Now that the awards season is history and last year’s top-ten films are yesterday’s news, we now-- cinematically-speaking-- officially are neck-deep in the dog days of late winter and early spring. And the majority of films that come to theatres this time of year are, well, not very good, and certainly not very memorable. They may feature recognizable names, which may or may not be audience draws. Primarily, however, their plotlines are fashioned to attract the maximum number of viewers in the shortest amount of time. In this regard, they are the equivalent of mass-produced sugary confections that will appeal to the most undiscriminating movie-going masses.
Take, for example, FOCUS, a slick but mindless caper film about a scam artist, played by Will Smith, who becomes entangled with a sultry wannabe big-time crook, played by Margot Robbie. If you are willing to purchase a movie ticket to see Will Smith reading the telephone book or if you savor staring at super-attractive women, FOCUS may draw you in. But it will be out of sight and out of mind a minute after the end credit roll.
However, there is one aspect of this film that makes it topical, and this has to do with race. Will Smith is of course African-American, and Margot Robbie is Caucasian. These days, politics aside, it seems as if there are those in our country who simply cannot accept that we have an African-American president. If one listens closely enough, one can hear their voices proclaiming: “I do not know what our great country is coming to. Not only do we have an African-American chief executive, but his middle name is Hussein.”
When it comes to acting chops, Margot Robbie surely is no Meryl Streep. But, undeniably, she is a beautiful woman. She is the type who easily might be a fantasy figure to millions of red-blooded American males who happen to be Caucasian. If these males happen to see FOCUS, they surely will notice that the relationship between the characters played by Will Smith and Margot Robbie is sexual as well as “professional.” Granted, there are no lengthy sequences in which the two are dallying between the sheets but, clearly, they are-- and one has to wonder: How many of these male viewers will come away thinking, “Boy, there’s Will Smith having fun in bed with Margot Robbie. And, he is a black man!”
And one only can wonder if they also might ask: “Whatever happened to the ‘good old days,’ the pre-Sidney Poitier days, when black characters in movies almost exclusively were janitors and mammies who wrecked the English language and whose onscreen presences primarily were as comic relief?”
On one level, times have changed. Starting in the late 1940s, some Hollywood filmmakers began seriously dealing with racial issues. In fact, one such film, a restoration of Douglas Sirk’s 1959 version of IMITATION OF LIFE, which deals with African-American identity and the issue of “passing for white,” will be screened at Film Forum in Manhattan from April 3rd through 9th.
But such films-- and contact between the races-- remained controversial in some quarters. For example, back in 1968, Petula Clark, the British pop singer, hosted a television special here in the U.S. Harry Belafonte was a guest and, while performing a duet, Clark dared to innocently touch Belafonte’s arm. The show was taped prior to its broadcast and its sponsor, fearful of offending viewers, demanded that the shot be replaced by one in which there was no physical contact.
The story goes that Clark and her husband, who was the show’s executive producer, refused-- and the program was broadcast with the controversial shot. Plus, in reviewing the show, Variety, the industry trade publication, observed that “the touching bit which caused such a stir...could only disturb the spiritually sick.” Now today, one cannot imagine a movie executive insisting that the Will Smith-Margot Robbie relationship in FOCUS be strictly non-sexual. Still, given the current racial climate in the U.S., there are those who still might be highly offended.
Rob Edelman teaches film history at the University at Albany. He has written several books on film and television, and is an associate editor of Leonard Maltin’s Movie and Video Guide.
The views expressed by commentators are solely those of the authors. They do not necessarily reflect the views of this station or its management.