This is a quirky, oddly affecting comedy about a judge, gone psychotic after the death of his wife, who believes that he is Sherlock Holmes. His brother wants him committed to an asylum, not for reasons of concern, but so that he can become executor of the would be Holmes's considerable estate.A female psychiatrist is asked to interview him for the formality of the commitment but becomes fascinated by the "Holmes" she meets because of his truly extraordinary deductive reasoning. It's apparent that, delusional or not, he may be a genius of some kind, and far more fascinating than most ordinary mortals.The psychiatrist, whose name just happens to be Watson, joins this Sherlock Holmes in his quest to search the streets of New York City for his nemesis, Professor Moriarty. On the way they meet various other people, also largely spurned by society, but, somehow, kindred souls in an otherwise pretty cold world.This strange but intelligent, utterly charming film died a quick death at the 1971 box office, but has found a cult following of sorts over the years. George C. Scott, with briar pipe and deerstalker hat, is virtual perfection in the role of the man who believes he is Holmes, while Joanne Woodward, devoid of her usual glamour, playing the socially awkward psychiatrist who starts to gradually believe in his cause, brings a warmth and touching vulnerability to her role.The film has a few wonderful scenes with lovely little touches. Holmes takes his Watson to a little movie theatre, almost empty but for a few street people, and a makeout couple in the top balcony. Yet the street people there all know him, greeting him with smiles as "Mr. Holmes" at this theatre where he likes to come for comfort and watch westerns.At another unexpected moment a police officer suddenly comes around the corner, spots "Holmes" and a large smile spreads across his face as he says, "Why, Mr. Rathbone, it's an honor, sir," as he reaches over to shake his hand.And, towards the film's beginning, there is a marvelous scene in which Scott, dressed as Holmes, arrives at a seedy asylum where an inmate is being abused by an orderly. There's a low angle camera shot of a towering Scott/Holmes as he struts through the hallway unruffled, dispassionately disarming orderlies who try to grab him, then proceeds to analyze the mind of the abused patient in a manner that has the patient's doctor (Watson in her first encounter of him) in almost open mouthed admiration.The film's final scene will undoubtedly baffle many viewers because of its ambiguity. It's a moment that is clearly open to interpretation. But I think that scene, and this film, are about the soaring human spirit, and a belief in one's self even though logic and all around you may tell you that you are wrong.

Anthony Harvey directs "They Might Be Giants". The plot? George C. Scott plays Justin Playfair, a successful lawyer whose wife has recently died. Unable to cope with this tragedy, Playfair imagines himself to be Sherlock Holmes, the legendary fictional detective. Via this Holmes persona, Playfair hopes to impose logic, order and rationality upon the world. For Playfair, all occurrences now have some "deeper meaning", some "hidden cause", and all "bad things" are the result of, not a malevolent cosmos, but Professor Moriarty, the arch villain of the Holmes novels.Early in the film, Playfair is introduced to Dr Mildred Watson (Joanne Woodward), a psychologist who hopes to cure the increasingly paranoid Playfair. Believing Mildred to be the Doctor Watson of the Sherlock Holmes novels, Playfair allows Mildred to accompany him on his many bizarre adventures. These adventures find Playfair bumbling about New York City, all in the hopes of deciphering Moriarty's "crime" and "motive". Mildred thinks Playfair is unconsciously seeking to find meaning in his wife's death, and she's right, but she's also absolutely wrong. That "Professor Moriarty" doesn't exist is almost irrelevant. Playfair is correct to conclude that there are "things" everywhere responsible for "bad stuff". That he personalises an uncaring, all-encompassing Nature doesn't necessarily make Playfair insane, but hyper-rational.Mildred, of course, thinks Playfair is nuts. She likens him to Don Quixote, the fictional character who repeatedly attacked windmills, believing them to be "monstrous giants". Of this, Playfair says: "Quixote thought every windmill was a giant. That's insane. But thinking that they might be...that's not. If we never looked at things and thought of what they might be, why, we'd all still be out there with the apes!" Playfair's speech thus functions as a survival plan; there MAY be giant monsters, and so he MUST test everyone and everything with a hammer.One such giant is Playfair's own brother (Lester Rawlins), a man who seeks to have Playfair killed. But the film is packed with other subtly sketched "giants". One couple, for example, live entirely indoors, nurturing indoor plants and crops because they "do not like what the outside world has become". A switchboard operator, the poor, the homeless, cops and various other men and women throughout the film, likewise live lives tormented by giants. Mildred, a lonely woman who escapes into psychoanalysis as a means of fleeing the world, is herself a woman living in the shadows of monsters. Everyone in the film is under some form of attack.Early in "Giants", Playfair admits that he likes Westerns. The genre, he explains, offers moral clarity, clear demarcations and a sense of order and justice which the universe simply doesn't allow. Imposing such "morality" and "law" upon the universe - getting it to "play fair" - becomes Playfair's obsession, but it's a futile quest, especially when nobody believes in the existence of that which he's slaying.How to get others to believe in, see and thus slay giants becomes the preoccupation of the film's final act. "Does justice ever lose?" Mildred asks, to which Playfair admits that it often does. "There are villains so big, they block the sunlight," he explains, before stating that standing up to such monsters is "what makes humans proud". The film then ends on a series of symbolic notes. Here Playfair assembles a ragtag community of believers and then battles police in a supermarket. This supermarket sequence, a middle finger to materialism and the status quo, was deleted by producers, but its message remains: "they" - the misfits who dare challenge their surroundings and stand up for others - "may be the real giants". The noble few. And so Playfair and Mildred find themselves standing before a shadowy tunnel as an "invisible monster" races toward him. "Stand closer to me, together in the light," Playfair tells Mildred, as the beast advances. But before our heroes are enveloped in blackness, consumed by the beast, a white light germinates behind Playfair's shoulder. Cooperation, love and belief, then, slays the beast. It's the old adage- when "I" becomes "we", mental illness becomes wellness."They Might Be Giants" initially appears to be a quirky 1960s/70s comedy in the vein of "A Thousand Clowns", "Being There" or "Harold and Maude". It's often dismissed as just a kooky comedy about "freedom" and "being true to yourself". In many ways, though, it's closer to the conspiracy thrillers of the 1970s ("Chinatown", "All the President's Men", "Parallax View", "Three Days of the Condor", "The Conversation", "Cutter's Way", "Network", "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" etc). This was, after-all, a period in which faith in family, society, authority, institutions and public figures plummeted, and in which the common man was seen to be at the mercy of a wide range of conspiratorial forces. Literature of the era was likewise deeply conspiratorial. "Anyone not paranoid must be crazy," Edward Abbey would say, sentiments echoed by novelists like Philip Dick ("Funny how paranoia often links up with reality"), William Burroughs ("Paranoia is just having the right information") and Joseph Heller ("Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't after you"). Which is not to say that Playfair isn't crazy, just that he's not necessarily wrong. Someone or something is always out to "get you", and it takes more than one man hunting invisible game to keep men from going insane. Endearingly acted by Scott and Woodward.8.9/10 – Minor masterpiece. See "Cutter's Way" and "A Thousand Clowns".

I love this movie. I'm not sure I can claim that, objectively, this is a great movie. It's a very good movie, with an interesting story, terrific performances by George C. Scott and Joanne Woodward, excellent, witty dialogue with some wonderful lines ("I think if God is dead he laughed himself to death.") But still, it's a rather slight movie, parts of it (mostly what I'd call the "reality parts" are under drawn and some might not care for the way the tone floats from very slapstick to thoughtful and back again. And it is an absurd portrait of psychiatry.But so what? This movie is exactly the kind of movie I like. The idea of being able to wander randomly and find a series of fantastic characters and situations is terrific (and very New York, where it takes place, although I didn't know that the first time I saw the film, before I'd ever been there). I love the way Scott's version of reality dove tails with actual reality (although as I say this is not always fully developed). I love the good hearted-ness of this movie and it's suggestion that sometimes there really is more than the brain can imagine. I love the ending, which is thoughtful, and the score, which has a quiet melancholy. I love the Sherlock Holmes deductions and the quirky characters.I love this movie.

Justin Playfair is a millionaire in New York City who has become Sherlock Holmes after the death of his wife.He spends his days searching for his arch-enemy, Professor Moriarty.His brother wants to put him in a mental institution, and he conspires with his former business associate to get power of attorney.There is a psychiatrist, whose name happens to be Mildred Watson.Now she becomes his Doctor Watson and she's off to solve crimes with him.They Might Be Giants (1971) is directed by Anthony Harvey.It's based on the play by James Goldman, who also wrote the movie.George C. Scott is just brilliant as Sherlock Holmes/Justin Playfair.Joanne Woodward is fantastic as Mildred Watson.Together these two share a huge amount of chemistry.Jack Gilford as the librarian Wilbur Peabody is another of my favorite characters in the film.He's the one who wants to be The Scarlet Pimpernel.Lester Rawlins is very good as Blevins Playfair.Al Lewis gives a funny performance as Messenger.Rue McClanahan, who sadly passed away last summer at 76, is great as Daisy Playfair.Ron Weyand is terrific as Dr. Strauss.James Tolkan is superb as Mr. Brown.Kitty Winn is marvelous as Grace.F. Murray Abraham is in his debut playing Clyde (the usher).Paul Benedict portrays Chestnut Man.M. Emmet Walsh plays 1st Sanitation Man.Louis Zorich is 2nd Sanitation Man.The title of the movie comes from Don Quixote's famous exploit of tilting at windmills, believing them to be monstrous giants.The movie can be very funny from time to time.There's some great slapstick comedy at the supermarket scene.Our Sherlock tries to get the attention of his chasers elsewhere, and he announces those crazy prizes of the store, and everybody goes, well, crazy.And then there's some melancholy in the conversation scene between Justin and Wilbur.The movie asks who actually is crazy, whose reality is right.Justin lives in his own reality, and who knows, maybe that is real instead of our dull reality.Sometimes it's much more fun to be Sherlock Holmes than to be just you, isn't it?