MOONSTRUCK: Blu-ray re-issue (MGM/Star Partners II Ltd., 1987) Criterion


 Legendary filmmaker, Norman Jewison delivers the romantic goods with Moonstruck (1987), a fairytale – Italian style.  In tandem, the picture is a delicious rom/com, an homage to Italian Americana and family solidarity, and, a sweetly familiar ode to that tingly little pleasure afflicts us all when ‘the moon hits our eye like a big pizza pie.’ No small feat, considering neither Jewison nor the film’s screenwriter, John Patrick Shanley are derived from that Mediterranean ilk. Nevertheless, the story is populated by emblematic Italian/American performances – ironically, the stand out, Cher’s Oscar-winning turn as Loretta Casterini - a level-headed bookkeeper who finds true love this second time around under the most unlikely of circumstances. Just for the record, Cher’s heritage is Armenian/Irish/English/German and Cherokee. Nevertheless, with her trademarked tresses curled and tinged in hints of grey, her olive-skinned complexion and a bit of exercising her innovative acting chops, Cher lends ballast and presence to this no-nonsense, middle-aged novice to love until her heart gets the appropriate jolt of desperate passion from one-handed baker, Ronny Cammerari (Nicholas Cage).

That Moonstruck should have been made at all is a minor miracle of good timing and even greater good luck. Jewison’s longtime collaborator, Pat Palmer absolutely hated the screenplay at first glance. Between Shanley and Jewison, one mutual change was agreed upon from the outset; the working title, The Bride and the Wolf was awful. Jewison thought it made the property sound like a horror movie and Shanley agreed, offering ten replacement titles for consideration; one of them, the clincher - Moonstruck. Reportedly, both Cher and Olympia Dukakis were not certain of their participation. Each had misgivings about sounding authentic. Their worries were quelled by Jewison who supplied each lady with an on the set dialect coach, Julia Bovasso (a teacher who also plays Loretta’s aunt, Rita Cappomaggi in this movie). In hindsight, Moonstruck is a joyous celebration of the romance and ravioli ilk, mixing metaphors of sage wisdom (“Don’t shit where you eat!”) with the ‘then’ contempo bustle of life in the Big Apple, to upset the proverbial cart and stand tradition on end. “Snap out of it!”

Ushered by vigorous vignettes from Nicolas Cage and Cher, Moonstruck is a boisterously waggish homage to amour. Easily, it endures as one of the eighties’ most sophisticated and charming rom/coms – and perhaps, to remain more timeless than timely in the many years yet to follow. John Patrick Shanley has managed to shape a droll octet of New Yorkers, caught giddy and glistening under the spell of the ‘moon’, into a smarmy/sexy cohort, leading to a night of crisply satisfying misdirection and the brightest ‘feel good’ dénouement to hit movie screens in a very long while. And while Moonstruck undeniably has its moments of delightfully obtuse and zany, folkloric jeremiads to set it apart from the usual fluff and nonsense, beyond this mere patina of ethnic effervescence there sparkles an unexpected and nostalgic ache for some sort of grand illusion, meant to captivate us all; Jewison, perfectly coating his rom/com in the enigma of ethereal movie-land magic, otherwise intangible to quantify.  And Jewison, his writer, and the movie’s cast manage another major coup: to keep all of these pliable elements – from screwball to sexy – in play all of the time, never shortchanging one aspect of the telling to concentrate on another or veer into tangential regressions that delay, rather than augment the crux of our enjoyment. So, if indeed, it’s still ‘the same old story…a fight for love and glory, a case of do or die,’ then, at least, Jewison has found a refreshingly unique way to navigate us through this love discarded/love renewed fiction.   

After the main titles – a Triptek through Manhattan, set to Dean Martin’s ‘That’s Amore’ – we are introduced to Loretta Castorini, an Italian-American widow at 37, who works as a bookkeeper for her uncle and lives in Brooklyn Heights with her family. Her father, Cosmo (Vincent Gardenia), and mother, Rose (Olympia Dukakis) are looking after Cosmo’s father (the marvelous curmudgeon, Feodor Chaliapin Jr. – ironically named as, at the time of Moonstruck, Mr. Chaliapin was 82 yrs.-young! Jr. indeed!).  Loretta’s boyfriend, Johnny Cammareri (Danny Aiello) is a real limp noodle, subservient to his dying mother’s wishes, but witlessly proposing marriage before departing for Sicily to be with his ailing mama.  Superstitious to a fault, Loretta insists they adhere to the proper traditions as she fervently believes her first marriage was cursed by her own impetuosity to fling caution to the wind. Recognizing the importance of family, but again – too much of a weak-kneed sister to do anything about it, Johnny entrusts Loretta to invite his estranged younger brother, Ronny to their wedding. Shortly thereafter, Loretta informs her parents of the engagement. Cosmo disapproves of Johnny. He is not a real man. What his daughter sees in him, he will never understand. But Rose is pleased as she well knows her daughter only ‘likes’ but does not love Johnny. After all, love can hurt deeply when it is not reciprocated.

However, Loretta is quite unprepared to broker a peace between Ronny and Johnny. Her arrival at Ronny’s bakery is met with open hostility. Ronny reveals he has a wooden prosthetic hand and blames Johnny for the loss in a moment of wool-gathering, resulting in his own fiancée dumping him. Uncomfortable about discussing the family’s secrets in front of Ronny’s other employees, Loretta implores him to continue their discussion in his apartment.  She cooks him a meal – a peace offering – but then, wastes no time suggesting he did himself harm to escape being trapped in a bad relationship. Suddenly enraged, yet passionately, Ronny seizes Loretta with a devastatingly demonstrative kiss. He carries her off to bed and they make love. That evening, Rose's brother, Raymond Cappomaggi (Louis Guss) and his wife, Rita (Julie Bavasso) entertain Rose and Cosmo for dinner. Raymond recalls a particularly bright moon like the one shining tonight, and perceives it as a good omen for bringing young lovers together. However, the next morning, Loretta informs Ronny they can never see each other again. Ronny agrees, but only if Loretta will accompany him to the opera.  Attending church to confess her sins, Loretta then closes out the register at the store, gets a new hair-do and buys a glamorous gown for her evening with Ronny at the Met.

Deeply exhilarated by Puccini's La bohème, Loretta’s happiness is interrupted when she sees her own father courting another woman – Mona (Anita Gillette). As Loretta is also ‘cheating’ on Johnny with his brother, Cosmo now suggests they all agree to pretend this chance meeting never occurred. Loretta reluctantly acquiesces to this, but then accompanies Ronny to his apartment. Meanwhile, on the other side of town, Rose decides to dine alone at a restaurant where she witnesses a college professor, Perry (John Mahoney), being affectedly plonked by his date – a much younger female student. Intrigued, Rose invites Perry to dine with her. She also allows him to walk her home, but draws the line at inviting him in because she is loyal in her marriage. Now, Johnny unexpectedly returns from Sicily, attesting to his mother's miraculous recovery. Alas, he finds Loretta is not at home. Rose inquiries why middle-aged men chase after women too young for their own good, and, Johnny surmises it is largely due to their fear of death. Ronny arrives, and Rose invites him for breakfast. Now, Grandpa insists Cosmo pay for Loretta's wedding. Rose confronts Cosmo with his affair and after some consternation on both sides, each reaffirms their love for the other. But when Johnny breaks off his engagement to Loretta, superstitiously inferring their marriage would cause his mother's death, Loretta berates him and throws the engagement ring at him. Seizing the moment, and the ring, Ronny proposes instead. Loretta accepts. The family toasts with champagne and Johnny joins in at Grandfather's urging, since he will now be part of the family after all. Unable to quantify any of the extraordinary events that have just taken place, Cosmo's father begins to cry, declaring somberly “I'm confused.”

Thus, ends Moonstruck, on a scene-stealing note made more poignant by the fact we can definitely relate to Grandpa’s perplexity, yet as pleased by how perfectly all of the pieces in this fractured fairytale have somehow, and quite suddenly, come together. Reportedly, Feodor Chaliapin was both hard of hearing and seeing – squinting to read actor’s lips in order to know when it was his turn to speak his lines. Initially, the brass at Orion Pictures rejected Jewison’s choice of Nicholas Cage (much younger than Cher) for the part of Ronny. The actor had been introduced to Jewison by Cher, and, although having already appeared in 7 movies, including the high-profile, Peggy Sue Got Married (1986) and Raising Arizona (1987), had yet to break through to popular appeal with audiences. Aside: Cage’s appeal has always baffled me. Apart from the aforementioned movies, his most ‘impressive’ role prior to Moonstruck was in 1986’s The Boy in Blue in which the actor, perpetually stripped to his waist, was given the opportunity to play the incongruously out-of-place-and-time loner, Ned Hanlan – champion sculler by day, and notorious bootlegger by night. Raging against 19th century convention in that movie, Cage ports over this aggressive on-screen persona to Ronny herein, his fiery disposition creating on-screen sparks with his co-star.

And yet, despite Cher’s star turn, Moonstruck remains one of those great ensemble movies from the 1980’s that teems with iconic moments spread generously across its roster; each, a perfect little gem. Cher - who justly won the Best Actress Oscar - is, I believe, one of the most underrated acting talents from the last 40-years. Despite her constant ability to morph between the worlds of pop music and the movies, the mere utterance of her name almost instantly conjures to mind crass cliché. Fair enough, the actress has often undercut her own importance and celebrity with self-deprecating one liners, as when she arrived to accept her Oscar, wearing a bizarre, mid-rift exposing black sequin and feathered Bob Macke creation, she began her acceptance speech with an ebullient chuckle, before offering, "As you can see, I received my Academy handbook on how to dress like a serious actress!" Yet, critics have been remiss to examine if such perceived 'errors in judgment' are incidental or deliberate, the devil-may-care pop icon’s snub at conventional ‘conservatism’ shared by her contemporaries. Regardless, Cher remains a much maligned, and even more rarified talent. For a time, she competed with Hollywood's most gifted and highly praised actresses, stunning the critics by being able to hold her own against some heavy-hitters in movies like Silkwood (1983), Mask (1985), Suspect (1987), The Witches of Eastwick (1987) and Tea with Mussolini (1999). Moonstruck, however, will likely remain Cher's best effort, if for no other reason, then it seems to completely lack the built-in presence of its star and go, with gusto, for assimilating completely into the role. And Cher is divine, incandescent even, as her Loretta struggles to find, then comprehend passion’s sway on her own terms. Little wonder that Moonstruck was an enormous hit with audiences and critics in 1987. In addition to Cher's Oscar-worthy performance, Olympia Dukakis took home a statuette for Best Supporting Actress. John Patrick Shanley’s screenplay also held the honors on Oscar night.

Criterion’s re-issue of Moonstruck to Blu-ray represents the first genuinely competent release of this Oscar-winning gem, derived from a 4K remastering effort in 1080p, that reveals far more texture and layering to the image than the original Blu from MGM/Fox. That said, this re-issue also considerably amplifies film grain.  The color palette here skews warmer too, with flesh tones adopting a reddish cast that nevertheless seems genuine to its source. Contrast is excellent. Several sequences illustrate a sudden lack of fine detail, although I suspect this to be inherent to the film stock and not a flaw in this remastering effort. So, no aspersions cast. Close-ups reveal some incredible detail. But, several optical process shots, depicting the moon over New York City look downright fuzzy. The only other curiosity detected, a minor lean in color balancing that tends to slightly tarnish whites a soft teal. Criterion forgoes its verve for a PCM audio and instead imports the 5.1 DTS from the MGM/Fox Blu from 2012. Extras are the big plus here. We get a regurgitation of 1998’s archival audio commentary with Jewison, Cher, and John Patrick Shanley.

The ‘new’ bonus features begin with a 12-minute intro from Cher filmed in 2013 as part of the AFI's 'Night at the Movies' program. Shanley returns in a new 16-minute interview, exclusive to this disc, also to feature reflections from cinema scholar, Stefano Albertini. We also get a half-hour interview with Jewison from 1987, more involved with the director’s approach to storytelling, as well as 3 interviews from the ‘Today’ show, featuring Cher, Cage, and, Olympia Dukakis and Vincent Gardenia. Again, from AFI – this time, their 100 years...100 Passions, a ten-plus minute interview with Danny Aiello. 37-minutes of audio-only with Shanley discusses his creative process. At the Heart of an Italian Family is another junket produced in tandem with the movie’s release, running barely a half-hour and featuring some interesting ‘behind the scenes’ footage. Finally, we get a 2006 featurette exploring ‘the music’ used in the movie, featuring composer, Dick Hyman, Jewison and Shanley, plus the movie’s original trailer, and, a booklet essay by Emily VanDerWerff. Bottom line: Moonstruck is one of those seminal ‘classics’ from the 80’s deserving of our renewed pleasure. Criterion’s packs this disc reissue with meaningful extras, sure to please. Highly recommended!

FILM RATING (out of 5 – 5 being the best)

4.5

VIDEO/AUDIO

4

EXTRAS

4.5  

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