Cinderella Liberty **** (1974, James Caan, Marsha Mason, Eli Wallach, Kirk Calloway, Burt Young, Bruno Kirby, Dabney Coleman, Sally Kirkland, Allan Arbus) – Classic Movie Review 4496

Director Mark Rydell’s 1974 movie Cinderella Liberty stars James Caan as warm-natured lonely US Navy sailor John Baggs Jr, who is enjoying an extended liberty pass of leave in Seattle after his service records are lost.

He falls for brassy, hard-drinking, pool-hustling hooker Maggie Paul (Marsha Mason) and becomes a surrogate father figure to her 11-year old illegitimate, bi-racial boy Doug (Kirk Calloway), in this entertaining, moving, attractively played, old-fashioned little romantic drama with the added Seventies-style trimmings of a hard-edged tone and some strong language.

In a lovingly crafted film, the admirable Caan (acting against type) and Mason are at the peak of their prime and work truly hard to make the fairy tale seem real, while sympathetic director Rydell looks on encouragingly and admiringly. Eli Wallach effortlessly steals his scenes as Lynn Forshay.

Darryl Ponicsan bases the screenplay on his own novel. Ponicsan also wrote the novel or screenplays of The Last Detail (1973), Taps (1981), Nuts (1987), School Ties (1992) and Random Hearts (1999).

The notable Oscar nominated score is by John Williams and the song ‘You’re So Nice to Be Around’ (music by John Williams, lyrics by Paul Williams) also won an Oscar nomination, as did Mason for her performance.

Also in the cast are Burt Young, Bruno Kirby, Allyn Ann McLerie, Dabney Coleman, Sally Kirkland, Allan Arbus, Fred Sadoff, Jon Korkes, Don Calfa, Ted D’Arms, Diane Schenker and James Bigham.

James Caan and Marsha Mason reunited in 1979 for Chapter Two.

James Caan died on 6 July 2022, aged 82. He was nominated for one Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for The Godfather. He is best known for his roles in The Godfather, Misery, Rollerball and Michael Mann’s Thief. Michael Mann remembered him as ‘a totally committed actor with a vitality in his core.’

Darryl Ponicsan wrote on 8 July 2022: ‘RIP, James Caan. Nice guy, good pool shooter, more versatile as an actor than as first assumed. He delivered a sensitive portrayal of a misplaced sailor trying to reconstitute a family in Cinderella Liberty.’

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 4496

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