G H UA
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F INE C HINESE D INING
“A wonderful adventure in fine dining” ~ Danny Raskin
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NATE BLOOM
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NEIL SIMON OFTEN HAD THE TOUCH
Open 7 days a week for lunch and dinner
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27925 Orchard Lake Rd., North of 12 Mile, Farmington Hills
248-489-2280
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STAR
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— Danny Raskin
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86
September 6 • 2018
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5 OFF
$
On Star’s beautiful already
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Expires 09/20/18. One Per Order. Not Good Holidays.
10 Person Minimum. With this coupon.
DELIVERY AVAILABLE
Neil Simon, the famous playwright, died on
Aug. 25, age 91. The day before, I stumbled
onto a YouTube video that noted that 40 of
the most famous current working screen-
writers were asked in 2017 to name the
100 best screenwriters of all time. They
selected Billy Wilder (1906-2002) as No.
1. Wilder wrote and directed films in all
genres, including Some Like it Hot, Double
Indemnity and The Apartment.
Wilder, the video explained, sought to
bring the “Lubitsch touch” to all his films, a
reference to director/writer Ernst Lubitsch
(1892-1947). Like Wilder, Lubitsch worked
in all genres. The touch was defined as
wringing from the material as much as
possible — a multi-layered approach
where a comedy had true-to-life drama in
it and vice-versa.
In his best work, Simon did not over-
look the opportunity to bring “true-to-the
characters” comedy into a dramatic scene
or have a realistic dramatic moment in an
otherwise comedic scene. That’s why, for
example, The Odd Couple still stands up 53
years after its stage premiere.
There is a scene in The Odd Couple in
which Oscar lists all the things that his
roommate, Felix Unger, does to drive him
crazy. This includes leaving “to-do” notes
on Oscar’s pillow signed “F.U.” It is a largely
dramatic scene but ends in a big laugh
when Oscar says: “It took me three hours
to figure out that ‘F.U.’ was Felix Unger!”
Several times, Simon explained that he
didn’t give Felix Unger that name anticipat-
ing the joke line he later wrote. Rather, it
occurred to him as he wrote the scene it
appeared in. Simon had “the touch” to add
that something extra.
OPERATION FINALE
Operation Finale, which opened on Aug. 29,
is a dramatization of the capture of Adolf
Eichmann in Argentina in 1960 by Israeli
Mossad agents. Eichmann, of course, was
the SS officer who headed up the round-up
of European Jews during the Holocaust.
There is a lot of talent involved in this film
and I hoped that it would turn out to BE
extraordinary because the subject matter
deserves a great movie. However, early
Finale reviews by leading outlets, like
Variety and the Guardian, were not very
good. The acting was praised, especially
Ben Kingsley as Eichmann and Oscar Isaac
as Peter Malkin (1927-2005). Malkin
was a leading member of the team that
captured Eichmann. As depicted in the
film, he heavily interrogated Eichmann
before Eichmann was smuggled out of
Argentina and flown to Israel for trial. Also
praised: how the film establishes the “Nazi-
welcoming” atmosphere of Argentina —
and its exciting re-creation of Eichmann’s
Neil Simon in 1964
Chris Weitz
Nick Kroll
last hours in Argentina (he was drugged
and put on an El Al plane under the nose of
Argentine officials).
This line from the Variety review seems
to sum up most reviews: “[Y]et taken on its
own ‘here’s how it really happened’ terms,
the movie is at once plausible and sketchy,
intriguing and not fully satisfying.” Most of
the criticism seems to be directed toward
the interrogation scenes. But also get-
ting the thumbs-down are some invented
details, like an Israeli nurse character, who
is supposed to be Malkin’s old flame, who
wasn’t really in Argentina (she’s played
by French actress Melanie Laurent, 35).
The film is directed by Chris Weitz, 48,
(who had three Jewish grandparents).
The Jewish members of the cast include
Nick Kroll (embracing drama), 40, Peter
Strauss, 71, and Allan Corduner, 68.
If you get the Amazon Prime streaming
service, do check out The Eichmann Show,
a 2005 BBC TV movie that dramatizes the
hurdles that American director Leo Hurwitz
(1909-1991) and an Israeli TV producer had
to overcome to get permission to film the
trial and, later, to get the worldwide news
media to show their daily trial footage. It’s
a very interesting story that I was unaware
of before. The BBC film received mostly
very good reviews. Hurwitz won a 1961
Emmy for an American TV special (Verdict
for Tomorrow) that was mostly made up of
his footage of the most important moments
of the trial. •