Hooked on Hook

 

 

 

 

The fantasy / fairy tale world has many, many memorable villains. Whether it be a literary villain, such as Rumplestiltskin  or the Big Bad Wolf from Little Red Riding Hood... Or villains from animated films, such as The Evil Stepmother from Snow White or Cruella De Vil from 101 Dalmatians... Or classic live action films like The Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz or the villainous duo of Prince Humperdinck and Count Rugen from The Princess Bride.

By far, my favorite villain from fairy tales would have to be Captain Hook. That ne'er-do-well pirate from the classic Peter Pan. He first burst forth from the psyche of author J. M. Barrie back in the early 1900's and has been haunting the childhood of many a youngster ever since. He has been portrayed on screen, both in animated films and in live action films for well over 100 years now.

The first time, as near as I can tell, was in a 1925 silent film version with a guy named Ernest Torrance, who made a name for himself at the time playing villainous characters.  Hook has since been portrayed by the likes of Cyril Ritchard and Danny Kaye on TV, Cyril Ritchard (again) and Boris Karloff (!) on stage, and voiced in cartoon versions by Hans Conreid (among others).

But when it comes to live action versions of the Peter Pan story, although there have been several, by far my two favorites involve actors who could take over the camera any time they ever stepped in front of it. The first was the 1991 Steven Spielberg / Robin Williams entry, Hook. Then, just a mere 12 years later, a cast of (mostly) virtually unknowns came along, 2003's Peter Pan, which featured one of my favorite British actors, Jason Isaacs. 

(Side note: Jason Isaacs, BTW, was my choice for taking over the reins of the James Bond role when rumors cropped up that it was being re-inaugurated in the early 2000's. I found out later that he had indeed auditioned for taking over the role from Timothy Dalton before the producers went with Pierce Brosnan...)

Of the two portrayals, I have to give Hoffman the edge. Mainly because of his over the top performance. As the villainous Hook, he reminds me a lot of two other movies, in which I enjoyed the villain more than the ostensible hero; Raul Julia as M. Bison in Street Fighter and Max Von Sydow in Flash Gordon. It seems to me that Hoffman is relishing his role immensely. 

You have to understand Captain Hook and his prior relationship with Peter Pan to really understand his enmity with the boy. You see, like Captain Ahab, who lost his leg to the titular whale, Moby Dick, Hook has a hook for a hand because long ago Peter cut off his real hand and fed it to a crocodile. (I'd be pretty pissed, too, to tell the truth). Even the author admits he got some inspiration for the character of Captain Hook from the Melville novel.

Did you know that Hook was not in the original first draft of Barrie's play? I have no idea what went on with the story prior to Hook's introduction into the story, but apparently at some point Barrie injected the character into the story because he decided that, since children liked pirate stories, his play could use the character to appeal more to children.

I did not know this, but Hook was a college educated man. Really. He apparently was a graduate of Eton College (where his major was... I don't know... maybe creative entrepreneurship...?)  Hook, also, was not his real name (obviously), but Barrie once stated "to reveal who he really was would even at this date set the country in a blaze". 

Captain Hook's transition from stage play to animated film to live action film (and even to TV miniseries) has brought some interesting casting opportunities. Some you may be familiar with, while others may be unknown to you, depending on how big a fan of the Peter Pan story you are. 

One of the more interesting castings I came across involved a 2014 TV adaptation of the musical version of the story, called Peter Pan- Live! This one escaped my notice since, at the time, I didn't have access to a working television. But the cast included Christopher Walken as Hook (and in case you, like me, are saying "I didn't know Christopher Walken could sing...", well, judging by the clip I found, he probably could be said to be more of a rapper than a singer...)

 

Then there was Stanley Tucci, who played the character in an ITV miniseies called Peter and Wendy (which, sad to say, I can't find a decent clip to use to showcase his portrayal..).  

And in yet another cable station output, on Disney+, we get Jude Law as a definitely harder and more villainous Hook. I rather like Law's portrayal, and he just might be #3 in my list of favorites.

 

But none of the live action versions of Captain Hook are a match for Jason Isaacs or Dustin Hoffman.

Firstly (and #2 on my list) is the character as brought to the screen by Jason Isaacs. Isaacs proved his mettle as a villain in the Mel Gibson film The Patriot, as well as bringing to life the character of Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter movies.  So it is without a doubt that he could pull off a character like Captain Hook.

In Peter Pan (2003), Wendy (Rachel Hurd-Wood) entertains her two younger brothers, John (Harry Newell) and Michael (Freddie Popplewell), with entertaining swashbuckling adventures, including the story of Cinderella (Cinderella is a "swashbuckling adventure"??), but Peter Pan spies on her. His goal is taking back the adventures to tell his friends in Neverland, The Lost Boys.

Meanwhile, Captain Hook (Isaacs) bides his time, waiting for the return of Peter to Neverland. He has only one goal in mind, the complete utter defeat of Peter, in revenge for a resentment he has harbored against Peter. It seems that Peter had cut off his hand and fed it to a giant crocodile. The downside of this is the crocodile developed a taste for Hook meat, and seeks the rest of him. The crocodile is truly the only thing that Hook is actually afraid of.

When Wendy and John and Michael end up in Neverland, Hook decides his best opportunity for revenge is to use them as bait to lure Peter into battle.  Isaacs as Hook exemplifies the truly insidious nature of Hook, although he does occasionally garner a bit of goodness about him, although not enough of it to hinder him from his ultimate goal.

 

Isaacs, however, pales by comparison to Dustin Hoffman in terms of pure entertainment, if not in pure insidiousness. It's the campiness of Hoffman's portrayal that endears him to me. I never can resist an actor that plays a villain with such over-the-top panache like that which Hoffman brings to the role. In addition to the two previously mentioned Julia and von Sydow I would also add such endearing camp villains as Geoffrey Rush as Casanova Frankenstein in Mystery Men and John Lithgow as Lord John Whorfin in  The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension.

The essence of the over-the-top performance is to play it broad, but not so broad that it becomes ridiculous. There are a few out such cases out there that edge into the ridiculous. Not a big fan of Will Farrell in the first place, but his role in Zoolander takes it beyond the pale, in my opinion. 

And then there's Hoffman. Hoffman very rarely played anyone on the bad side of the coin, although he did play a few unscrupulous characters, such as "Ratso" Rizzo in Midnight Cowboy. But not anyone you could conceivably actively hate. Even as Captain Hook, it's really hard to hate him.

 

O.K., I seriously started out this entry only meaning to write a brief overview of Hook, as I did with the rest of the films in this entry, but sentimentality took over and I absolutely can't resist the voices in my head telling me to go more into detail on this particular film.   Some of that has to do with some facts I learned while researching the film, which will be noted at the end of this blog entry. 

In the context of the film, at some point Peter Pan had decided he did want to grow up after all. He is a grown man, now named Peter Banning (Robin Williams). Peter has pretty much gone whole hog into his career and the potential benefits, financial and status wise. But his sacrifice has been that he has neglected his children, promising to be there for special events, but constantly being distracted by the job. 

For instance, he has promised to be at his son Jack's (Charlie Korsmo) baseball game, but he is caught up in the rigamarole of taking care of business, and, even though he would like to fulfill his promise, he ends up having to send a subordinate to film the game.

(BTW: Does Charlie Korsmo look familiar? He had a VERY brief career as a child actor, choosing to go to college and study law, but if you saw the Warren Beatty film Dick Tracy, he was The Kid. I think that one was actually his first movie...)  

Peter and his family go on vacation to England, where Peter meets up with the woman who raised him as an orphan, Wendy Darling (Maggie Smith). His family, which includes Jack, his daughter Maggie (Amber Scott) and his wife Moira (Caroline Goodall) are there primarily for a vacation, but also to attend a dinner being held to honor Wendy and her work with orphans.

Peter gets upset when his children interrupt him during an important business call and Moira chides him, saying that their time as children is brief, and soon neither of them will be so enthusiastic about spending time with their father, but pursuing other interests. That very night, while Peter and Moira and Wendy are attending the celebratory dinner, a mysterious force comes into the house and whisks away the children. Peter finds a note left in place of his children.

When this catastrophic event happens Peter, quite naturally, calls in the local constabulary. (and wait, isn't that Phil Collins, the drummer for Genesis, in the role of a Police Inspector, postulating that the whole thing might be some sort of "prank"?)

It is therefore up to Grandma Wendy to clue in Peter on just who he is and who this mysterious "Jas. Hook" is. Peter was, of course, once known as Peter Pan, and originally came from Neverland. But, in the process of becoming an adult, he has either forgotten or chose to block out his memories of the time when he was the leader of the Lost Boys in that fabled land. Eventually an old ally, Tinkerbell (Julia Roberts) shows up to help him get back to Neverland so he can rescue his children. (Because, among other things, Peter has forgotten how to fly).

 

Peter and Tinkerbell arrive in Neverland and end up on Hook's pirate ship, The Jolly Roger. Peter is still not sure just what the Hell is going on, but Tinkerbell does her best to disguise him so he won't stand out like a sore thumb.  Enter Smee (Bob Hoskins), Hook's second mate. And starting off by echoing or parodying a line from a previous Robin Williams movie, introduces the villain:

 "Good morning, Neverland! Tie down the main mast matey's 'cause here he is, the cunning kingfish, the bad barracuda! A man so deep he's unfathomable! A man so quick he's fast... asleep! Let's give him a hand... 'cause he's only got one! I give you the steel-handed stingray! Captain James HOOK!" 

(Sounds kind of like he's introducing Hulk Hogan or some other wrestling sensation...) 

And finally the title star makes his appearance, and boy does Hoffman make an entrance! When Hook eventually figures out that this older man Peter is in fact Peter Pan he is disappointed. He demands that Peter fly up to his children to prove he is Pan, but guess what... this Peter is afraid of heights. So  Hook has decided to throw in the towel of his plan for revenge on Peter Pan and just kill the children. But Tinkerbell says, give her a week's time and she will mold Peter back into the Pan he, Hook, knew. Well, actually only 3 days, since that is all Hook is willing to concede.

Between this scene and the final battle (in which, yes, spoiler alert, Peter does indeed become Pan) we are treated to two separate stories. On the one hand, Peter has to convince the Lost Boys he is Pan, and is subjected to a three day boot camp to get him in shape, both physically and terms of his imagination, which has become seriously deficient since he became an adult.

On the other hand, Hook tries his best to make the children love him, which he thinks would seriously damage Peter's ego. He has no success whatsoever with Maggie, but it appears he is getting through to Jack, since the thing Jack wants more than anything else is to have a father figure who connects with him; i.e. cares about his interests and engages with him, which Peter as his real father had been neglecting.

It comes down to a final battle between Peter and the Lost Boys and Hook and his pirate crew.  You don't need me to tell you how that turns out in the end, but there is one loss for the Lost Boys which is sure to bring a tear to your eyes. 

The background of how Peter finally decided to stop living in Neverland and start living in the real world and become an adult is very revealing. It seems while in Neverland Peter Pan and the Lost Boys never aged. Peter gave up immortality in child form, then, for the love of a girl who eventually grew up to be his wife.    

OK. on to the reason (or reasons) why I thought this movie deserved a more in depth review.

First, the much vaunted Tomato meter ranks this movie as the absolute worst of Steven Spielberg's directorial output. Yes. Even worse than 1941. Although, truth be told, I liked that movie too. My vote for the worst would have been Always, which has Richard Dreyfuss taking over as some sort of guardian angel in the afterlife (I think). It should be noted, BTW, that the Tomato meter ranking is the only list I found that ranks Hook at the bottom, but still... The site says "The look of Hook is lively indeed, but Steven Spielberg directs on autopilot here, giving in too quickly to his sentimental, syrupy qualities." Really? I could have said much the same thing about E.T. The Extraterrestrial. 

Of course, the Tomato meter is based on actual reviews from the time, and I would be remiss to not point out that some of those reviewers were probably not in a happy frame of mind when they entered the theater... Roger Ebert said "No effort is made to involve Peter's magic in the changed world he now inhabits, and little thought has been given to Captain Hook's extraordinary persistence in wanting to revisit the events of the past."  

The film had a pretty prestigious cast. Hoffman, Williams,  Roberts and Smith all have won Oscars and Hoskins was nominated for one. Several other cast members were recipients of nominations and/or even winners of other awards. So it had a load of prestige actors. There is also a great score by none other than John Williams, a man who could score an episode of some low level TV show like My Mother the Car and make it memorable.

Hook was a bigger hit with audiences, however. It made $300 million on a $70 million investment and is rated no less than an A- on several audience review sites. And it did get some recognition by the Oscar committee that year, having been nominated for five Oscars (although none for Best Picture, Director or Actor...) It didn't win any, losing to either Bugsy or Terminator 2 in each category, but just getting nominated is an  accomplishment.

I saw Hook  on my 30th birthday in the theater, one of the few movies I saw that came out in theaters on my birthday. Unlike my experience with The Postman a few years later I actually enjoyed this one. I do think it has a niche however. Younger kids may not fully understand just what is going on: "Who is this old guy? Peter Pan is supposed to be a boy!" There may also be a period in your life where the whole sentimental theme is just annoying. I pity the adult who loses his childlike sensibilities completely, although I have to admit if I had seen this movie for the first time after I turned 40 I might have been turned away from it's overall thematic sense.

Now in my mid 60's I am starting to return to that childlike sense of wonder. Too bad I never had kids (or grand kids). It might be instructive to watch this with kids and see how they react.

Well, folks, that second star to the right is sending out it's enticing message. May have to trade in the Plymouth for some wings to get there however. Drive safely.

Quiggy