“HOLMES & WATSON??”

By Raymond Benson

In one of the quirkier movies released in the early 1970s, George C. Scott moves through the streets of New York City with his eyes alight with fire, wonder, and confidence as Joanne Woodward follows him into every don’t-do-that situation like a lovesick schoolgirl.

The thing is—Scott plays a judge who has gone, well, a little funny in the head and thinks he’s Sherlock Holmes. Woodward is a psychiatrist who desperately wants to treat him, and her name just happens to be Dr. Watson.

Directed by Anthony Harvey, the movie is based on a play by James Goldman, who also penned the screenplay. Harvey’s previous film was the superb The Lion in Winter (1968), which garnered him an Oscar nomination for directing, along with a Best Picture nod and a trophy for Katharine Hepburn (for Best Actress). Perhaps more significant is that Harvey was Stanley Kubrick’s editor for both Lolita (1962) and Dr. Strangelove (1964). They Might Be Giants indeed contains subtle dark comedy that one might call “Kubrickian.”

Judge Justin Playfair seems to have lost it when his wife died, and his brother, Blevins (Lester Rawlins) is intent on having the man committed so that he can get Justin’s money. Playfair, in complete Holmes getup (deerstalker hat, Meerschaum pipe, tweed suit and shoulder-cape), won’t have anything to do with the psychiatrist until she reveals that her name is Watson—suddenly, he is interested in “collaborating” with her in his quest to find his nemesis, Moriarty. Thus begins a very wacky adventure through the city as “Holmes” and Watson follow “clues,” encounter even more eccentric characters, and ultimately fall in love with each other. That’s it in a nutshell, but there’s much more packed into this bewildering joy of a movie. Needless to say, you’ve probably never seen anything like it before or since.

Both Scott and Woodward appear to be having a ball in the picture, and Scott is particularly charismatic. Besides the keen supporting performances by the likes of Jack Gilford, Al Lewis, and Rue McClanahan, watch for small roles played by other great, very young-looking character actors who will make bigger splashes over the next few decades—F. Murray Abraham, M. Emmet Walsh, Paul Benedict, and Eugene Roche.

Kino Lorber’s new Blu-ray looks fine and sounds great, and it comes with an audio commentary featuring director Harvey and film archivist Robert A. Harris. Supplements include a short vintage promotional featurette and theatrical trailers for this and other Kino Lorber releases.

Apparently, there is some discrepancy regarding the running time of the feature. According to the packaging, Kino Lorber’s presentation (91 minutes) is an “expanded version with additional footage not seen in the original theatrical release.” However, IMDb claims that the theatrical release was 98 minutes. Is there seven minutes missing? Maybe, and maybe not. The picture has a history of being broadcast or previously released on home video with a variety of running times between 87 and 97 minutes. IMDb says that a climactic scene in a grocery store is absent from the shorter versions, but that sequence is visible here in Kino’s release. Perhaps this is a mystery worthy of Sherlock Holmes.

For a vintage look at early 70s New York, two fine performances by Scott and Woodward, and a head-scratching kind of good time at the movies, settle in and have some fun with They Might Be Giants.

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