''Up Close & Personal'' is a 1996 American
romantic drama film
Romance films or movies involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion (emotion), passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typica ...
directed by
Jon Avnet
Jonathan Michael Avnet (born November 17, 1949), is an American director, writer and producer.
Early life and education
Avnet was born in Brooklyn, the son of Joan Bertha (née Grossman) and Lester Francis Avnet, a corporate executive with Avnet ...
, and starring
Robert Redford
Charles Robert Redford Jr. (born August 18, 1936) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the List of awards and nominations received by Robert Redford, recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Awards, Academy Award from four nomi ...
as a news director and
Michelle Pfeiffer
Michelle Marie Pfeiffer (; born April 29, 1958) is an American actress and producer. A prolific performer whose List of Michelle Pfeiffer performances, screen work spans over four decades, she became one of Hollywood's most bankable stars and ...
as his protégée, with
Stockard Channing
Stockard Channing (born Susan Antonia Williams Stockard; February 13, 1944) is an American actress. She is known for playing Betty Rizzo in the film '' Grease'' (1978) and First Lady Abbey Bartlet in the NBC television series ''The West Wing'' ( ...
,
Joe Mantegna
Joseph Anthony Mantegna (, ; born November 13, 1947) is an American actor.
Mantegna began his career on stage in 1969 in the Chicago production of the musical ''Hair''. He earned a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play and a Joseph Jeffe ...
, and
Kate Nelligan
Patricia Colleen Nelligan (born March 16, 1950), known professionally as Kate Nelligan, is a Canadian stage, film and television actress. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the 1991 film ''The Prince of Tide ...
in supporting roles.
The screenplay began as an adaptation of ''Golden Girl: The Story of Jessica Savitch'', a 1988 book by
Alanna Nash
Alanna Nash is an American journalist and biographer.
Born in Louisville, Kentucky in 1950, Nash holds a master's degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and is the author of several acclaimed books. She is a 1972 graduat ...
that recounted the troubled life of American news anchor
Jessica Savitch
Jessica Beth Savitch (February 1, 1947 – October 23, 1983) was an American television journalist, best known for being the weekend anchor of ''NBC Nightly News'' and daily newsreader for NBC News during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Savi ...
. The finished picture, however, was greatly altered by commercial decisions on the part of the producers, and bore little resemblance to Savitch's biography. Screenwriter
John Gregory Dunne
John Gregory Dunne (May 25, 1932 – December 30, 2003) was an American writer. He began his career as a journalist for ''Time (magazine), Time'' Time (magazine), magazine before expanding into writing criticism, essays, novels, and screenplays. ...
, having spent eight years working on the script with his wife
Joan Didion
Joan Didion (; December 5, 1934 – December 23, 2021) was an American writer. Along with Tom Wolfe, Hunter S. Thompson and Gay Talese, she is considered one of the pioneers of New Journalism. Didion's career began in the 1950s after she won an ...
, later wrote a book describing his difficult experience, titled ''
Monster: Living Off the Big Screen''.
The film was nominated for an
Oscar
Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to:
People
* Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms.
* Oscar (Irish mythology), ...
in the category of
Best Original Song
This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards.
Best Actor/Best Actress
*See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...
for "
Because You Loved Me
"Because You Loved Me" is a song by Canadian singer Celine Dion from her fourth English-language studio album, ''Falling into You'' (1996). It was released on 19 February 1996 as the first single in North America and as the second single in the ...
", written by
Diane Warren
Diane Eve Warren (born September 7, 1956) is an American songwriter. She has received several awards including a Grammy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, two Golden Globe Awards, three ''Billboard'' Music Awards and an Honorary Academy Award.
Wa ...
and performed by
Celine Dion
Céline Marie Claudette Dion ( ; born 30 March 1968) is a Canadian singer. Noted for her powerful and technically skilled vocals, Dion is the best-selling Canadian recording artist, and the best-selling French-language artist of all time. Her ...
.
Plot
Aspiring news anchor Sally "Tally" Atwater makes a demo tape of a fake story and is hired by
Miami
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...
station manager Warren Justice. Though she lacks polish and experience, Warren sees promise in Tally and decides to give her a chance, giving her tough love assignments to foster her talent. After a well-done news story about two immigrants who drowned off the shores of
Miami Beach
Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida. It was incorporated on March 26, 1915. The municipality is located on natural and man-made barrier islands between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay, the latter of which sep ...
, Tally and Warren form an even closer mentor/mentee friendship built upon mutual respect and simmering attraction. On New Year’s Eve, Tally covers the first locally-born baby of the year, a child by convicted felon Fernando Buttanda. A heated exchange occurs on air between Tally and the lead male anchor. She confronts the station's perception that she is merely in her position because she is Warren’s “protégée” and threatens to quit.
Tally tracks down and meets with talent agent Bucky Terranova, who takes her on as a client and lands her a position as a reporter in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
, a much larger market. Due to her impending departure, Tally decides to confront her feelings for Warren. The two end up physically consummating their emotional relationship, including a getaway to the
Florida Keys
The Florida Keys are a coral cay archipelago located off the southern coast of Florida, forming the southernmost part of the continental United States. They begin at the southeastern coast of the Florida peninsula, about south of Miami, and e ...
before Tally’s move to Philadelphia.
Tally struggles at her new post - largely due to hostile veteran reporter Marcia McGrath, who jealously protects her position as top reporter - and starts to lose some of the charisma that initially captured Bucky’s attention. At Bucky's request, and out of affection for Tally, Warren visits her in Philadelphia and talks her through missteps she has taken by trying to emulate Marcia instead of being herself. Encouraged by Warren, Tally begins to perform to her previous standards, leading Marcia to accept an offer from a station in
Cincinnati
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...
, thus handing the position to Tally. Tally asks Warren to marry her and relocate to Philadelphia so that they can be together. On their honeymoon they come up with a story idea that looks at a “day in the life” of Fernando, who has been relocated to a Philadelphia prison. During this time, Warren’s backstory is revealed as he attempts to find a job in order to remain close to Tally.
While filming the segment at the prison, a
prison riot
A prison riot is an act of concerted defiance or disorder by a group of prisoners against the prison administrators, prison officers, or other groups of prisoners.
Prison riots have not been the subject of many academic studies or research inquir ...
occurs wherein Tally and her cameraman Ned Jackson are taken hostage. Tally covers the volatile and groundbreaking story from within the prison walls as Warren looks on from outside, guiding her through her first national broadcast. As the story uncovers, she fulfills the potential that Warren initially saw in her. Her poise and bravery leads to an evening anchor position with the nationally-broadcast IBS News. While relaying the job offer to Warren, she discovers that he senses a developing story in Panama that he intends to cover. Warren tells Tally that she inspired him to want more, including possibly returning to journalism. Sadly, during Tally’s going away party at the Philadelphia station, it is reported that Warren and his crew were fired upon after wrapping up their story, resulting in Warren's death.
The movie ends with Tally discussing the purpose of journalism. In a touching tribute, she notes that Warren had a hunch, followed it, and ultimately got the story.
Cast
Adaptation
In the spring of 1988,
John Gregory Dunne
John Gregory Dunne (May 25, 1932 – December 30, 2003) was an American writer. He began his career as a journalist for ''Time (magazine), Time'' Time (magazine), magazine before expanding into writing criticism, essays, novels, and screenplays. ...
and
Joan Didion
Joan Didion (; December 5, 1934 – December 23, 2021) was an American writer. Along with Tom Wolfe, Hunter S. Thompson and Gay Talese, she is considered one of the pioneers of New Journalism. Didion's career began in the 1950s after she won an ...
began writing the script for a film entitled ''Golden Girl'', based on
Alanna Nash
Alanna Nash is an American journalist and biographer.
Born in Louisville, Kentucky in 1950, Nash holds a master's degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and is the author of several acclaimed books. She is a 1972 graduat ...
's biography of the late
NBC News
NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, a division of NBCUniversal, which is, in turn, a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's var ...
anchor and reporter
Jessica Savitch
Jessica Beth Savitch (February 1, 1947 – October 23, 1983) was an American television journalist, best known for being the weekend anchor of ''NBC Nightly News'' and daily newsreader for NBC News during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Savi ...
and financed by
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
. When the film was finally released in 1996, eight years later, it was known as ''Up Close & Personal'' and none of the more controversial details of Savitch's life remained, including her alleged drug abuse problems that may have caused her to deliver an incoherent live news update on national television in early October 1983.
Other details omitted from the film included the suicide of Savitch's second husband a few months after their wedding, and her alleged bisexuality, suicide attempts and
physical abuse
Physical abuse is any intentional act causing injury or trauma to another person or animal by way of bodily contact. In most cases, children are the victims of physical abuse, but adults can also be victims, as in cases of domestic violence or wo ...
by her longtime partner
Ron Kershaw Ron Kershaw (August 19, 1943 – July 3, 1988) was an American television news reporter.
Kershaw was the news director in several U.S. markets, including New York City, Chicago and Baltimore.
Early life
Kershaw grew up in Hendersonville, North Caro ...
, a well-known news director who was the original model for the character of Warren Justice.
Savitch's death at age 36 in an automobile accident (unrelated to drugs or alcohol) was also left out of the screenplay.
According to Dunne, who chronicled his experiences dealing with studio executives in his book ''
Monster: Living Off the Big Screen'', the majority of these changes were made in order to appeal to a broader mainstream market. Producer
Scott Rudin
Scott Rudin (born July 14, 1958) is an American film, television, and theatre producer. His films include the Academy Award-winning Best Picture ''No Country for Old Men,'' as well as ''Uncut Gems'', '' Lady Bird, Fences, The Girl with the Dragon ...
was reported to have said, when asked by a weary Dunne what the film was supposed to be, "it's about two movie stars."
Reception
On
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
the film holds an approval rating of 32% based on 37 reviews, with an average rating of 5.2/10. The site's consensus states: "''Up Close & Personal'' wastes its superstar leads and compelling fact-inspired story on a treacly romance bereft of onscreen chemistry." Audiences surveyed by
CinemaScore
CinemaScore is a market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts based on the data.
Background
Ed Mintz founded Ci ...
gave the film a grade "A−" on scale of A to F.
Critics largely ridiculed the screenplay for bearing little resemblance to the biography of
Jessica Savitch
Jessica Beth Savitch (February 1, 1947 – October 23, 1983) was an American television journalist, best known for being the weekend anchor of ''NBC Nightly News'' and daily newsreader for NBC News during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Savi ...
, which was supposed to have inspired it.
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...
in the ''
Chicago Sun-Times
The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...
'' wrote: "''Up Close and Personal'' is so different from the facts of Savitch's life that if
Didion and
Dunne
Dunne is an Irish surname, derived from the Irish ''Ó Duinn'' and ''Ó Doinn'', meaning "dark" or "brown."
The name Dunne in Ireland is derived from the Ó Duinn and the Ó Doinn Gaelic septs who were based in County Laois, County Meath and Coun ...
still have their first draft, they probably could sell it as a completely different movie."
Anita Gates in the ''
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' wrote that "it all ends up more ''
A Star Is Born'' than ''
Network
Network, networking and networked may refer to:
Science and technology
* Network theory, the study of graphs as a representation of relations between discrete objects
* Network science, an academic field that studies complex networks
Mathematics
...
''." Leonard Klady in ''
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' described it as "''A Star Is Born'' meets ''
The Way We Were
''The Way We Were'' is a 1973 American romantic drama film directed by Sydney Pollack and starring Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford. Arthur Laurents wrote both the novel and screenplay based on his college days at Cornell University and his ...
'', and while discerning audiences will turn their noses up, the hoi polloi are apt to embrace this unabashedly sentimental affair and send it soaring into the box office stratosphere."
Desson Howe
Desson Patrick Thomson is a former speechwriter for the Obama administration and former Film criticism, film critic for ''The Washington Post''. He was known as Desson Howe until 2003 when he changed his name after reuniting with his birth fath ...
in ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' was extremely negative about the film: "''Up Close and Personal'', which was "suggested" by the Jessica Savitch biography, ''Golden Girl: The Story of Jessica Savitch'', starts out with relative promise... but then, the loooove comes through like a bad-news feed, and our marquee lovers undergo one of those unbearable montages. While an insipid, rock ballad covers the proceedings with auditory treacle, Cushion Lips (
Michelle Pfeiffer
Michelle Marie Pfeiffer (; born April 29, 1958) is an American actress and producer. A prolific performer whose List of Michelle Pfeiffer performances, screen work spans over four decades, she became one of Hollywood's most bankable stars and ...
) and Armchair Man (
Robert Redford
Charles Robert Redford Jr. (born August 18, 1936) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the List of awards and nominations received by Robert Redford, recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Awards, Academy Award from four nomi ...
) walk together, laugh together, frolic in the waves with their clothes on – that sort of thing.... In this movie, network executives – who depend entirely on focus groups, marketing and advertisers to inform their decisions – are painted as the moral bad guys, while Redford and the emerging Pfeiffer are the embodiment of integrity... And the fact that this is a
Touchstone Pictures
Touchstone Pictures, Inc. was an American film production label of Walt Disney Studios, founded and owned by The Walt Disney Company. Feature films released under the Touchstone label were produced and financed by Walt Disney Studios, and featu ...
production – part of the marketing-obsessed, truth-sweetening
Disney
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
empire which just purchased
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
– is far too hilarious an irony to ignore." ''
Time Out
Time-out, Time Out, or timeout may refer to:
Time
* Time-out (sport), in various sports, a break in play, called by a team
* Television timeout, a break in sporting action so that a commercial break may be taken
* Timeout (computing), an enginee ...
'' called it a "soppy May–December romance masquerading as a deadly earnest issues movie... Blow-dried, bleached blonde-on-bland entertainment."
However, certain critics argued that the film had its merits.
Mick LaSalle
Mick is a masculine given name, usually a short form (hypocorism) of Michael. Because of its popularity in Ireland, it is often used in England as a derogatory term for an Irish person or a person of Irish descent. In Australia the meaning broaden ...
in the ''
San Francisco Chronicle
The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. de ...
'' wrote: "Taken on its own terms, ''Up Close and Personal'' is a fine movie. Two star images meet and enhance each other.
Redford, as usual, plays a rugged, outdoorsy, uncompromising man of unshakable integrity who just happens to be news director at a Miami station.
Pfeiffer, as usual, is gorgeous, pretty, gawky and a lot tougher and smarter than she looks."
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...
gave the film three out of four stars, arguing that the "temptations are great to mock the clichés and melodrama in ''Up Close and Personal'', but the movie undeniably works as what it really is - a love story."
''Variety'' praised the "chemistry" of
Michelle Pfeiffer
Michelle Marie Pfeiffer (; born April 29, 1958) is an American actress and producer. A prolific performer whose List of Michelle Pfeiffer performances, screen work spans over four decades, she became one of Hollywood's most bankable stars and ...
and
Robert Redford
Charles Robert Redford Jr. (born August 18, 1936) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the List of awards and nominations received by Robert Redford, recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Awards, Academy Award from four nomi ...
, and the "delicious and brief star turns" of
Stockard Channing
Stockard Channing (born Susan Antonia Williams Stockard; February 13, 1944) is an American actress. She is known for playing Betty Rizzo in the film '' Grease'' (1978) and First Lady Abbey Bartlet in the NBC television series ''The West Wing'' ( ...
,
Kate Nelligan
Patricia Colleen Nelligan (born March 16, 1950), known professionally as Kate Nelligan, is a Canadian stage, film and television actress. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the 1991 film ''The Prince of Tide ...
and
Noble Willingham
Noble Henry Willingham, Jr. (August 31, 1931 – January 17, 2004) was an American television and film actor who appeared in more than thirty films and in many television shows, including a stint opposite Chuck Norris in ''Walker, Texas Ranger ...
, concluding that the film wasn't "as accomplished as its inspiration but, regrettably, it's the best Hollywood has to offer in the heartstring-pulling genre."
Accolades
The film is recognized by
American Film Institute
The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private funding and public membership fees.
Leade ...
in these lists:
* 2004:
AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs:
** "
Because You Loved Me
"Because You Loved Me" is a song by Canadian singer Celine Dion from her fourth English-language studio album, ''Falling into You'' (1996). It was released on 19 February 1996 as the first single in North America and as the second single in the ...
" – Nominated
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Up Close and Personal
1996 films
1996 romantic drama films
American romantic drama films
Cinergi Pictures films
Films about journalism
Films about television
American films based on actual events
Films directed by Jon Avnet
Films scored by Thomas Newman
Films set in Miami
Films set in Philadelphia
Touchstone Pictures films
1990s English-language films
1990s American films