Love begins across a room
With eyes that lock and smiles that bloom
But will not leave the stricken pair
When time to end the brief affair,
For love endures a year apart,
And patient is the waiting heart.
They love their spouses too in spite
Of seeking yearly to unite.
For love endures for decades too,
The changes they must suffer through,
And even when it nears its end,
It will not leave a lifelong friend.
_________________
Released at the height of Alan Alda’s M*A*S*H fame, Same Time, Next Year brought to life both Bernard Slade’s 1975 play and a romance for the ages. As she’s a big fan of Alan Alda’s charm and humor, it’s no surprise that my VC loves this film so much and insisted on my reviewing it.
George (Alda) and Doris (Ellen Burstyn) happen to meet at a seaside hotel in 1951 while on solo retreats and immediately fall for each other, with the romantic mood set perfectly by the Oscar-nominated song “The Last Time I Felt Like This” (the kind of lovey-dovey theme that gets my VC tearing up with just the first few notes; it also concludes the film to earn a place in my End Credits Song Hall of Fame). After falling into bed as well, the two can’t abide never seeing each other again and, since their respective retreats coincide at the same time every year, they plan to meet annually, with the audience checking in every five years or so. The set-up and plot are simple and potentially corny, but Same Time, Next Year is a good example of a film that is elevated by some outstanding performances and dialogue.
Burstyn played Doris on stage as well opposite Charles Grodin, winning a Tony (she also garnered an Oscar nomination), and feels perfectly at ease with the role, even as she metamorphoses over the years from naïve housewife to hippie to confident businesswoman. Conversely, Alda changes in much more subtle ways, yet both remain recognizable and endearingly flawed through the decades. (It’s interesting to note that Alda’s M*A*S*H co-star Loretta Swit also played Doris on Broadway; that would have been a reunion of a different type.) They chat about their lives and families and children and politics, about George’s accountant quirks and Doris’s uncle with a metal plate in his head. As they continue to meet, it becomes clear that much can happen in a year’s time, and their relationship must grow and adapt to the sometimes painful changes they aren’t together to face. And of course, with Alda on hand, there’s a good deal of humor in the conversations too, such as George’s insistence on absolute openness despite habitually lying.
I do endorse this film with reservations, though, since one’s enjoyment from it depends on how well they can suspend their morality. I, for one, believe in faithfulness and monogamy, ideas that may seem foreign in a film about a decades-long affair. Yet as much as George and Doris love each other, they both love their own spouses too and speak affectionately of Helen and Harry. It isn’t all about sex; while most affairs aren’t like this, there is a degree of faithfulness to all the relationships, bonds that are clearly much deeper than a broken marriage or a one-night stand. Whether this is enough to justify the breach of trust is left to the audience, but it’s not enough to spoil my enjoyment of the film.
While my VC’s affection for Same Time, Next Year far surpasses mine, it’s still a romantic dramedy to remember. She claims that the viewer gets to know these characters, even those only mentioned like Harry and Helen, better than almost any other film. While I wouldn’t go that far, George and Doris are indeed the likable sort that I wouldn’t mind reuniting with, maybe, around this time next year.
Best line: (George, often enough for it to almost be his catchphrase) “All right, I didn’t think it through.”
VC’s best line: (George, recounting when they first met) “We had instant rapport. Did you notice that too? (Doris) “No. But I know we really hit it off.”
Rank: List Runner-Up© 2015 S. G. Liput
312 Followers and Counting
(Can be sung to “The Devil Went Down to Georgia”)
Travolta went down to Houston,
He was lookin’ for a job to take.
He was young and dumb, just a country bum,
And he was waiting for his big break,
When he came across this young girl
Dancin’ round in a honky-tonk,
A promised land of beer and band
With a metal bull or bronc.
When the misfit pair were married,
Things at first were going well,
But some stubbornness made a jealous mess
And the marriage quickly fell.
While the two just boozed and pined away
And rode that bucking bull,
I began to think that this movie stinks
And was near unbearable.
__________________
The earth is getting dusty,
And our crops are less than trusty,
And our history is rusty,
And all life is soon to end.
Farmer Coop is in frustration
Till suspicious gravitation
Sends him to a NASA station
To encounter an old friend.
Dr. Brand suggests spacefaring
On a certain wormhole bearing
Will reward the pilots’ daring
With a new potential Earth.
Leaving son and loving daughter,
Coop departs to be the spotter
On new worlds of ice and water,
Where time carries greater worth.
Though he carries on with yearning,
Many dangers are concerning.
Complex choices stem from learning
He may not end up returning.
______________
A lonely hotel is a dangerous thing,
At least in the works of an author named King,
For no one can know what occurs in the mind
When volatile men are annoyed and confined.
They say, like Jack Torrance, the winter caretaker,
That past tragedies are no sign or deal breaker.
He’s simply too sane for such things to occur;
His wife is the same, and he’d never hurt her.
But get them alone in a desolate maze
And watch them get worse with the passing of days
And cringe as the dread and the wickedness weave,
For those at the Overlook may never leave.
__________________
With S.H.I.E.L.D. out of service,
At least on the surface,
Six awesome Avengers defend the world still.
Since HYDRA arose,
They’ve empowered new foes,
Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, twins with ill will.
Once Tony Stark’s had
An epiphany bad,
He then starts preparing for “peace in our time,”
But Ultron’s created
And quickly upgraded,
Equating true peace with a murderous crime.
Against these new threats
And alarming skill sets,
Our heroes must deal with their goals and their fear,
And when all agree
To save Earth mightily,
The smackdown is epic and worth a good cheer.
____________________
Surgeries happen every day,
Routine and clean, so doctors say.
You simply go to sleep and then
They ought to wake you up again.
What’s that? You’ve heard, through some mistake,
That sometimes people never wake?
That’s possible, but don’t dismay;
It’s very rare, so doctors say.
You need not worry of a coma;
Trust the doc and his diploma.
Never fear about foul play
That can’t occur, so doctors say.
Statistics prove how safe you are;
The surgeon’s been ideal so far.
He’ll deftly take the pain away,
And you’ll be fine, so doctors say.
________________
In District 13, Katniss Everdeen waits,
Unsettled by District 12 citizens’ fates.
Deep under the ground with her saved family,
She worries for Peeta interminably.
Both Plutarch and resolute President Coin
Are eager for her to recover and join.
Insisting that Peeta be rescued someday,
Poor Katniss agrees to be their Mockingjay,
The hero for all districts, sure to inspire
The masses and light an unquenchable fire.
Since staged propaganda does not work as well,
She heads to the war zones to get mad as hell.
Her anger at Snow for the cruel devastation
Extends to the people who rise from privation.
Yet who should appear on the Capitol screens
But Peeta, denouncing the riotous scenes?
The boy’s brain seems washed, but he still tries to warn
The rebels of sudden barrages that morn.
When Capitol power is violently cut,
The rebels move in ere the window is shut.
The three captive tributes that Snow has been holding
Are surely a part of his scheme still unfolding.
Though Katniss is eager for Peeta’s return,
She’s shocked at the lesson Snow wants her to learn.
_________________
The author Jane Austen
Refused to get lost in
Romance of her own,
Though for that she’s well-known.
__________________
Rhyme and Reason 