasy.
The plot of “The Fisher King” starts off pretty simple. Jeff Bridges stars as Jack, a shock jock radio host in New York City who gets off on insulting his callers and the public at large. One day, he goes off on a listener. The unhinged listener goes on a shooting spree later that day. He shoots up a bar, killing several people before turning the gun on himself. That moment sends Jack on a downward spiral. He quits his job and drops out of society. The film flashes ahead three years. Jack is an alcoholic living with a woman, Anne (Mercedes Ruehl), who manages a video store (remember those?).
One night, Jack gets drunk and decides to kill himself. He attaches cinder blocks to his feet and prepares to jump into the river. At that very moment, he is accosted by two punks who want to rid the world of the homeless and they attempt to set him on fire. However, that’s when Parry (the late, great Robin Williams) enters the picture. A true hobo, Parry intervenes, using some makeshift weapons to fight off Jack’s attackers.
Parry is clearly insane and Jack knows it. After spending the night at Parry’s “home,” Jack wants to rid himself of the man as soon as he can. However, he quickly learns that Parry was a college professor who had a pretty good life until his wife died in — you guessed it — the bar shooting.
It turns out that Parry is obsessed with finding the Holy Grail, which he believes to be in the apartment of a Manhattan socialite. Jack decides to help Parry get the Holy Grail as a form of penance, if you will.
While all this is going on, Parry gets obsessed with an office worker named Lydia (Amanda Plummer). Jack tries to help the romance along, setting up some comedic scenes where Williams is at his best. There’s also a double date scene where Jack and Anne are totally taken aback by the behavior of Parry and Lydia.
The one question that nagged at me throughout the film was this: If Parry was so distraught over losing his wife in the shooting, why is he smitten with Lydia? It seems like a real reach to suggest that Parry would get over his devastating loss so quickly. The forced romance between Parry and Lydia adds very little to the plot, so I had to wonder why it was there at all.
A simple Google search shows that reviews of “The Fisher King” were all over the map. Some critics proclaimed it a masterpiece, while others panned it. I fall somewhere in between. I hadn’t seen “The Fisher King” since 1991. Some 30-plus years later, I sort of understand why I never felt compelled to re-watch it. While we care about the characters, we don’t fall in love with them. Although Williams is very good, he has numerous other roles (“Dead Poets Society,” “Good Morning Vietnam”) that are much more memorable and enjoyable. As always, Bridges is solid. Jack starts out as a despicable character, but we quickly learn to like him. Even though his misguided words sparked a shooting, we are rooting for his redemption.
Ruehl gives a fantastic performance. In fact, she won an Oscar — something I did not know until I did a deep dive into the history of the film. She hasn’t had such a role since and has done a lot of television and TV movies, proof that winning a statuette does not guarantee later success in film.
“The Fisher King” is a little long, with a running time of 137 minutes. There are some scenes that probably could have been left on the cutting room floor, but my guess is that director Terry Gilliam and writer Richard LaGravenese wanted a meaty film. Well, they certainly got it. Luckily, Williams and Bridges were able to carry it across the finish line.
“The Fisher King” is rated R for adult language, violence and sexual situations. It is available on HBO Max, Spectrum TV, Prime Video, Vudu and Apple TV.
Chris Morelli is the managing editor of The Centre County Gazette.
