The problem with movies like "Sometimes a Great Notion" is that they are supposed to be liked, supposed to do well and supposed to be loved by critics. Written by Ken Kesey and starring Paul Newman, Henry Fonda, Lee Remick and Michael Sarrazin, this could have been a blockbuster or, at least, a great film with a devoted following. On any level, you only get about half of what you want in this movie.Apparently Newman directs and, as a result, it comes off as a student project more than a film. Actors parade their lines out like soliloquies in a Greek drama, complete with bad wardrobe and matching hairstyles.One tragic climax results when Newman (now an actor) tries but fails to save a life, with all the predictable Hollywood melodrama. Originally they were all opposed to a strike against the big guys but this all seems to get lost somehow.The book was better but not my favorite. Kesey's powerful "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" was forever destined to overshadow the bulk of his work. And so it is here.

There is no over arching plot in Sometimes a Great Notion yet I was still engaged with the life of this family with their ongoing effort to try and make a living and their own family dilemmas all occurring among the beautiful forest scenery of Oregon. This is a man's movie reminiscent of the male bonding films from Howard Hawks such as Only Angels Have Wings and Tiger Shark.Henry Fonda plays a character called Henry so I like to imagine his interactions on set with Paul Newman occur just like they do in the movie. I've also often championed Henry Fonda's unsung abilities as a comedic actor and here he provides the film with some great moments of comic relief. Michael Sarrazin gives the most interesting performance though as the girly man Leeland Stamper who doesn't fit in with the rest of the men largely due to his long hair. There's a quiet confidence to his character though as he is unbothered by the remarks of the other men and eventfully wins their respect, by how? Winning a game of the ever manly sport of football.The logging scenes themselves are actually quite suspenseful, seeing men who are putting their lives in danger in order to make a living, you're expecting someone to get injured or killed at any time and that beings me to scene in the film which left the greatest impression on me. There are two death scenes towards the end of the film. First there's Henry Fonda's death which is sad, itself but that is but nothing compared to the death of Richard Jaeckel; I was thinking about this scene for days after watching the film and it's even more powerful watching it a second time as I'm waiting in dread for the scene to arrive. For starters the character is trapped under a log while the tide is slowly rising and he spends the whole time joking about it and when he is eventually submerged in water he can only stay alive thorough constant mouth to mouth resuscitation until help shows up to move the giant log. I can't imagine a more terrifying situation a person could be in; you can possibly get rescued and live but in order to do so you must remain completely calm; one mistake and you're a goner. This one of the most harrowing things I've ever seen in a film. I doubt I will ever see a more intense death scene or one so difficult to watch.

Sometimes a Great Notion (1970)This is an amazing story, with some harrowing scenes and really terrific acting. And it's based on a Ken Kesey novel that is one of my favorite books, a sprawling, difficult, layered up masterpiece of some kind, for its time at least, and for when I read it as a 20 year old looking for meaning in life. There are so many threads in the book, powerful themes and small ones, that get interwoven into a vivid, unashamed adventure-romance with interior explosions and characters clashing with nature and cultures clashing of cultures, it's really impossible to make a movie out of it.But Paul Newman, as lead character and, yes director (stepping in when the original director left), has tried. The result is grossly unappreciated, because the strengths here make the flaws bearable. The flaws are clear. The casting is uneven. Lee Remick is a character from another movie plopped into this rough and tumble Oregon backwoods scene, and the second leading man, a kind of implied narrator to it all, is played by little known Michael Serrazin, a pretty boy who holds his own but is uninspiring. Furthermore, the filming is straight on and meant to show what is happening more than contribute to the ambiance of the experience. There are scenes of machinery and logging that are impressive in their raw scale and masculinity, for sure, but that is partly fast editing at work, and amazing subject material. The rainy coastal landscape, the rambling house on the river, even the dirt bike race and the scenes of the little town all make you yearn for more intensity and involvement, visually. The music by Henry Mancini shows the strain of this amazing composer as he moves from the light orchestral work he did in the 1960s ("Moon River," "Pink Panther," "Days of Wine and Roses," etc.) to something embracing country, rock and roll, and contemporary music being used so effectively in New Hollywood films. It's halfway there, but gives a falseness to some of the scenes that gets in the way of the gritty, emotional drama to it all.And I mean emotional. Some have criticized Kesey's novel for overachieving. It tries to deal with every big issue there is in one book: individualism and love, above all, but a highly dysfunctional family, the new America of college and drugs vs. the old one of hard work and croneyism, raw beauty in the landscape vs. exploiting nature for commercial gain, and loyalty to family in all its layers of father and sons, sons and lovers, and workers as part of extended family. But that's what makes the book and the movie terrific. The scenes here of Newman doing anything, of Henry Fonda playing the tough as nails dad, and of some of the side actors in their rough daily working roles in the woods are right on. The hospital scene with Newman and Fonda is a small gem, and the famous scene of Newman trying to free his little brother (played by Richard Jaeckel) caught under a log under water is utterly unforgettable. Utterly.There is a lot of filler her, lots of falling trees and bikers racing and a building of the toughness of this manly world. But hang in there for the other stuff. And read the book.

"Sometimes a great notion",from the Leadbelly song "Goodnight Irene", derives from what is sometimes - unfairly - called "the other Ken Kesey novel".When you are adapting a book,whether it be "Bleak House" or "Winnie the Pooh and the blustery day",you are treading on what - for many readers - may be sacred ground.So far apart are the different media that,if it is at all possible,when watching such an adaptation,I try to put the source material out of my mind and treat it as a movie per se. Judged purely on that basis,Mr Newman's film is a fine piece of work. It has an epic sweep and bravura performances by some of Hollywood's most august actors.It has epic themes of divided loyalties,collective responsibility,the strength of the family fabric,relations between fathers and sons,all topics that have engaged our interest since the first teller of tales emerged from the cave.All these were the gift of the author.What Mr Newman has brought to the feast is the eye and ear of the creative artist/performer.At the final reckoning "Sometimes a great notion" - the movie - is his creature.There will be as many opinions as to whether he has succeeded or failed to translate a long and complex novel to the screen as there will be readers who have seen it.It is not damning it with faint praise,in my opinion,to say that he has made a good a job of it as possible within the parameters set by the medium.It is not a feelgood quickfix date movie.It is however a serious deeply felt work that engages the intellect as well as the emotions and that should tick an awful lot of boxes.