By: debbie lynn elias
Helming his ninth film as a director, Robert Redford melds the past and the present with the thriller THE COMPANY YOU KEEP. In a stirring race against time, the radical dissenting past of the 60’s and 70’s catches up with the present. Once again directing himself in this riveting Lem Dobbs’ adaptation of Neil Gordon’s novel, joining Redford is a cast that can only be described as heavyweight legends – Christie, Nolte, Sarandon, Elliott, Cooper, Jenkins, Gleeson and Tucci. And while embracing the history of the past both in story and cast, Redford brings the film full circle with his casting of future legends La Beouf, Marling, Howard and Kendrick.
The late 60’s and early 70’s were a turbulent time in American history. With the country strongly divided over Viet Nam, dissension was the watchword of the day. Anti-war groups sprawled across the entire country, with some being more radical than others. One of those left wing radical extremist groups was the Weather Underground, an offshoot of Students For A Democratic Society. Taking its name from the Bob Dylan lyric, “You don’t need a weatherman to know which was the wind blows”, The Weatherman, as they were called, were founded on the campus of the University of Michigan and were responsible for the bombing of primarily government buildings and banks, including the U.S. Capitol and the Pentagon. One of the more notable exploits of The Weatherman included the jailbreak and escape of Timothy Leary. But for a Greenwich Village townhouse bombing in which several members of The Weatherman itself were killed, none of their protests and activities resulted in any deaths. Which is where THE COMPANY YOU KEEP takes literary license with history.
Opening with “vintage” news footage of Weather Underground, we quickly learn they are facing charges for their explosive activities against property in multiple locations across the country. A second report issues identifying The Weathermen as being responsible for killing a security guard in a Michigan bank robbery. Although all are identified, only one of the bank robbers is captured.
Fast forward to the present and we meet Sharon Solarz. A former member of The Weathermen, she has spent the past 40 years living quietly under an assumed identity as a suburban Vermont housewife and mother. Now, somehow, somewhere, someone has turned her into the FBI and on leaving Vermont, she is arrested. Calling on civil rights attorney Jim Grant to represent her, Grant surprisingly declines. Something about that doesn’t smell right to buck reporter Ben Shepard, writer for an Albany, New York newspaper.
Gaining access to Solarz thanks to the help of Diana, an old friend of Shepard’s now with the FBI, Solarz gives him some details of 70’s and The Weathermen, but only enough to whet his appetite. Shepard starts digging into Grant and soon learns that this respected attorney, recently widowed and now raising his 11-year old daughter by himself, has no past before 1979. Why? Where did he come from? Doesn’t take long for Shepard to put two and two together. Grant is actually Nick Sloan, one of the Michigan bank robbers.
Realizing that it’s now only a matter of time before the Feds catch up with him, Grant turns his daughter over to his brother and heads out to reconnect with his former activist partners to find the one person who can clear his name, the person who actually pulled the trigger.
In a thrilling cat and mouse game that melds the past, the present, Jim Grant and the dogged and arrogant FBI Agent Cornelius, we are privy to a chapter of American history that helped change and shape the country, drawn into history through one man trying to clear his name and regain his life and family. THE COMPANY YOU KEEP gives us as an audience, a better understanding of the idealism and commitment of activists and actions of days gone by, hopefully inspiring today’s generation with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight into history.
Where Redford truly excels is with his casting. By casting many actors who were and/or still are activists, he elevates the resonance and reality of the performances and the story.
Redford is Redford is Redford and there is no other. As Jim Grant/Nick Sloan he delivers on every level with determination, conviction and heart. Redford makes Grant’s tension palpable as he races against the clock. The one distraction, however, are his “jogging” scenes where he looks more like a prancing reindeer in a no budget Christmas pageant than still sexy senior citizen trying to keep in shape.
Phenomenal turn by Susan Sarandon. As Sharon Solarz, she sets the tone for the past and the present and in one jailhouse meeting with LaBeouf’s Shepard, gives us a history lesson that is as a pertinent and powerful today as its message in the 70’s. A perfect blend of strength, compassion and conviction.
As activist turned professor, Jed Lewis, Richard Jenkins brings a comfortable ease and passion to his role. Likewise, Brendan Gleeson who adds a touch more intrigue to the story with a pivotal performance as retired police officer Henry Osborne, the original investigator of the bank robbery. Trust me when I say there’s a nice little twist involving Osborne and Gleeson serves the twist well with a shifty little glint in his eye. When it comes to Nick Nolte, as with his role in Taylor Hackford’s “Parker”, his role here of Donal Fitzgerald is that of a lynchpin, in this case as the link between Jim Grant and Mimi Lurie. And let’s talk about Mimi Lurie as played by a still vibrant Julie Christie. Adding mystery and command to the performance, Christie proves she’s still got the chops to tackle the most ambiguously delicious roles. Hand in hand with Christie is Sam Elliott who, as Mac, brings the image of long haired hippie into the 21st century as a tech-savvy financial wiz a la Gordon Gecko.
As Daniel Sloan, Chris Cooper just nails the relationship between Daniel and his brother Jim Grant. With few words, pursed lips, tense shoulders and stance, Cooper is brilliant. Stanley Tucci is just the icing on the veteran actors’ cake as newspaper publisher Ray Fuller. Particularly notable is Tucci’s dialogue and the passion with which he delivers it when speaking to the need for print newspapers and investigative journalism.
Although veterans Christie, Nolte, Gleeson, Jenkins, Elliott and even Sarandon, have limited screen time, they use it to maximum effect adding layers and textures of life to the visual and emotional performances.
Looking at the younger generation of actors, although with minimal screen time, Anna Kendrick is perfect with her perfunctory terseness when playing with LaBeouf. And what Shia LaBeouf? Surprising me with a tempered cockiness and richness of morality as Ben Shepard, LaBeouf took his arrogance of late that we’ve seen on screen and dialed it down a notch to good effect. I think the whole idea of working with Redford, Christie and others instilled a degree of humility in him. He should be on his knees thanking God for “the company he kept” with this film.
Disappointing and irritating is Terrence Howard’s Agent Cornelius and while I believe this is one casting mis-step, I can see Redford’s possible rationale for Howard; Cornelius isn’t even old enough to remember the days of activism and the Weather Underground. He’s just trying to make a name for himself now at the expense of truth or justice. The arrogance that Howard brings to Cornelius does, however, fuel the character’s dogged determination for capture and conviction of Jim Grant.
Written by Lem Dobbs and directed by Robert Redford, the script and visuals are efficient and effective with the story rich, full-bodied and earnest. No words are wasted, no superfluous lensing. And while each character is clear and distinct in their structure, each is so interesting that I found myself wanting to know more about each of them. When it comes to direction, Redford’s direction is Redford’s direction. Nothing fancy. Just solid and simple. While this type of story is something we’ve seen from him before – a cat and mouse game – given Redford’s talent both in front of and behind the camera, I would like to see him push the envelope a bit more. Lensing and camera angles are the same basic frames and styling he started back with “Ordinary People” BUT, he has got to back-off all of the close-ups of his senior-self and others. There was a time, the backlit Golden Boy was a winning money shot and while THE COMPANY YOU KEEP relies on the age of its principals and the essence of “having lived life”, those type of back-lit shots just don’t quite work as well anymore.
Mark Day’s editing provides pacing that is methodical, clean, crisp. Nice juxtaposition against the frenzy of the cat-and-mouse chase going on in the story.
As comes as no surprise with Redford at the helm, the details are meticulous from production design to cinematography to wardrobe. As we saw with Adriano Goldman’s cinematography in “Jane Eyre”, he has a discerning, clean eye that here compliments Redford’s efficiency. Stunning are mountain exteriors and woodsy chases that create a great visual and emotional dichotomy – the clean crispness of a mountain sky looming over the tangled growth and towering trees of a vibrant green and brown earthy woods. Hidden pasts. Clear, clean futures. City scenes are richly toned, back alleys, warm cozy homes. Superb tonal bandwidth.
As veteran investigative journalists and historians will tell you, you have to know the past to understand and move forward in the future. Such is THE COMPANY YOU KEEP. Intelligent. Thoughtful. Reflective. Powerful. A “Must See” film for the generations.
Directed by Robert Redford.
Written by Lem Dobbs based on the novel by Neil Gordon.
Cast: Robert Redford, Susan Sarandon, Julie Christie, Nick Nolte, Brendan Gleeson, Richard Jenkins, Sam Elliott, Chris Cooper, Stanley Tucci, Shia LaBeouf, Anna Kendrick, Brit Marling, Terrence Howard
