Evita **** (1996, Madonna, Antonio Banderas, Jonathan Pryce) – Classic Movie Review 1306

Director Alan Parker’s 1996 movie stars Madonna as Evita. Madonna scores a personal triumph in this splendidly lavish and swirling film adaptation of the 1978 Andrew Lloyd Webber-Tim Rice West End and Broadway stage hit musical, based on the life of Eva Duarte de Perón from a child of the lower classes to becoming the wife of Juan Perón and First Lady and spiritual leader of Argentina.

Mandy Patinkin as Che in the 1979 Broadway production.

It works very sleekly, smoothly and satisfyingly as a stage to screen transfer, always a tricky thing to pull off, and Parker does it nicely and with style to spare. He also wrote the effective screenplay with Oliver Stone,

Antonio Banderas as Ché, Jonathan Pryce as Juan Perón and Jimmy Nail as Agustín Magaldi are also assets to the cast.

In an all-singing show, one new song was added to the stage show, You Must Love Me, and it triumphed by winning an Oscar as Best Original Song for Andrew Lloyd Webber (music) and Tim Rice (lyrics). There were four other nominations.

Director Ken Russell was set to film it with his own first choice for the lead in Karla DeVito, but Tim Rice wanted London star Elaine Paige, with whom he was romantically involved. Later Russell screen tested Liza Minnelli, which he said was  amazing, but Rice still wanted Paige and Russell quit.

Poster for the Broadway production with Patti LuPone as Evita.

Patti LuPone wasn’t offered the role of Eva Perón, even though she created it in the original Broadway production. As an actress by then in her forties, it was decided LuPone was too old for the title role as Perón died at the age of 33. When asked during a later interview, LuPone said she has never seen the film of Evita.

For some long time, Madonna campaigned to play Eva Perón. Madonna eventually wrote a letter to Alan Parker, explaining how she would be perfect for the part and Parker was impressed by Madonna’s fervour for the role. After Madonna was cast, LuPone was approached to play Eva’s mother but declined.

Evita was costly at $55million, but it was a hit and took a grand $141million worldwide.

It holds a hilarious record. The film earned Madonna a Guinness World Record title of Most costume changes in a film. She changes costumes 85 times (which included 39 hats, 45 pairs of shoes and 56 pairs of earrings). The record was previously held by Elizabeth Taylor for the 1963 Cleopatra (65 costume changes).

The musical began as a rock opera concept album released in 1976. Its success led to productions in London’s West End in 1978, winning the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Musical, and on Broadway a year later, where it was the first British musical to receive the Tony Award for Best Musical.

(C) Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 1306

Link to Derek Winnert’s home page for more film reviews: http://derekwinnert.com/