Young audiences may only know Robin Williams from his Sesame Street appearances, which were great, but it’s been 10 years since he died and the Jerusalem Cinematheque is marking the occasion with a tribute to his movies. Even decades after they were released, most of his films feel as fresh as the day they debuted.
The program begins on August 1 and runs throughout the month.
Williams, who died of suicide at just 63 when he was suffering from a serious illness, had an extraordinary ability to make people laugh, despite the sad end of his own life. Nine of his films will be shown, some of which are for all ages, while others are best suited for adults.
There’s no disputing that no matter how good or bad the movie he was in, Williams was invariably the best thing in it. When he was on screen, being quiet or loud, active or still, you couldn’t look at anyone else. And while he will always be remembered for his comedy, he was a wonderful dramatic actor, as so many comics can be, given the chance.
If you’re looking for something to do with the kids, consider taking them to the Disney-animated movie, Aladdin, on August 9. Without Williams as the larger-than-life genie, Aladdin would have just been another movie about a kid who becomes a hero. You may have shown your kids this movie on DVD or streamed it, but seeing it on the big screen is another experience altogether, and Williams’s raucous vocalizing on the song, “Friend Like Me,” will sound especially good.
Another one for the kids is Chris Columbus’s Mrs. Doubtfire. Williams cross-dresses as a desperate dad who poses as his estranged wife’s housekeeper to stay close to his kids after his divorce. There’s a lot of shtick and Williams pulls it off as no one else could.
More Robin Williams classics
He starred in a second drag-oriented movie, Mike Nichols’s The Birdcage, an adaptation of a French farce about a drag-queen couple who have to pretend to be straight after their son gets engaged to a girl. Here, Williams plays it straight – so to speak – and it’s Nathan Lane who wears the dress. Still, Williams has some good scenes, especially one where he’s choreographing a new nightclub number.
One of his biggest hits was Barry Levinson’s Good Morning, Vietnam, in which he plays a DJ in Saigon in 1965 hosting a radio show for the troops. If you’ve seen it, you can’t even read the title without hearing Williams utter the title phrase with his unforgettable delivery. Yes, there’s a plot, but what everyone remembers from the movie is Williams’s character’s wild on-air antics, much of which would be considered politically incorrect today but which are still hilarious. Time has been kind to this movie, and it features a great soundtrack of 1960s rock tunes.
He won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his role as a therapist in Good Will Hunting, transforming a bland character into someone much more interesting. The understanding therapist who gets a repressed patient to express his feelings is a part usually played by Jews, like Judd Hirsch in Ordinary People. But Williams is perfect here as the therapist we all wish we had.
John Irving, author of The World According to Garp, admitted in a recent Zoom event at the Jerusalem Writers Festival that he thought that Williams, who was 31, was miscast as the young hero of the film adaptation of his novel, directed by George Roy Hill. Still, Williams is poignant in the role, especially in the scenes where Garp grows up. The film is notable for its inclusion of one of the first trans characters in a major movie, a former quarterback now named Roberta, played beautifully by John Lithgow. Lithgow and Williams’s scenes together are among the movie’s best.
The Fisher King, one of Terry Gilliam’s finest films, is another movie that holds up remarkably well after more than three decades. Jeff Bridges plays a radio shock jock who feels remorse over his cruelty. He befriends Williams, who portrays a homeless man obsessed with the legend of the titular king, whose emotional life is intact even if he lives in abject poverty. It’s a fable of redemption and it mixes intimate scenes with big set pieces, the best of which is a dance number at Grand Central Station in New York.
The two movies in the series that seem the most dated are Peter Weir’s Dead Poets Society, which features a stellar group of young actors, among them Ethan Hawke, Robert Sean Leonard, and Josh Charles. Williams plays a wild and crazy English teacher at a prep school in 1950 who encourages his students to live life to the fullest. I realize that this is many people’s favorite movie, and if you see it at the right age and moment, you will probably always love it.
Williams plays a neurologist based on Oliver Sacks in Awakenings, adapted from Sacks’s book, with Robert De Niro as a patient who awakens after decades in a coma. Directed by Penny Marshall, this is essentially a TV movie with big stars, but Williams is appropriately likable in his role as a cuddly but quiet doctor who learns to love life more from his patients.
