|
Actors: Kevin Spacey, Kate Bosworth, Bob Hoskins, John Goodman
|
|
| Review Summary and Plot Commentary about Beyond the Sea |
|---|
The film opens with Kevin Spacey playing a middle-aged Bobby Darrin in a fictional setting--making the movie about his life--and laughing off how he's a bit old for the part. Then Spacey/Darrin has an exchange with the young actor who is playing Bobby Darin as a boy about how the story should start, and the boy walks out onto the "set" of Harlem in the early 40's, which is the beginning of the biography proper. Viewers see how Wally Robert Cassotto's (Darin's birth name) childhood battle with rheumatic fever (which the doctor believed would kill him) provided him with the foundation to pursue a singing career. Singing was his mother's former profession and she teaches Bobby all the old standards and singer's moves as a way to help him beat his illness. Most of all, she imparts to him the joy that music brings her.
Spacey then takes over as Wally, the young man who vows to be bigger than Sinatra, accompanied with his brother-in-law as a first booking agent. Scenes quickly pass from his first tiny venues to his changing his name based on the words off a sign, to his breakthrough hits, "Splish Splash" and "Dream Lover." His mother lives to see him on the Ed Sullvan show, but dies shortly after.
As a successful entertainer, Darrin begins to make movies and when he makes one with Sandra Dee, falls in love with her and convinces her to defy her controlling mother and marry him. The film goes on to cover how, despite their obvious love for each other, their marriage struggles with Dee's alcoholism and Darrin's drive to be bigger and better, and to Darrin's "sister" Nina's revelation that SHE is his real mother (she had him out of wedlock and didn't know which guy she dated was the father)and that his "mother" was really his grandmother. From there, Darrin spirals out of control for a while as he soul-searches for who he really is. He stops performing and isolates himself from nearly everyone and begins brooding over the state of the Vietnam war. He composes political songs and eventually stages a come back due to his unfailing savvy as a performer. But the strain on his health, which had never been strong due to the rheumatic fever he had, finally takes his life. But as the movie about his life ends, Spacey/Darrin stages a final performance which illustrates how a legend like Bobby Darrin continues to live on. It's one of several musical numbers in "Beyond the Sea" that showcases the unseen stars of the film, the unforgettable songs Darrin created.
--Karen Law, Resident Scholar
|
| Analysis of Beyond the Sea |
|---|
Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about
books by breaking them down into many different literary
elements, all of which are searchable (click here). |
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Time/era of movie:
- 1930's-1950's
Job/Profession/Poverty Story?
Yes
Job:
- singer
Strong "rags to riches" component?
Yes
Main Character
Identity:
- Male
Profession/status:
- singer/musician
Age:
- 40's-50's
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
Hair color?
- brunette (Brown)
Hair type
- (man) short/standard curly
Body type
- (man) average
Events of movie makes character more...
- tougher
How sensitive is this character?
- middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor?
- Strong but gentle sense of humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- average physique
Secondary Main Character
Identity:
- Female
Hair color
- blonde
Hair style
- (woman) medium/shoulderlgn wavey
Body type
- (woman) very skinny
How much in movie?
- 40%
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
Main Adversary
Identity:
- general circumstances
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- 60%
Setting
United States
Yes
The US:
- Northeast
- Southwest
City?
Yes
City:
- New York
- Las Vegas
Misc setting
- theater
Style
Accounts of torture and death?
- explicit references to deaths
Movie makes you feel...
- encouraged
Any profanity?
- Occasional swearing
If lots of song/dance...
- lot of singing and dancing
If soundtrack VERY NOTICEABLE...
- Classic/oldies rock
|
| Most similar reviews by Gordonator ranking |
|---|
| Christmas in July
starring Dick Powell, Ellen Drew, Raymond Walburn
|
| The Young Philadelphians
starring Paul Newman, Barbara Rush, Alexis Smith, Brian Keith, Diane Brewster, Robert Vaughn, Otto Kruger, Adam West
|
| Has Anyone Seen My Gal?
starring Piper Laurie, Charles Coburn, Rock Hudson
|
| Stormy Weather
starring Lena Horne, Bill Bojangles Robinson, Cab Calloway
|
| The Five Pennies
starring Danny Kaye, Barbara Bel Geddes, Tuesday Weld
|
|
Resident Scholar Profiles
TOP SCHOLAR:
 Karen Law
SCHOLARS:
|
|
Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
|
