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Forever Young
You may think this odd of me (but what else is new?!), but the 1992 film
Forever Young, starring Mel Gibson and Jamie Lee Curtis, is one of my
favorite movies.
“Why?” you may ask. It’s a sappy movie and the plot is implausible, and
some of the acting is hammy and over the top. And did I mention Mel
Gibson's cheesy old-age make-up at the end? I?ve seen better work in
high school drama departments.
Well, the first reason I like it is because the screenplay was so very
well crafted and the editing so brilliantly concise. This film came out
at a time when I was heavily into screenplay writing. I had read Syd
Field’s books and took a couple of his expensive classes; and, yes, you
guessed it, was writing “The Next Great American Screenplay.” I’m still
writing it (two of ’em actually), but never mind. The Forever Young
screenplay is a textbook model of masterful screen writing. The story
just clicks from scene to scene like clockwork, without a wasted moment
of screen time. And the editing is equally well executed, with each
scene sequeing seamlessly into the next.
And the second reason I like the film is for the Cryogenic Capsule that
plays a prominent part in the story. On the following page are some
photos of the Capsule. See if you can figure out what its designers
(Production Designer: Gregg Fonseca [R.I.P.]; Art Director: Bruce A.
Miller) used as inspiration for it!
I have presented the photos in slide-show format. If you just do nothing
but sit there and watch, the photos will automatically advance. If you
want to pause at a particular photo, just click “Play/Stop.” To resume
the slide show, click “Play/Stop” again; or, you can manually view the
photos one at a time with the “previous” and “next” buttons.
Click HERE to go to the slide show.
This entire Website (137.com), and all text and some images* therein, are copyright ©1995-2006 by Charles Richard Lester unless otherwise noted. All images in the Forever Young Slide Show copyright © 1992 by Warner Bros. Studios. Used by special arrangement.
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