written by john grisham and robert altman ( as al hayes ) directed by robert altman some time ago , a young director was given the opportunity to direct the screen version of a popular novel . the novel was a summer smash , topping best-seller lists across the country and already drawing speculation as to which popular actors of the day might play the leads . the only problem : the novel wasn't very good . it was far more pulp than pulitzer . but the director realized that , no matter how pedestrian the prose , this book really grabbed people - that the author , while not a great writer , was a fantastic storyteller . so he took on the project , convinced he could make something happen on screen . the director ? francis ford coppola . the book , of course , was mario puzo's the godfather . the rest , as they say in showbiz , was history . by bringing up the godfather , i don't mean to suggest that robert altman's the gingerbread man is destined for that level of greatness . but the parallel does suggest that it is possible to create great cinema from questionable source material . can you get any more questionable than john grisham ? depends on whom you ask . but there's no question that grisham's work grabs people . like puzo , grisham is a better storyteller than a writer - unlike fellow hack michael crichton , who is a good idea man but who can't tell a well-constructed story from a can of spam . so something in grisham's unpublished story of a cocky savannah lawyer who gets involved in a deadly family squabble drew the attention of robert altman , who at 73 years old remains one of america's greatest living filmmakers . the result is a gripping thriller that , while falling short of classic cinema , deserves its place in the altman canon . >from its opening shot to the closing credits , the gingerbread man is permeated with a sense of dread , with a fear of the natural destructive forces of the universe . this terrific sense of mood is a classic altman touch . witness said opening shot : we see an aerial view of coastal georgia with its writhing , undulating landscape while the soundtrack grumbles ominously in our ear . we roll over the hills into the town of savannah , then zoom in close on a red sports car speeding over a bridge while its driver chatters oblivious on his cell phone . right away we know that the driver of that car is in for a few surprises . pay attention , boys and girls - this shot was not conceived by john grisham , but by altman . this is what a great director can do for questionable source material . the sports car belongs to rick magruder ( kenneth branagh ) , the aforementioned hotshot attorney who specializes in police brutality cases . magruder has just won a high profile case and celebrates that night with a catered party at his office . outside after the party he meets one of the waitresses , mallory doss ( embeth davidzt ) , just as she realizes her car has been stolen . driven by southern chivalry , a driving rainstorm and his unspoken attraction to the fragile waitress , magruder offers her a ride home . there he learns more about mallory's life than he bargained for . her car was stolen by her schizophrenic father dixon ( robert duvall ) , a ted kyzynski-style whacko who has been stalking and terrorizing his own daughter . magruder , perhaps influenced by mallory's decision to strip off her wet clothes in front of him , is sympathetic to her plight , and offers to help her get her father committed - right after he sleeps with her , of course . this simple offer of help leads magruder down a dangerous path with a black end . he succeeds in having dixon incarcerated in a mental hospital , and for a moment all appears well . but then dixon's crack team of homeless commandos bust him out of the lockup - and suddenly magruder finds himself , mallory and his own children in danger . the cops won't lift a finger to help a liberal attorney . his only allies are his faithful assistant lois ( daryl hannah ) and his bumbling private-eye sidekick clyde ( robert downey jr ) . if this predicament wasn't bad enough , hurricane geraldo is bearing down on savannah and throwing the world into chaos . altman may provide the atmosphere , but branagh's performance holds the gingerbread man together . an accomplished actor when he isn't directing himself in vanity productions , branagh does a fine job of making rick a sympathetic hero while casting doubt upon his motives . is his offer of help to mallory an act of kindness , or of egotism ? magruder is so sure of his place in the world that he never considers that he has bitten off more than he can chew until he has to swallow it - and by then it's too late . as the plot unfolds , magruder learns that none of us are as secure as we think we are . and life is never so bad that it can't get worse . if you're familiar with altman's work , you'll recognize several of his signature techniques . characters are not introduced in establishing shots , but rather are allowed to wander in the background of scenes until their importance becomes apparent . crucial scenes are shot from the outside through windows , making the audience unwitting voyeurs of the action . dialog overlaps and the actors seem to slip naturally into an improvisational style . and of course there's my favorite altman technique - the obligatory nude actress shot . thanks to altman , here are some of the actresses i've had the pleasure of seeing naked : sally kellerman , julianne moore , madeline stowe , even frances mcdormand . and now i can add embeth davidtz , who looks quite healthy in the altogether . the naked actress shot has become as ubiquitous to the altman film as the director cameo was to the hitchcock film . is it old-school sexism , or a clever in-joke ? you be the judge . but back to the picture at hand . in the hands of a mere mortal , the gingerbread man would have been a routine thriller , no better or worse than the countless others we've all endured . in the hands of a master like altman , it becomes an exercise in existential doom , in its own way far more successful than scorsese's cape fear remake , which tried for the same result . what may prevent it from enduring with altman's greatest work is a weak third act - in fact , there really is no third act in grisham's story , so it appears that altman had to throw in the hurricane just to jazz things up . but there are true moments of riveting suspense , and great performances by branagh , davidzt and downey jr - more than enough to see you through . that polygram so hated this picture that they tried to steal final cut from altman , and then buried the marketing campaign when he won it back , should tell you how utterly clueless of quality most studios are . they probably wanted it to look more like a time to kill . and that , my friends , should make you very afraid .
