By the Sword (film)
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By the Sword is a 1991 film starring F. Murray Abraham and Eric Roberts as world-class fencers. Directed by Jeremy Paul Kagan, this is the first feature film about fencing.[1] Although some reviews of its 1993 U.S. theatrical release noted favorably the lead acting and action sequences, the screenplay was considered "terrible".[2] The film was rated R by the MPAA.
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[edit] Plot
Roberts plays Alexander Villard, a former fencing champion who runs a highly competitive fencing school. One of his students describes him as "a freak who thinks he's living in the fourteenth century".[3] Abraham plays Max Suba, an ex-convict who introduces himself as a fencing instructor. Villard initially gives him a job as a janitor, but in time Suba recoveres his lost form and shows that he can fence. Villard is "arrogant but not unkind",[4] and gives Suba a chance, assigning him the beginning students.
While Villard takes an unforgiving approach, encouraging a student to injure an opponent to win, Suba takes a more subtle approach, encouraging students to turn their own weaknesses into a strength. Following this advice, one of Suba's beginning students scores against Villard's prize fencer during a school competition. Flashbacks further develop the conflict by revealing how Suba had killed Villard's father in a fencing duel. The film climaxes in a dramatic duel between Villard and Suba.
[edit] Cast and crew
| By the Sword | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Jeremy Paul Kagan |
| Produced by | Marlon Staggs, Peter E. Strauss |
| Written by | John McDonald, James Donadio |
| Starring | F. Murray Abraham, Eric Roberts |
| Music by | Bill Conti |
| Cinematography | Arthur Albert |
| Editing by | David Holden |
| Running time | 91 mins. |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
In addition to F. Murray Abraham as Max Suba, and Eric Roberts as Alexander Villard, the film credits Mia Sara as Erin Clavelli and Christopher Rydell as Jim Trebor, both students at the fencing school. Abraham had won an Oscar for his work in Amadeus in 1984, and Roberts had been nominated for Best Supporting Actor in 1985. Mia Sara is best known for her role as Ferris Bueller's girlfriend in Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
Elaine Kagan plays Rachel, Suba's romantic interest. Brent Cullen, who has appeared in Lost and The West Wing, plays fencing student Danny Gallagher. Other students are played by Doug Wert and Stephen Polk. In her second film appearance, Eve Kagan plays Villard's daughter. (Her first appearance had been in 1989, in a film also directed by Kagan.)
Bill Conti composed the score. Conti had won an 1983 Oscar for the score to The Right Stuff, and is famous for the themes for the movie Rocky and For Your Eyes Only. The score was performed and recorded by classical Guitarist Angel Romero.
Jeremy Kagan was a prolific television director. For his work with the Chicago Hope episode Leave of Absence, he won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series in 1996.
[edit] Release
Although made in the U.S., the film was released in France under the title "Par l'épée" in October, 1992.[5] It was shown in U.S. theaters in May 1993, and found its way to VHS in 1994 as a Columbia Tristar home video.
[edit] Reception
The film has received nearly opposite reviews. Roger Ebert says "the movie adds some supporting characters in order to show us things about fencing that we didn't know",[4] yet another reviewer finds the minor characters "unnecessary" and "thinly drawn", so "the film suffers whenever the plot focuses on them".[6] Although Chicago Reader critic Jonathan Rosenbaum says the film "suffers from overdone, mannerist performances by the two leads",[1] another reviewer says "the key to this film resides in the performances by Eric Roberts and F. Murray Abraham".[6] The film develops Suba's character in particular, revealing a past that "he seems unable to completely let go of."[6] Ebert says of the lead actors: "they create characters much more interesting and dimensional than this thin screenplay really requires."[4]
The most consistent point noted in review is poor screenplay and directing. New York Times critic Vincent Canby calls the screenplay "nonsense", saying bluntly: "the screenplay is terrible, full of unfinished subplots and lines that appear to announce its essential aimlessness."[2] Regarding one of the more important subplots, a critic wrote: "Sadly, Kagan a routine television and film director adds nothing to the intriguing notion of a man who's spent half his life in prison returning to the scene of his crime."[7] Although one critic calls the many flashbacks "a further directorial flourish", they are still at best an "interesting idea that isn't really successfully pulled off."[6] While the action sequences are "well handled",[1] Canby says "the drama is fraught with anticlimax."[2] Overall, the plot is full of "sports clichés",[6] could "as well have been about croquet",[2] and is "a little too neat and obvious to really carry the material."[4] As one review puts it: "Right down to the painful fencing-to-disco-music routine, this is embarrassingly fab."[3]
[edit] References
- ^ a b c Jonathan Rosenbaum. By the Sword. Chicago Reader. Retrieved on 2007-04-25.
- ^ a b c d Vincent Canby. "Review/Film; Fencing as Metaphor for Honor and the Lack Thereof", New York Times, October 22, 1993.
- ^ a b By the Sword. timeout.com. Retrieved on 2007-04-25.
- ^ a b c d Roger Ebert (May 14, 1993). By The Sword. Retrieved on 2007-04-25.
- ^ Par l'épée. cinemotions.com. Retrieved on 2007-04-25.
- ^ a b c d e By the Sword. thespinningimage.co.uk. Retrieved on 2007-04-25.
- ^ By The Sword. Channel4.com. Retrieved on 2007-04-25.
