I've been telling a lot of people recently about a film I first saw on
Turner Classic Movies many weeks ago called "Patterns." Never heard
of it before, thought it was a mundane, uninteresting title, but in my
estimation, this film should be considered one of the all-time classic
films. It was written by Rod Serling, based on his teleplay of the
same name which premiered on the Kraft Television Theatre in 1955, and
is the work that made Serling an "overnight sensation" (impressive to
learn that it was Serling's *72nd* teleplay -- and this was still a
few years before "The Twilight Zone"). The TV version starred Everett
Sloane, Ed Begley and Richard Kiley (in a role that was given to Van
Heflin in the film). Sloane and Begley repeated their roles in the
film, as did Elizabeth Wilson -- also interesting that Elizabeth
Montgomery has a small role in the TV version.
The story is about a small town executive brought into a big New York
City company, where he gradually learns that he's been brought in in
order to push another man out. The acting, writing and directing are
all top notch (Fielder Cook directed). Sloane created a character
that should have become an icon of the son-of-a-***** boss, and I'm
surprised so few people know about it. The character is written and
acted three dimensionally, Sloane gives a towering performance, and
the final confrontation scene is very intense and fascinating. At one
point while first watching the film, I thought Serling was going to go
with the tired cliche of the ruthless capitalist boss exploiting those
around him, but Serling puts a very interesting spin on it that leaves
me in awe. By the end, the character is still a son-of-a-***** --
but...!!! Serling puts some very powerful arguments in his mouth
which avoid the cliche trap Serling could have fallen into had he been
a lesser writer. Thankfully, though, Serling was a magnificent writer
(I also just learned that Serling wrote the first script for "Planet
of the Apes" and came up with the famous ending with the Statue of
Liberty). I absolutely love the dynamics between the characters in
"Patterns" and what Serling ultimately says about fighting for one's
values. I subsequently got a video of the original teleplay with
Richard Kiley, and though Kiley is also good, Van Heflin just blows
him out of the water. Serling helped a bit here because the film is
more fleshed out than the TV version, and there are some juicy lines
in the film which don't exist in the TV version, but Van Heflin still
manages to find more levels in the scene than Kiley did. Whereas
Kiley goes into the final scene to have a confrontation with Sloane's
character, Heflin in contrast looks like he's coming in not just to
confront him, but to kill him. Note how he comes in and puts his
fists on the desk, making him look like a gorilla about to tear him
apart A small visual that most people would not notice, but it feeds
the scene nonetheless. That's art. I highly recommend getting a copy
of this film, if you want to see what real first-rate acting, writing
and directing look like.
As to a musical theatre connection, aside from Richard Kiley being in
the original TV version of "Patterns" (and, minorly, Elizabeth Wilson
re "Threepenny Opera"), I've learned that Everett Sloane was also a
writer, and wrote some songs for a short-lived revue called "From A to
Z" (I don't believe there's a cast album) which, according to
Wikipedia, also marked the Broadway debuts of writers Woody Allen,
Fred Ebb, Jerry Herman, and performer Virginia Vestoff (See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/From_A_to_Z).
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