I am republishing a list of “Holdenesque Films” that I complied almost one year ago. Suggestions and additions of movies that have that Holden vibe are also appreciated in the comment box below:
In my junior classes we have discussed why the novel The Catcher in the Rye has yet to be made into a film, and we thought about several interesting reasons, including the irony of having a main character of a movie who despises movies and hates actors, and who considers screenwriters “prostitutes” at best. I also added that Salinger himself is very reluctant to sell the rights to his novel (rumor has it even Spielberg took a stab at convincing him, although if I was Salinger, I would be very reticent, especially if I saw what Spielberg did to The Color Purple).
However there are several films that do their best to capture characters and situations that have that characteristic Holden feel to them . . .
The Good Girl: Jake Gyllenhall plays a reclusive and possibly depressed adolescent writer that works at a drugstore in rural Texas. The connections in this movie are pretty obvious, being that the character that Gyllenhall plays is named Holden. When he first meets his soon-to-be love-interest, Justine (played by Jennifer Aniston), he is reading from his favorite book, The Catcher in the Rye:
Justine: What’cha reading?
Holden:The Catcher in the Rye. I’m named after the main character.
Justine: What’s your name, Catcher?
Ordinary People: Robert Redford’s film from 1980 won a pile of awards from “The Academy,” most notably for best picture and best director (over Raging Bull and its director, a guy by the name of Scorsese). But in the film, a son deals with the death of his brother and the guilt that he experiences as he continues to live while his brother cannot (sound familiar?). Although at times dated, strong performances by the parents—a surprisingly good Mary Tyler Moore and Donald Sutherland–make this a movie that has almost, but not quite, stood the test of time.
The Squid and the Whale: This disturbingly wonderful independent treat by Noah Bambauch (co-writer with Wes Anderson of the brilliant The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou) takes place at some point in the 1980’s in Brooklyn. But you have museums and ponds and families comprised of upper-middleclass writers and professors that are falling apart, all subjects that remind me of Salinger at his very best.
Garden State: “What?” you might be asking yourselves. “The movie made by the Scrubs guy?” In some ways, this film may be the opposite of Holden’s “madman” experiences around New York City for three days. In Garden State, our 28-year-old protagonist travels from L.A. to New Jersey to attend his mother’s funeral. In the four days that he spends there, he reconnects with old friends, makes new ones, and tries to begin a difficult healing process with his father / psychiatrist, who has prescribed a laundry list of drugs for his son to consume for as far back as he can remember.
Chapter 27: From what I’ve read this film is not really about Holden, but about a person that is crazy and wants to become Holden: Mark David Chapman. The only reason we know this name is because he assassinated John Lennon in 1980, and was arrested sitting on a curb a few feet away from his victim, purportedly reading from his favorite book that he took
everywhere with him, The Catcher in the Rye. I have not seen this movie yet (and most likely never will), but the title–suggesting that the film is an additional chapter to The Cather in the Rye, which has 26–seems to imply that the film makes a point of commenting on Chapman’s favorite literary hero. Jared Leto did the cool Hollywood thing (which Holden would find undoubtedly phony) by packing on the method-acting pounds in order to give more authenticity to his role as the real psychotic killer he was trying to portray.
Are there others I missed? Feel free to comment and add to the list.
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
I have two comments.
First, apparently there is a movie called “Chasing Holden” with a main character named Qualls. Now, if I am not mistaken, isn’t Qualls a former nickname of one Mr. Quale? Coincidence? I do not think so. The movie itself might not be worth discussing, but the parallel is.
Second, in the book “Shoeless Joe” by W.P. Kinsella, which was the inspiration for the film, “Field of Dreams” starring the mono-expressioned actor Kevin Costner, Ray, Costner’s character, goes on a road trip to heal the pain of one of his favorite writers, or role models, named Terrence Mann (played by the great James Earl Jones, whose line “I’m going to beat you with this crow-bar, until you go away” makes the whole movie).
The interesting part is that in the book, Ray was sent by the voice to track down his favorite writer, J.D. Salinger. There has been much written about this disconnection between the Salinger character in the book and the Mann character in the movie (and a simple Google search reveals those discussions). One post I read stated that the name Kinsella is a character from “The Catcher in the Rye”. Richard Kinsella was Holden’s classmate whose constant digressions during class discussions is a main theme from the first part of the book.
Anyway, this parallel is more than a coincidence, and has been discussed in articles which are available for perusal.
Hey Quale- I checked out some of the responses from your postmodern assignment and they’re pretty amusing. Good place to go for a a laugh. But scrolling through your page I found this blog and I’m really wishing you had given us this list last year! Garden State is my favorite movie and I definately would’ve have the best time of my life comparing it to Catcher; I kind of want to do my whole IOP over again (but not really). Also, I’m proud to see you took the time to calculate his age and the time spend in NJ as they’re not specifically mentioned in the film. My suggestion is that you give your students this list for future years as they’re great ideas for IOPs.
Rachel
Good Girl was thoroughly depressing, everything was alright because you could except it as life , but i gues sthe end was too lonely. I LOVE THE SQUID AND THE WHALE. The whole family was hilarious and I really enjoyed the father and how pompus he was along with his girlfriend’s..works ( because its just so stereotypical, that it was wonderful). I liked Garden State’s soundtrack best..the shins…I gues sthe best part was the graveyard of dead hamsters.
Royal Tennenbuams always reminded me of it. Just the mood of the movie i guess, the character Owen wilson played especially, with the cowboy get up and his silly depressions. Every character reminded me of Holden.
This is off topic but Eternal Sunshine reminds me alot of Slaughter House just in the way it moves, minus the aliens of course. The United States of Leland is a bit both, like Slaughter House its very jumbled and starts just in the middle, the character is like Holden, with a distorted empathy. its my favourite movie actually.
Rachel: I did not realize the extent of my Garden State knowledge, although I assume I just made those numbers up. But I agree that comparisons of novels to films have the potential to make cool IOPs.
Kate: After reading your film comments, I think we should add Eternal Sunshine to the list of potential films to study for our Meta-Cine essay. This would work great with the idea of time-shifting and its relationship to memory. I also agree with your Royal Tenenbaums comparison, and I would argue that two of Wes Anderson’s favorite themes that are at the center of all his films are dealing with depression and/or a midlife crisis, and being an outsider in whatever strange context/world Anderson creates for his characters to exist in.
Just so it’s clear to everyone, I call dibs on the movie version of Catcher in the Rye when the book enters the public domain. It really would make an excellent movie. I think it would be very Scrubs-esque with Holden having a lot of “out loud” thoughts while the action is going on.
I love Garden State.
It’s so offbeat and Zach Braff-ish.
Also, many Catcher connections.
Hello! I’ve spoken to you before through the IB OCC. I still blog stalk your page; we tend to teach on a very similar schedule; it’s quite uncanny (we even posted the same youtube clip with Will Smith talking about Catcher!.
Anyway, I just finished Catcher with my juniors, and I’m showing them The Graduate. Tons of connections with character, theme, and technique. Plus, they love it!
I think it was Reinheimer that told us Salinger allowed one of his short stories to be made in to a film (Uncle Wiggily?) and they totally butchered it. So that’s probably why Catcher hasn’t been made into a movie. By the way I LOVE your New Yorker poster on your easily distracted thing. SNL is amazing… So are you frozen solid yet? It’s still pretty warm in Sactown if you need to thaw… :P
I believe it was My Foolish Heart, and you are correct Callie, it was adapted from Uncle Wiggily. This always seemed strange, since this short story reads like a one act play. Remember when we read this last year? It fits perfect with Doll’s House. So no, I am not frozen yet, however we have a “fall break” next week, and I am going on a little backpacking expedition to the middle of the spoon in Norway, where the average temp is 0 Celsius (I’m trying not to think in Fahrenheit anymore).
Yeah, we read it this year also. You’re right about how it reads, I don’t understand how someone could make a movie out of the story alone. Ahhh, don’t convert to Celsius! 32 Farenheit!!
There are two films on Mark David Chapman, Chapter 27 and The Killing of John Lennon which is an indi film.
Ha, that’s interesting, I’d never associated Garden State with The Catcher in the Rye before. But i see where you’re coming from. That’s an interesting connection. Now i want to watch it again!
Don’t forget “Igby Goes Down” with the title character Holden–oops, I mean Igby–played by a precocious Kieran Culkin. Sadly, no one if left home alone and there is no, I repeat no, two-handed face smashing.