{"id":811,"date":"2010-12-31T17:00:47","date_gmt":"2011-01-01T00:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/?p=811"},"modified":"2010-12-31T16:56:36","modified_gmt":"2010-12-31T23:56:36","slug":"a-film-for-new-years-eve-the-fabulous-baker-boys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/811\/a-film-for-new-years-eve-the-fabulous-baker-boys\/","title":{"rendered":"A film for New Year’s Eve: The Fabulous Baker Boys…"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is my all-time favorite New Year’s movie (Netflix link<\/a>):<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

More than you know
More than you know
Man of my heart, I love you so
Lately I find
You’re on my mind
More than you know<\/p>\n

Whether you’re right
Whether you’re wrong
Man of my heart, I’ll string along
You need me so
More than you’ll ever know<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That’s Michelle Pfeiffer’s opening song from The Fabulous Baker Boys,<\/a> (here is a clip of her singing it<\/a>) and it rapturously encapsulates the very best of four distinct art forms. It’s gripping film-making, with great performances by all three principal players, Beau Bridges, Jeff Bridges and Pfeiffer. The piano, portrayed by Jeff Bridges, and and the song, actually sung by Pfeiffer, are very effective together. But the song itself exhibits in a very simple fashion the essence<\/i> of lyrical song-writing: From the first verse to the second we change from ‘I need you’ to ‘you<\/i> need me.’ And that in turn, like a page torn from Sophocles himself, provides the argument for the entire drama. This is what integrity means in art: Every different thing is the same one thing.<\/p>\n

And the whole film is done brilliantly. It’s easy to get lost in Pfeiffer’s sultry performance, but I think Jeff Bridges’ laconic, sardonic, taciturn embodiment of Jack Baker is an excellent exploration of the practical consequences of self-loathing. The story is dark, almost seedy, but the plot is redemption, which is my favorite yarn. And despite a few short lapses into cheesiness, writer\/director Steve Kloves delivers a gritty and credible resolution. There are no villains, nor any genuine heroes, but everyone<\/i> is a better person by the time the credits roll. I score that a victory for the forces of the light.<\/p>\n

The Fabulous Baker Boys is particularly appropriate for New Year’s Eve, because the timeline of the film runs from Christmas through New Year’s. Kloves uses this to the story’s huge advantage, which matters a lot to me. In particular, the big romantic blow-off of the movie occurs on New Year’s Eve. It starts when Michelle Pfeiffer’s Susie Diamond character sings a very provocative version of ‘Makin’ Whoopee’ to Jack Baker — (here is is <\/a>Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is my all-time favorite New Year’s movie (Netflix link): More than you knowMore than you knowMan of my heart, I love you soLately I findYou’re on my mindMore than you know Whether you’re rightWhether you’re wrongMan of my heart, I’ll string alongYou need me soMore than you’ll ever know That’s Michelle Pfeiffer’s opening song […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-811","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-casual-friday","8":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1614,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/1614\/clip-show-the-fabulous-baker-boys\/","url_meta":{"origin":811,"position":0},"title":"Clip show: The Fabulous Baker Boys","author":"Greg Swann","date":"July 6, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"I wrote about The Fabulous Baker Boys at New Years. This is another film where the conflicts are painfully real and where everyone is a better person at the end. In the clip linked below, Michelle Pfeiffer sings More Than You Know as a way of summarizing the argument of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Casual Friday"","block_context":{"text":"Casual Friday","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/casual-friday\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2348,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2348\/unchained-melodies-makin-whoopee\/","url_meta":{"origin":811,"position":1},"title":"Unchained melodies: Makin’ whoopee","author":"Greg Swann","date":"December 9, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"I was going to rank on the mainstream media, but I'll save that for tomorrow. This is more Michelle Pfeiffer, singing Makin' whoopee from The Fabulous Baker Boys. Another bride, another June Another sunny honeymoon Another season, another reason For makin' whoopee A lot of shoes, a lot of rice\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogging"","block_context":{"text":"Blogging","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/blogging\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16860,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/16860\/unchained-melody-whose-heart-is-breaking-in-seven-year-ache\/","url_meta":{"origin":811,"position":2},"title":"Unchained Melody: Whose heart is breaking in \u201cSeven Year Ache\u201d…?","author":"Greg Swann","date":"September 1, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I've always loved this song, and I finally figured out why: The narrator is actually male \u2013 just as the actual narrator of \"Angry All The Time\" is female. This is not Roseanne bitching out Rodney for his adultery, this is the lamentations of the cheated-on guy. Big duh, right?\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Casual Friday"","block_context":{"text":"Casual Friday","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/casual-friday\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/hrUs_FWqj9s\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":166,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/166\/on-the-nickel-with-the-boys\/","url_meta":{"origin":811,"position":3},"title":"On the Nickel with the boys . . .","author":"Greg Swann","date":"August 2, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"My BubbleBoys are mostly gone for the moment, no doubt off like a cloud of gnats desperate to enshroud someone else's head. The truth is, I do have a particular kind of fun at their expense, not the least of which are their pitch-perfect echoes of the charges I make\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2981,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2981\/making-a-case-for-blundering-nincompoopery\/","url_meta":{"origin":811,"position":4},"title":"Making A Case For Blundering Nincompoopery","author":"Allen Butler","date":"April 16, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Did I spell that right? Hope so. . . So anyway, I'm back with more \"tales from the dark side.\" I am going to continue on my\u00a0 Saga, while throwing Papa John's Pizza into the mix. Let me just state flat out, in as clear a way as I know\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Real Estate"","block_context":{"text":"Real Estate","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/real-estate\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3239,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/3239\/bloodhoundblog-evangelism-how-by-working-together-we-are-going-to-reinvent-real-estate-representation-convert-the-best-real-estate-professionals-to-the-wired-life-and-put-the-bums-out-of-the-busin\/","url_meta":{"origin":811,"position":5},"title":"BloodhoundBlog evangelism: How, by working together, we are going to reinvent real estate representation, convert the best real estate professionals to the wired life and put the bums out of the business","author":"Greg Swann","date":"June 17, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"First, this is important: The easiest way to get someone to BloodhoundBlog is to type \"BloodhoundBlog\" into any web browser. 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If there is someone you work with whom you would like to see\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogging"","block_context":{"text":"Blogging","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/blogging\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=811"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/811\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13885,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/811\/revisions\/13885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}