Sleuth

[Remo D]

All right, how many of you have seen SLEUTH? The stage version of the Anthony Shaffer play? The movie version with Laurence Olivier and Michael Caine? Familiar with the story at all? If not, don't start here. Go take it in.

I first saw the movie version on television at my father's urging--it was quite the knockout for my young, impressionable mind--and my younger brother saw it with me!

Not long afterwards, my father himself took the Olivier role (Andrew Wyke) in a local theatre production. Dave Pera got the Michael Caine role (Milo Tindle). I mention that because he also got the Michael Caine role in DEATHTRAP at the same theatre (my father wasn't in that one, but one of my best friends at the time was--reading this, Dan?). And now Jude Law is making a habit of getting "the Michael Caine role" with the remake of ALFIE... and now this.

2007: This is not my father's SLEUTH.

Next up, my brother Alan played Andrew in a very slightly revised version of the play for his high school. Alas, I was not able to attend that production, living as I was in a different state at the time. But by all accounts, he and his friend Sal did a splendid job.

2007: This is not my brother's SLEUTH.

I never got to be in SLEUTH myself, but in San Francisco in the 1980s, I had the pleasure of taking my friend Lisa (not to be confused with the Lisa that I would eventually marry) to see a production of the play starring Stacy Keach as Andrew and Maxwell Caulfield as Milo. I knew all about it--she knew nothing. It was almost as fun watching her reaction as it was watching the (excellent) production itself ("Remo, this guy's AWFUL!!!").

2007: This is not my SLEUTH. But in another sense, it is now.

I avoided as many spoilers as possible when I heard that this was the latest "re-imagining" that didn't want to be called a "remake." That Harold Pinter didn't just transpose the Shaffer play to the modern day. That he really and truly did adapt that sucker to the point that knowing the original won't truly prepare you for the new rendition.

Did he ever.

Okay. SLEUTH was a two-act play, but it's really a three act story. Act one is the setup--the introduction of the characters, their conflict and the "game" they propose to settle it. The new Kenneth Branagh movie strips this segment down to the bone in high style... we've got ultra-modern trappings, with architectural luxuries and super-tech surveillance displacing the classical features and game paraphernalia of the original. You'll also notice quite soon that the material is significantly bolder for the 21st century, and I'm not just talking about the strong language (well-deployed and not in the least gratuitous, I hasten to add). The antagonism between our players is set up from the very beginning with Andrew (yep, now Caine has the Olivier role) bragging to Milo (Jude Law) about the size of his... car. And you just know where they're going to go with that--yep, they're just sharpening their claws (but no, this isn't exactly DEATHTRAP, if you know that one, either).

Act Two involves the police inspector who shows up to account for the aftermath of the game. Again--done to a crispy turn.

Then there's Act Three. Endgame. You think you've seen SLEUTH? You haven't. Shaffer out the window, Pinter takes over (oh, he makes a cameo on television, too)--and it flies. Hits the fan, whatever you want to call it. The original story takes nearly two and a half hours to tell (and it's still excellent, and you still need to see it first--don't you dare ignore it)--this one is out the door in under ninety, so don't expect to kick back with a relaxing evening of classic theatre.

Just go.