Watch The Four Seasons For Free

Wow! Such a good movie.

Excellent but underrated film

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

I was watching the Kennedy Center Honors tribute to Rita Moreno, which included some short moments of her film work. I kept wondering if they'd show anything of The Four Seasons, which, while not something she's hugely remembered for, offered her a meaty role late in her film career, and is one of the first times I had ever seen her, as I hadn't ever watched West Side Story or most of her TV work. There was no mention, and indeed, I rarely hear of the film at all these days. I did see a sneering review of the film on a blog that, among other things, seemed astonished that the movie had ever been made as it was so poor, and seemed to believe that Bess Armstrong only appears in the first third. It was that review which compelled me to write this one.The Four Seasons is one of those films I never watch too often, as the characters and dialogue start to get on your nerves with how self- analytical and overly quippy they are, but this actually shows how ahead of its time the film was - if you add in some dramatic walking, or supernatural special effects, you have your average Aaron Sorkin or Joss Whedon script. What works for the film is the chemistry of the cast. You genuinely believe the characters have been close for a long time, and you can understand why the women resent Ginny, Anne's "replacement" in the group, and in Nick's life. Yet because the movie is also honest about the flaws of the characters, you're also invited to see the women's resentment, and the patronizing attitude of the men, as unfair. As time passes things start to feel a little too much (too much hectoring from Carol Burnett's Kate, a bit too much clowning from Jack Weston's Danny, a few too many measuring contests between Nick and Alan Alda's Jack), but it still ends on a satisfactory note, an ode to friendship along with a reminder of just how casually discarded friendship can be.Even though I haven't seen this in years, many parts still stick in my mind - the classical music for the soundtrack, the gorgeous cinematography (the overhead shots of the sailboat in the summer sequence in particular), the cramped car ride and sharp turns, Nick's depressed daughter talking about how the women at her college urinate off the balconies, Carol Burnett's speech at the end about friendship and losing touch.My favorite part of the film is Sandy Dennis' brief turn as Anne, Nick's first wife, the one discarded from his life, and then from people she saw as her friends. It's a touching performance, one that nicks at you long after she leaves the screen. Her final scene, running into her old friends, reminding them of their abandonment of her, and then moving on, is in many ways the natural conclusion of the film, and ends with such a classic line - "Maybe I'll get a goddam boa constrictor." You can't argue with that.

Alan Alda's movie career has been curious. I suspect that only a handful of titles really stand out for his performances, most likely this film, SENATOR JOE TYNAN, PURLIE VICTORIOUS (an early performance), AND THE BAND PLAYED ON (where he was a glory hound of a doctor in the A.I.D.S. epidemic), and CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS (where he was an egotistical television personality, but one capable of being human). But Alda's talents are varied, including hosting a program on Channel 13 about scientific breakthroughs. Yet, most people think of Alda still as Dr. Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce of the 4077 medical unit in the television series M.A.S.H. That show is now over twenty years old (but it's reruns hold up well), and Alda has appeared in good parts since on television - two years ago he and Jimmie Smitz were the Republican and Democratic Presidential candidates seeking to succeed Martin Sheen on THE WEST WING.THE FOUR SEASONS may be his greatest film role - one that included his writing the script and directing the entire film. The story is centered on three middle aged couples, all yuppie types, who are close friends: Jack and Kate Burroughs (Alda and Carol Burnett - this may be her best performance as well in film), Nick and Anne Callan (Len Cariou and Sandy Barron), and Danny and Claudia Zimmer (Jack Weston and Rita Moreno). The three couples spend all their vacations together, and this film is studying the three pairs of friends through one year together, each section being a vacation in each season (the background music being Vivaldi's THE SEASONS). They are appealing couples on the surface, but as the film progresses cracks appear. Alda sees himself as a type of spiritual older brother to the other males, and both Cariou and Weston grow to resent it - Cariou in particular when Alda gives his views regarding the deteriorating marriage of Cariou and Barron. Barron is playing one of her patented neurotic women types - here she is a talented photographer, but in her current therapy all she can photograph is vegetables and fruit in geometric patterns. Cariou is tired, and has met a younger woman who falls in love with him. She (Ginny Newley - Bess Armstrong) replaces Barron in the second vacation, and remains in the group (Barron does show up in the third "Autumn" vacation, visiting the college that her daughter by Cariou is attending when he and the others show up there). Armstrong does awaken jealousy among Burnett and Moreno regarding the apparent efforts of their spouses to impress her with their physical prowess. And the three couples constantly wonder why they have to spend their vacations together.The final section of the film shows the crisis between the set of friends and with Armstrong in particular. Alda's unsolicited comments of advice and disappointment to Cariou leads to everyone turning on him. The jealousy of the ladies (when Armstrong jumps to the defense of Weston after he admits some growing fears about dying) leads to her hitting out regarding how she resents their constant high regard for Barron (although they rarely see her) at Armstrong's expense. At the end of the film, a near tragedy (that is turned into a comedy by Weston's reaction to the loss of his status-symbol Mercedes) brings everyone to their senses, and to a realization that true friends accept each other's limitations or they drift apart.The film is a wise one, and quite amusing. Look at the sequences with Weston where he keeps calculating what each couple owes for a dinner or a rental (of a cabin or a boat) and how Alda and Cariou keep wondering why he is doing this. Also Weston and Marino discovering that there is nothing wrong with skinny dipping in the Caribbean is quite cute, especially with Weston's last plunge into the water. Alda directed other films, but THE FOUR SEASONS remains his best personal work - and the most meaningful film of his career.

Another film I never get tired of re-watching, THE FOUR SEASONS is an entertaining, albeit predictable comedy-drama about three affluent couples who vacation together, whose perfect circle of friendship is forever altered when one couple decides to divorce and the man tries to bring his new girlfriend into the circle. There is a lot of funny stuff that goes on here and a lot of unpleasant stuff as well, especially the way the circle treats the new girlfriend, but most of it rings true and the emotions expressed among these friends about losing the wife who was rejected for a younger woman, are quite real. My only problem with this film is that all the characters talk like Alan Alda. Yes, Alda wrote and directed the film, but he should have given the characters their own personalities, not his. Alda and Carol Burnett make a very believable long-married couple, Jack and Kate as do Jack Weston and Rita Moreno as Danny and Claudia. Len Cariou makes the most of an unpleasant role as Nick, the husband who divorces his wife (Sandy Dennis, in a lovely and heartbreaking performance)and tries to bring his new girlfriend (Bess Armstrong) into the circle. There is slapstick and sentiment and pathos and I have to admit to cheering the first time I saw the scene where Armstrong tells the group off for treating her like an outsider. It's not Chekhov, but it is a charming film with likable characters, realistic situations, beautiful scenery and a lovely musical score. If you hate Alan Alda, beware.

Three couples--best friends--are seen on four trips together during the course of a year. Writer-director-star Alan Alda shows a surprisingly stylish eye for the beauty of the changing seasons, and as a writer he knows how to shake off the melodramatic doldrums and be funny, but his sense of style and pacing isn't helped by his need to be educational, to teach us all something about ourselves (this movie hints that maybe he's been in therapy too long). The film isn't whiny, but it has shapeless scenes that are overdrawn--and the longer they go, the more rambling they become. One couple separates and the man brings a new woman into the fold, but his ex-wife (the wonderful Sandy Dennis) is much more interesting and sympathetic than who we're left with. Two college-age daughters are introduced (played by Alda's real-life children), but they don't seem to be familiar with anyone at the table. The final act allows Alda's repressed character to finally react and blow off some steam, yet the responses he elicits (particularly from his wife, Carol Burnett) aren't believable--the characters all sound and act too much like each other for there to be nuances in their reactions. Burnett is tough to get a grip on here, and I don't know if it's the writing or just the tack she's taken here as an actress, but her rigid/passive/supporting-but-unhappy wifey doesn't showcase any particular feeling; Bess Armstrong, as the new friend, doesn't get a good strong scene until almost the end, and that's because Alda enjoys poking fun at her youthful idealism (even at the end, Armstrong is stuck with dippy dialogue like, "I'm going to take a run in the snow!"). The picture was a big hit, and it may spark conversations about friendships and our need to be around what is familiar--even if it nags at us--but Alda doesn't allow for solutions. He wants to create a mess, analyze the mess, and then throw up his hands and say "that's the way life is!" But this reality of his is plastic-coated, with TV-ready dialogue, and while he's an amiable filmmaker, he's never a self-satisfied one. **1/2 from ****