Studs Lonigan
| Studs Lonigan (film) | |
|---|---|
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| Directed by | Irving Lerner |
| Produced by | Philip Yordan |
| Written by | Philip Yordan |
| Starring | Christopher Knight Frank Gorshin Jack Nicholson |
| Music by | Jerry Goldsmith |
| Cinematography | Haskell Wexler |
| Editing by | Verna Fields |
| Distributed by | MGM |
| Release date(s) | October 22, 1960 |
| Running time | 95 min. |
Studs Lonigan is the title of a novel trilogy by American author James T. Farrell: Young Lonigan, The Young Manhood of Studs Lonigan, and Judgment Day. In 1998, the Modern Library ranked the Studs Lonigan trilogy at 29th on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century.
The Library of America reissued the novels in 2004. The character Lonigan was also featured in a minor 1960 film and a 1979 television miniseries sharing the title Studs Lonigan.
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[edit] Themes
Farrell wrote these three novels at a time of national despair. During the Great Depression, many of America's most gifted writers and artists aspired to create a single, powerful work of art that would fully expose the evils of capitalism and lead to a political and economic overhaul of the American system.[citation needed] Farrell chose to use his own personal knowledge of Irish-American life on the South Side of Chicago to create a portrait of an average American slowly destroyed by the "spiritual poverty" of his environment. Both Chicago and the Irish-American Roman Catholic Church of that era are described at length, and faulted. As Studs slowly deteriorates, changing from a tough but fundamentally good-hearted, adventurous teenage boy to an embittered, physically shattered alcoholic, Farrell portrays sympathetically and graphically both the man and his society coming undone.
[edit] Film
Farrell's novels were sensationalized into a B movie in 1960, directed by Irving Lerner and starring Christopher Knight in the title role. Other cast members included Frank Gorshin, Venetia Stevenson, and Jack Nicholson (in one of his first movie roles).
[edit] Television
In 1979 Studs Lonigan was produced as a television miniseries starring Harry Hamlin, Colleen Dewhurst, Brad Dourif, Dan Shor, and Charles Durning. Production Designer Jan Scott won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Art Direction for a Limited Series or a Special. Reginald Rose wrote the adaptation of the trilogy. The miniseries preserves the novel's tragic ending, but softens and humanizes Studs Lonigan's family and friends to a very considerable degree.
[edit] Differences between the novels and the 1979 miniseries
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In the book version, Danny O'Neill, the sensitive lad who stands in for Farrell himself, is merely a casual acquaintance. Studs does not like him or respect him. In the mini-series, the two are close friends, and Danny cares for Studs' girlfriend after he is gone and provides a moving elegy to his fate. Similarly, the only Jewish kid in the gang, Davey Cohen, is treated badly by Studs in the novel, while in the mini-series the two remain loyal comrades to the very end. This indeed heightens the tragedy immeasurably, as Studs dies of pneumonia just after Davey has promised to hire him at his new factory. Watching the dying Studs sink slowly into the gutter, still holding aloft the dollar bill Davey has loaned him like a battle flag, is one of the most moving moments in the mini-series. In the book Studs' collapse is less poignant, since no one was trying to help him and he had no reason to keep on fighting.
In the book, Farrell tends to insist that everyone must be ground down and degraded by "the system," without any room for charm or luck, much less hard work and initiative. In the mini-series Studs falls, but many of his old friends succeed. Even Lucy Scanlan, the dream girl Studs worships from afar, proves to be surprisingly warm and engaging in the film version. At the end, when Studs is dying in the gutter, we see a brief glimpse of Lucy—by now the pampered and well-protected wife of a very wealthy Irish attorney—pausing to give a little money to a broken down street bum who looks a lot like Studs. Thus the end message is not so much that life is hateful and everyone is doomed, but that life goes on and kindness will triumph in the end.
[edit] Reception and legacy
The American writer Studs Terkel was nicknamed after Studs Lonigan.[1]
Acoording to series creator Joss Whedon, the character Quinn in the TV series Angel was "totally based on Studs Lonigan. I mean, there's the tough-guy posturing, the endless self-pity, the suicidal binge-drinking, everything right down to the hopeless crush on the unattainable beauty. Oh yeah. Definitely a debt to Studs there."[citation needed]
[edit] References
- ^ Baker, James Thomas (1992). Studs Terkel. Twayne. p. 15.
