JOE GOULD’S SECRET

"Joe Gould’s Secret" is one of those great movies that may be relegated to the art houses waiting for the word of mouth to prolong its life. Ian Holm brings a gleeful impish charm to the charismatic vociferous title character who bulldozed his way into the consciousness of New York’s Greenwich Village throughout his adult life. Yet despite his bigger than life intrusions, which is reason enough to see the movie, "Joe Gould’s Secret" scores its points with carefully orchestrated scenes that give balance to the more intimate moments and reflective pauses that remind us how lives can be changed by the most minute set of circumstances.

"Joe Gould’s Secret" has a Bohemian flavor that harks back to a simpler time when the idiosyncrasies of homeless people on the streets of New York were met with bemusement and an unfettered hand out. Joe Gould lives by handouts. He breakfasts at the local luncheonette - lunches at the Minetta Tavern - and dines at any party he can crash. Joe is a local legend supported by an organic consortium of contributors to the Joe Gould fund whose members come an go with the seasons, and whose size fluctuates with the rise and fall of Gould’s own celebrity.

The time is 1942. A chance encounter with the shabby looking Joe Gould over morning coffee piques the interest of Joe Mitchell (Stanley Tucci), a renowned writer for New Yorker magazine. At first, Joe Gould is just another subject for one of Joe’s many pieces on the fabric of New York life, but Gould has a way of insinuating himself into other people’s lives. A friend of Joe Gould’s is a friend forever whether they like it or not. Gould flaunts clippings with words of praise from the likes of Ezra Pound, e.e. cummings, and William Saroyan for the homeless Harvard graduate’s attempt to record the oral history of day to day people. Mitchell is soon added to that list with the publication of Professor Seagull, an article that gives Gould national notoriety. Soon Gould begins receiving a living stipend from a benefactor (unknown to this day) and becomes the evening’s entertainment at the local parties with his outlandish behavior, poetry readings, and pranks. Mitchell arouses the interest of a publisher in Gould’s daily journals work, rumored - by Gould himself - to be stored in the attics of well-wishers and a duck farm in Long Island, but Gould’s work is as illusive as the man is wily. Mitchell catches a glimpse of his musings in the composition books he so earnestly scribbles in from day to day. Some is insightful, some rambling, even repetitious. Is it the work of a genius or a mad man? Or both? - struggling to find a place in the world? And what of Mitchell’s faith in the man who unalterably changed his life?

The effect each man has on each other’s life is the essence of "Joe Gould’s Secret."

Mitchell longs to complete a novel that never materializes. His work is lauded by his peers while he shuns the limelight. Gould longs to win acceptance for his work and basks on the glow of his skewed celebrity without it. His genius, or madness is in the art of living day to day - hand to mouth - and inducing people to become part of his history. It is something beyond Mitchell’s comprehension and likewise is one of the unanswered enigmas of Joe Gould’s existence. If anything, it makes Mitchell feel more vulnerable as a human being. His success, the roof over his head, the watermelon he savors with his kids, and the stability of family life will never be taken for granted. There is a ‘there but for the grace of God, go I’ feel to the movie that is overwhelming. When the end credits tell us Mitchell published his last article, Joe Gould’s Secret several years after Gould’s death at the age of 68, it also gives pause to recognize that director Stanley Tucci is on his way to becoming one of our most prized story tellers.

Copyright 2000

"Beau James" (1957) - Bob Hope is the colorful Mayor Jimmy Walker whose scandal ridden, but colorful career is given the light touch. Thoroughly entertaining Hope in a straight role.

"The Big Street" (1942) - Damon Runyon produced this adaptation of his own story, Little Pinks, about a busboy who dedicates his life to an egotistical New York cabaret singer. Henry Fonda and Lucille Ball make it work with some great character bits by quintessential New York type characters actors, like Sam Levene, Barton MacLane, and Ray Collins.

"Alien" (1979) - Holm is the robot that make things go bump-i-ly along by making Ripley and crew stick to the mission. If Ian is a fright as Gould, he’s positively frightening in this - it’s all in the delivery.

"Dance with a Stranger" (1984) - In one of his few leading roles, Ian Holm is one of the few men who fall for femme fatale, Ruth Ellis (Miranda Richardson), in this fact based story about the first woman executed in England for murder. It’s an absorbing, though thoroughly depressing film from director Mike Newell who went on to helm "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and "Donnie Brasco."

"The Big Night" (1996) -.Two immigrant bothers try to make it in the restaurant business in New York in the fifties. Stan is the chef who treats his meals as works of art. This movie is a primer for Tucci’s attention to period detail that that served him well in "Joe Gould’s Secret." Ian Holm plays the arch rival.

"Beethoven" (1992) - He’s a dognapper

"The Pelican Brief" (1993) - He’s the killer

"Undercover Blues" (1993) - He’s the comical tough guy reduced to rubble by Dennis Quaid