TWO OF A KIND
US, 1983, 85 minutes, Colour.
John Travolta, Olivia Newton John, Oliver Reed, Charles Durning, Beatrice Straight, Scatman Crothers.
Directed by John Herzfeld.
Two of a Kind, as the reviewer in the Monthly Film Bulletin remarked, ought to be the remake of something or other. It is a reminder of the Angel and Devil films of the early '40s: The Devil and Daniel Webster, Here Conies Mr. Jordan, Heaven Can Wait. There was a revival of interest in this kind of comedy in the late '70s with Here Comes Mr. Jordan being remade by Warren Beatty as Heaven Can Wait. A very minor effort came from Michael Anderson, filmed in New Zealand, Second Time Lucky with Robert Helpmann as the Devil.
This is a box office vehicle for Olivia Newton John and John Travolta after their successful teaming in Grease. This filni pales in comparison. Compensation is in the form of the supporting cast led by Charles Durning and Beatrice Straight as angels. Oliver Reed does a burlesque Devil. The film was written and directed by John Herzfeld.
1. Entertaining fantasy? Angels and devils? Retribution? A small moral fable? Star vehicle for John Travolta and Olivia Newton John?
2. The New York settings, everyday settings, incidents? The contrast with the Heavenly Court, its bright light, cloud, wnite?garmented angels? The interaction of Heaven and Earth? Special effects for the intervention of angels and Devil? Comic special effects ? reruns etc.?
3. The title and its focus on Zack and Debbie? Their wanting to steal money? Their falling in love? One giving life for the other? (Olivia Newton John's songs, especially the title song, highlighting the theme?
4. The basic situation: the Heavenly Court and the presence of God, a whimsical bright light Presentation of God? His disgust with the human race? The cross section of angels and their personalities, and their age, size, colour? Discussions with one another in the Heavenly Court? Their incarnations on Earth in credible situations? The contrast with Oliver Reed's Devil as the portly dapper businessman, the oily crook and confidence man even to bursting into song?
5. Zack and his plight, his wanting to rob the bank, the loan sharks and their following him, the encounter with Debbie, his not being able to rob the bank? His escape? The angels helping him? Tracing Debbie? The humour of her re?enacting the robbery and his appearance - making it more real? The friendship between the two, the loan sharks pursuing them, the chaos, Zack falling in love with Debbie? The arrest by the police? Their standing up for each other? Zack giving his life to save Debbie, the masked gunman? Happily, alive, ever after?
6. Olivia Newton John's Debbie, the rather prim and loyal (pictures of the Queen) Australian in New York? Work at the bank, taking the money? Her drama lessons and her re?living the robbery, her seeing Zack and her genuine screams? Trying to make up to Zack? Chaos, falling in love? Her standing up for him, risking prison, deportation, the acquittal (with the angel stealing the evidence!)? Her being saved by Zack? Happy ever after?
7. Conventional New York comedy - banks, robberies, mishaps, drama school, mayhem in the city, the Mob, the courtrooms, prisons, the police?
8. Farcical enjoyment? Moral themes? A fairly trite parable? for a very wide audience?
