Classical pianists compete for stardom...sort of America's Got Talent for gifted classical musicians in the early 80s. (None of the actors actually play the piano themselves from what I read, it took months of rehearsal and training for the cast to fake it convincingly.) Richard Dreyfuss and Amy Irving are the leads who are competing for the same prize and fall in love. Intriguing questions are raised...in a cutthroat, winner take all contest can they afford to be distracted by a love affair? Is one of them leading the other on so they won't be at the top of their game? Can their new love survive if one wins and other loses? In the end, they both must decide what's more important.
From the jump, Amy Irving's Joanie is far more likeable than Dreyfuss. She's unpretentious and self deprecating even using her middle name which she says "helps her cope with a first name like Heidi". She's very gifted and devoted to her musical work but it's Dreyfuss who has the most to lose. He's 5 months away from the cut off age for the competition and then must give up a dream he's been chasing since childhood, to be a concert pianist and take a mediocre music teacher job in a public school. For Joanie, there will be next year but this is it for Paul. Is he setting her up because she is the only serious competition for the prize or is it true love?
All the supporting actors are fine, Sam Wanamaker turns in a journeyman performance as a talented but temperamental conductor. There is a sub plot about a Soviet teenager (the movie was made back in 1980 during the Cold War) who's piano teacher defects creating an international incident and forcing the competition to be delayed for a week. This is handled sloppily and just feels like filler. Ty Henderson's Michael is an interesting character that you wish were given a little more screen time to find out what his backstory is. But the real scene stealer is Lee Remick, who basically runs away with every scene she's in as Amy Irving's cold, demanding teacher who understands the rules of the game a lot better than the younger woman does. Richard Dreyfuss, on the other hand is really miscast here. He makes it almost impossible to understand why a fairy princess like Amy Irving (who even has a princess name like Heidi) would fall for a self centered jerk like him in the first place! And this is going to be really shallow to say, but Dreyfuss was way too short and physically unappealing to be believable. I know back in the 70s Hollywood was shifting their ideas of sex appeal to more cerebral types like Dustin Hoffman and Woody Allen but I just don't get it.
All in all, an interesting little love story with plot holes that may be difficult for some to believe. Wonderful classical music and a great love theme at the end by Randy Crawford that I've since downloaded to my phone.
From the jump, Amy Irving's Joanie is far more likeable than Dreyfuss. She's unpretentious and self deprecating even using her middle name which she says "helps her cope with a first name like Heidi". She's very gifted and devoted to her musical work but it's Dreyfuss who has the most to lose. He's 5 months away from the cut off age for the competition and then must give up a dream he's been chasing since childhood, to be a concert pianist and take a mediocre music teacher job in a public school. For Joanie, there will be next year but this is it for Paul. Is he setting her up because she is the only serious competition for the prize or is it true love?
All the supporting actors are fine, Sam Wanamaker turns in a journeyman performance as a talented but temperamental conductor. There is a sub plot about a Soviet teenager (the movie was made back in 1980 during the Cold War) who's piano teacher defects creating an international incident and forcing the competition to be delayed for a week. This is handled sloppily and just feels like filler. Ty Henderson's Michael is an interesting character that you wish were given a little more screen time to find out what his backstory is. But the real scene stealer is Lee Remick, who basically runs away with every scene she's in as Amy Irving's cold, demanding teacher who understands the rules of the game a lot better than the younger woman does. Richard Dreyfuss, on the other hand is really miscast here. He makes it almost impossible to understand why a fairy princess like Amy Irving (who even has a princess name like Heidi) would fall for a self centered jerk like him in the first place! And this is going to be really shallow to say, but Dreyfuss was way too short and physically unappealing to be believable. I know back in the 70s Hollywood was shifting their ideas of sex appeal to more cerebral types like Dustin Hoffman and Woody Allen but I just don't get it.
All in all, an interesting little love story with plot holes that may be difficult for some to believe. Wonderful classical music and a great love theme at the end by Randy Crawford that I've since downloaded to my phone.