The Arrangement (1969, Elia Kazan)
Eddie Anderson (Kirk Douglas) is a successful advertising executive who has everything but he’s still not happy. So one day, on his way to work, he deliberately crashes his car in an effort to get himself out of a rut which, he feels, is killing him.
This is the beginning of Elia Kazan’s 1969 film The Arrangement, based on his bestselling novel, and it’s soon clear that what we’re witnessing is the birth of a genre - the American Discontent Movie, later epitomised by John G. Avildsen’s Save The Tiger and Sam Mendes’ American Beauty. Like the characters played by Jack Lemmon and Kevin Spacey, Eddie Anderson represents a tumour at the heart of American society which needs to be cut out. But whereas the later films end in despair and doom, The Arrangement is a wish-fulfillment fantasy. It’s about the precedence of art over commerce - the hero wants to be a writer but has been sidetracked into the sordid world of advertising where he has been busy designing a campaign to persuade the world that Zephyr cigarettes are ‘clean’.
The irony, one which almost certainly didn’t occur to Elia Kazan, is that The Arrangement is as commercial as all get out, a big, brashy soap opera which pretends to be dealing with important things but is actually both superficial and, ultimately, platitudinous. None of the characters have any more depth than you’ll find in a novel by Harold Robbins and this means that virtually nothing is at stake when Eddie is choosing between Deborah Kerr and Faye Dunaway - they are both immaculately dressed and coiffured, both are endlessly patient with Eddie’s tedious self-examination, so it’s rather like making a decision as to whether you’d rather have cappucino or latte. They’re also both looking very good, though I have to express a decided preference for Deborah’s striking hair over Faye’s; the latter seems to bleached all the colour out of her blonde locks for reasons which escape me.
But really, it’s all too silly for words. Deborah Kerr is a very good actress and she came to this straight after her nude tumble with Burt Lancaster in The Gypsy Moths, but she’s not exactly a natural choice for an LA society matron and her cut-glass English accent suggests an education at Cheltenham followed by a Swiss finishing school. It’s rather embarrassing to see her given the kind of lines which an on-form Liz Taylor would have devoured (as she did brilliantly in Zee and Co) and when she disrobes to force herself on her reluctant husband, it’s a bit like watching your mother getting drunk. Meanwhile, Faye is hovering between malicious one-liners and cosy concern and also offering herself to any man who threatens to be bad for her. At one point I thought she was going to screw Eddie’s dissolute immigrant father (entertainingly played by a very hammy Richard Boone), but thankfully the moment passed.
Although it’s impossible to watch without giggling shamefacedly, The Arrangement is hugely enjoyable if you get into the spirit of it. Like Vincente Minnelli’s lush soaps Two Weeks In Another Town and The Sandpiper, it contains plenty of melodramatic diversion and the cast is packed with familiar faces. Kirk Douglas, in the central role, holds it all together by being, well, Kirk Douglas and he’s obviously having a great time, especially when he gets to romp around naked with Faye Dunaway on the beach. It also looks absolutely fantastic, thanks to the genius of cinematographer Robert Surtees, working in Panavision and rich, often stylised colour. Kazan’s direction is also often impressive, using a variety of techniques to create something very different from his earlier work - slow motion, comic-strip captions, speeded-up dialogue, muting the sound, flashbacks within flashbacks, special visual effects to simulate Eddie’s consciousness. It may be showing off but it certainly keeps you watching.
The Warner Brothers R1 DVD is a good package which presents the film to good effect with a superb transfer and a crisp, clear soundtrack. There’s also a brief vintage featurette in which everyone present talks up Kazan’s genius, including Kazan, and the original trailer, which is too pompous for words.