Grumpy
Not really a "realistic" story, even though this film puts on a "I'm gritty" hat and tries to pretend it's all about "real" people, but it's not. It's about a fantasy--and a surreal one at that. There is a remarkable amount of good information here about being a in the Navy--it's fun if you really, really like being on a boat. Otherwise it's a drag and it's particularly a drag if you aren't on the boat that you signed up to be on. So we meet a guy who is stuck in administrative limbo (actually happens in the military from time to time) and finds himself feeling lost and unable to fit in anywhere in the civilian world except for a very funky dive of a bar.There he meets another person with nowhere to be--a woman. They have some fun and then have sex in a way that is not entirely wholesome but isn't entirely sordid. It's as close as they get to being alive, so they follow up on it.By now, you can label everybody, and attach those big dismissive labels to the characters to allow yourself to enjoy not being them. Slut. Black. Stooge. Sailor. Drunk. Whore. Just pile up the labels until you feel adequately insulated.But if you take this movie straight, with no chaser, it will make you wonder about the difference between a sailor and a guy dressed up like a sailor (it's the same thing).Great movie. Some of my favorite actors doing a fine job. See it.
timashworth04
I first saw this at the movie theater with my soon to be husband a soldier in the U.S. Air Force), when it was first shown, and saw it again today on t.v. This movie is one of my favorites and just gets better with time. James Caan plays a sweet spirited, kind hearted sailor who takes on responsibility for a prostitute he meets while on Cinderella liberty (a term for a short shore leave) and her son. It is a beautiful story of love and forgiveness and one I highly recommend to anyone who enjoys a realistic story about the human condition. Although not listed in Caan's IMDb bio, it is one of his best performances. This movie will stay on my list of great movies.
inspectors71
Remember the Saturday Night Live faux advertisement for the US Navy, way back in the late '70s? It was their gentle jab at the Navy's advertising slogan, "It's not just a job, it's an adventure!" The phony ad showed sailors doing what sailors do--chipping and painting a matronly and decidedly unglamorous replenishment ship. It was a funny ad, a stark contrast to the real one that showed bluejackets breezily enjoying the sights of exotic ports of call.Jump forward to the late '80s and catch a CBS "48 Hours" episode about the lives of sailors on a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier. It was a good, solid piece of expository work that showed the violent excitement and danger of a carrier's flight operations contrasted with the much, much more mundane doings below decks, in the galley, the engineering spaces, etc. Said one sailor, covered with grease and saturated by sweat, "You're never gonna see a movie titled "Top Engineer." I've always held a deep, abiding respect for our Navy (I even considered joining at the start of the Reagan years), but the tedium of swabbing decks somewhere down there in the large intestine of a flattop just didn't grab me.And I said no.Which brings us to Cinderella Liberty, a not-really-a-chick-flick with James Caan as a career swabbie, a guy who joined because he needed a steady gig, and Marsha Mason as the non-Hollywood-traditional whore he befriends in Seattle. I say non-traditional because she is NOT Julia Roberts but a chemical-saturated and beaten-up-by-life hooker who is trying to figure out how to take care of her adolescent son, keep a roof over their heads, and not get too involved with Caan. This proves difficult for Caan because he--like me--finds Mason imperfectly lovely, sexy, and appealing.CL is such a (and I hate to use this cliché, but I will) slice of life (under the waterline, that is) with Caan having no great ambition other than to maintain his rank and his dental integrity while helping Mason and her son, not to mention his friend Eli Wallach.Caan is a essentially a skilled grease monkey--no deep thinking here-- and he turns the hooker cliché on its head. He's the one with the heart of gold, not Mason. As you watch, she becomes less and less appealing. Her self-destructive impulses overwhelm her prettiness. Bad decisions blot out a perky nose, coy overbite, and non-fashion-model curves.To add an extra layer of quality to the story, there's Seattle herself, here more matronly and replenishment ship homely than in your travel brochure. The Emerald City is rendered by the locale choices to feel working class, not flight-deck glamorous.In closing, I recommend Cinderella Liberty because it is an honest film with nice, believable people and a story that shows rust streaks and all. It's a fine entertainment.
