ABSENCE OF MALICE

ABSENCE OF MALICE
1981 116mins. Director: Sydney Pollack
Rated: PG
Cast:
Paul Newman……………………………Michael Gallagher
Sally Field……………………………….Megan
Bob Balaban…………………………….Rosen
Melinda Dillon………………………….Teresa
Luther Adler…………………………….Malderone
Barry Primus……………………………Waddell
Wilford Brimley………………………...Wells
The best shots in Sydney Pollack’s Absence of Malice appear in the opening and have little to do with the plot. They offer a revealing look of how newspapers were printed before computers went mainstream. But Absence of Malice is a film about how news articles are written and this is where the movie should succeed and, frankly, does not.
Miami is an unusual locale for a white-collar thriller, since the majority of these types are often depicted spewing their scams from the skyscrapers of Wall Street. But the city has more character than any of the humans featured in this movie. Pollack, unfortunately, doesn’t make the most of the steamy setting that so captivated thriller writers like Elmore Leonard.
As for the human story, about the disappearance of a longshoreman union leader and how a plucky reporter played by Sally Field casts an unjust cloud of suspicion over an innocent suspect played by Paul Newman, lacks a much needed sense of urgency. Pollack is so bent on making a statement about the state of journalism that he neglects to add a level of shadiness from any angle. Everyone, including the repentant Megan (Field’s reporter), is unusually nice and infallibly boring.
Even when Pollack begins to scratch the surface on the topic of journalism ethics, the film remains pale. Throughout, Absence of Malice lacks vitality and dramatic flare beyond Lifetime movie substance. Every line spoken in the film feels pre-fabricated. It’s painful to see the great Paul Newman virtually reading from a script. The regretful verdict about Newman’s performance here is that his Mike Gallagher is just as dull as the rest. The themes of Absence of Malice, the power of the press, the dangers of corrupt media, and women’s liberation to a lesser extent, were and always will be relevant but are treated here in such a way that makes for one of Sydney Pollack’s worst movies.
Gallagher and Megan switch from antagonists to pals too suddenly for believability. Gallagher jumps from an embittered loner to a witty one-liner delivery boy, to a raving mad man. Then, after his big outburst, he reconciles with Megan in a way that is beyond belief and real human nature. It’s hard to understand their mutual attraction except that it’s another convention in this machine-made movie.
In part, the shortcomings of Absence of Malice have to do with the film’s take on abortion and even homosexuality at one point. Ironically, during a discussion, one character is reminded that it’s 1981. Yes, and thirty years later the movie is even more dated than many older pictures. It turns downright silly, in fact, when Gallagher’s exposed girlfriend (Melinda Dillon) runs down the block grabbing newspapers hurriedly collecting newspapers containing a humiliating revelation about her and Gallagher’s history.
Like everything else in Absence of Malice, this scene is manipulative. Also like everything else in Absence of Malice, it’s not even successful manipulation. It’s an attempt at manipulation foiled by the movie’s own stupidity.