Amazon.com: Sir Richard Attenborough's biographical film of the life and times of Charles Chaplin is a little thin as a narrative, but it is so charmingly creative and ultimately moving, it's hard to care about any deficits. Robert Downey Jr. does an excellent job re-creating Chaplin's graceful slapstick and getting inside the silent-film superstar's head over many years of triumph, defeat, scandal, official persecution, exile, and inner peace. A huge cast portray the allies, friends, lovers, and enemies in Chaplin's life, including Moira Kelly as his final, longtime wife, Oona, Kevin Kline as Douglas Fairbanks, Geraldine Chaplin as Charlie's mother, and James Woods as a prosecutor working hard to nail Chaplin for anti-American sentiments. Attenborough declines to tell the story in a flat, linear way, employing such clever techniques as detailing one chapter in Chaplin's life as a silent comedy. The climactic scene set at an Oscar tribute for Chaplin will get the tears flowing. --Tom Keogh
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - "The man's a wizard with women."
In the hands of director Richard Attenborough, Charlie Chaplin's life story becomes a sweeping and touching drama. Robert Downey, Jr. gives an unforgettable performance as Chaplin, who rose from the slums of London to become Hollywood's favorite silent movie character, the Tramp. Along the way, Charlie had to deal with his mother's insanity, his love affairs, marriages, and a paternity scandal, all involving much younger women, and investigation by none other than J. Edgar Hoover.
Rating: - Not much of an anniversary celebration...
I would agree with D. Reyes' review on this dvd reissue. The picture quality is improved, but the special features are very short and the two short docs that were on the original release are not included here. Surely they could have squeezed an extra 14 minutes of material onto this anniversary release. A commentary would have been wonderful, as would some deleted scenes. Attenborough states that he wishes he could make the film again, so perhaps we might see an extended version or director's cut one ... Read More
Rating: - This is an okay re-release
The first time this came out on DVD was in 1998 I believe. The new release differs in the sense that it's a cleaned up print and that it's also enhanced for 16x9 televisions, where as the original wasn't. If you watched the original on a wide screen TV it was letter boxed. As far as special features go for this one, there's about 3 new featurettes that are less than 10 minutes long as well as some home movie footage of Charlie Chaplin and of course a trailer.
Rating: - wonderful!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have been a fan of Charlie Chaplin and Robert Downey Jr for years. This is the perfect combonation of the two. RDJ does a wonderful job becoming Chaplin. It is not an easy task to do. I love the movie.
Rating: - Robert Downey, Jr, - The Bad Boy at His Best!
If you're anything like me, the almost semi-annual relapse and recovery of Robert Downey Jr. has been an interesting periodic feature of the morning news. After a while one begins to question why does Hollywood put up with him when there is no shortage of talented actors desperately trying to make it in Hollywood? Why would producers and studios, who are so financially dependent on their productions going off without a hitch, take yet another chance on Robert Downey, Jr? Then I saw Chaplin, and I understood. ... Read More
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