This film is generally acknowledged even by its director as a mess - I didn't realise that, according to Neil Jordan, there are the foundations of a better film still in the vault - but watching it over this Halloween I found it better than I remembered it. There are some wonderful, lyrical scenes and settings (f'rinstance, Darryl Hannah's heart-stoppingly beautiful, doomed ghost maiden praying beside a lovely Irish lake before a tree decorated with prayer ribbons in honour of Saint Bridget, a beautiful and memorable scene) but all too many scenes which wouldn't have passed muster in a beginner's class of creative writing.
In their prime, Beverly D'Angelo and Darryl Hannah were so hot!
The young Darryl Hannah, also in Steve Martin's comedy romance Roxanne only the previous year, was heart-stoppingly gorgeous, as I say. And that bedroom scene between her character and that of Steve Guttenberg - I was astonished I had forgot it - smoked and sizzled; it was positively X-rated!
I am glad that the guy gets the girl and that through some magical transformation Hannah's previously doomed madchen doesn't remain a two-hundred year old corpse but was rejuvenated into all her youthful loveliness! Well, true love has it limits!
I can't see actor Liam Neeson now, as I am sure many others cannot, without thinking of the tragic death of his wife Natasha Richardson, may she rest in peace.
You could see that by 1988 the once gloriously handsome Peter O'Toole had started to lose his looks, ruined not so much by age as hell-raising. Had he lived more soberly, in every sense of the word, he could have been as silvery a silver fox as Cary Grant. But he was still an arch and magisterial presence in the film.
I like the line at the end of the film. Happiness makes you better at dancing.
In their prime, Beverly D'Angelo and Darryl Hannah were so hot!
The young Darryl Hannah, also in Steve Martin's comedy romance Roxanne only the previous year, was heart-stoppingly gorgeous, as I say. And that bedroom scene between her character and that of Steve Guttenberg - I was astonished I had forgot it - smoked and sizzled; it was positively X-rated!
I am glad that the guy gets the girl and that through some magical transformation Hannah's previously doomed madchen doesn't remain a two-hundred year old corpse but was rejuvenated into all her youthful loveliness! Well, true love has it limits!
I can't see actor Liam Neeson now, as I am sure many others cannot, without thinking of the tragic death of his wife Natasha Richardson, may she rest in peace.
You could see that by 1988 the once gloriously handsome Peter O'Toole had started to lose his looks, ruined not so much by age as hell-raising. Had he lived more soberly, in every sense of the word, he could have been as silvery a silver fox as Cary Grant. But he was still an arch and magisterial presence in the film.
I like the line at the end of the film. Happiness makes you better at dancing.