Stan & Ollie

Dir: Jon S. Baird

2019

*****

When making a biographical film about very well known and much loved legends, you have to get certain components right, otherwise there isn’t any point in making it. You need to get era right, you need to explore key historical events and while it is okay to leave out certain unimportant truths, you should never make anything up. If a story is worth telling, it is worth tell correctly. Lastly, you have to be true to the people you are portraying. Jon S. Baird’s Stan & Ollie (written by Jeff Pope) excels in all of the above. The sets are divined and the 1950s is captured beautifully. The life and career of Laurel and Hardy is so vast, it would be impossible to cram it into one film and do either of them justice. Instead, Stan & Ollie is a personal look at the relationship between the two men during their final tour. It is poignant and somewhat melancholy at times but a joy from beginning to end. It was quite a big tour of the UK and Ireland so not everything is covered in film but a lot of it is mentioned or shown in stills. The conversations are obviously written but the relationship is based on several first-hand accounts and is as correct as it could be. The comedy skits added into everyday life are based on truth as the pair would often put on little performances for small crowds and whenever there was a camera pointed at them. There was always an opportunity to make people laugh, not for self promotion but because it is what they enjoyed doing. Baird’s biopic picks this up wonderfully while acknowledging that the pair did the tour because they really needed the money. It explores the tension between the pair years after Ollie worked with another partner when Stan’s contract was up at the studio, something that Stan took very hard, even though Ollie, under contract, had very little choice over. More importantly, despite how badly the studios treated them, the film explores the truth love and affection the pair had for one another. The story begins in 1937 with a beautiful long take as the pair walk through the studio back lot to the set of Way Out West. They pass various actors in various costume and have a witty line to say about each as they pass. When on set they are met by Hal Roach, the pair’s famous producer, and he and Stan quarrel about direction. Ollie, enjoying the pinnacle of success, is enjoying the here and now. The pair begin the film with their famous little dance and by way of Stan signing with Fox and Ollie making a film with him (in the ‘elephant picture’), we fast forward to 1953 where we join the comedy duo as they embark on a grueling music hall tour of the United Kingdom and Ireland while struggling to get another film made - a comedic adaptation of Robin Hood where the poor steal from the poor, thus cutting out the middleman. However, poor pre-publicity in Britain managed by the producer Bernard Delfont (brother of Lew Grade) means the tour begins in almost empty back street theaters with Delfont seeming more interested in his up and coming star Norman Wisdom. Belatedly, Delfont organises some public appearances, and word of their visit to Britain spreads, resulting in them filling much larger prestigious venues. During the tour, the pair, driven by Stan, continue to write and develop gags for the film. There is, however, an ominous silence from its London-based producer. Once the tour arrives in London, Stan pays a visit to the film's producer himself and discovers there is insufficient funding and the project has been cancelled. He can't bring himself to tell Ollie, and their script development continues. Through much of their tour audiences either assume the pair are played by other people or have long forgotten about them but bit by bit they soon win bigger audiences. They are soon joined by their respective wives, Ida and Lucille (played wonderfully by Nina Arianda and Shirley Henderson), at London's Savoy Hotel before they are to perform at a sold out two-week residency at the nearby Lyceum Theatre. After the opening night at the Lyceum, a party is held to honour them. At the party tensions begin to show between the two wives leading Delfont to remark that he's got two double acts for the price of one. As the night progresses, however, Stan's feelings of Ollie's betrayal come to the surface after his wife brings up the "elephant movie", resulting in the two having a public argument over the movie contract fiasco that split them up. As Stan unloads his pent-up resentment for what he considers to be a betrayal of their friendship and even accuses Ollie of being lazy, Ollie actually unloads his own pent-up feelings towards Stan, claiming that the two weren't really friends, only being together because Hal Roach studios had paired them up and that Stan never loved him as a friend but only loved Laurel and Hardy. As a result of the argument Ollie leaves the party with his wife, who had also had an argument with Stan's wife. Despite their friendship having taken a blow, they press on with their public appearances, which include judging a beauty contest in the seaside resort of Worthing, However, just when they are about to announce the winner, Ollie collapses from a heart attack and is forced into bed rest. When informing Delfont two days later that it's unlikely Ollie will get better in time to continue the tour, Delfont suggests having another well-known English comic step in Ollie's place. When visiting Ollie in his room, Stan is told by Ollie that he intends to retire immediately, explaining that a doctor had warned him that he must never go onstage again as the strain could be fatal, and he and his wife will be leaving for America as soon as possible. Getting into bed with him to warm Ollie up, Stan asks if Ollie meant what he said at the party. Ollie admits he didn't, and when asked the same by Ollie, Stan admits he didn't mean what he had said as well. The two share a silent moment together. On the night of the next show, Stan finds it impossible to work with the English comic that Delfont has set up for him as a substitute so that the tour can continue, simply because he isn't Ollie, and as such, the performance is canceled, much to Delfont's dismay. Ollie decides he can't spend the rest of his life idle in bed and decides that he will perform that night and will play the Irish dates against doctor’s orders. While sailing to Ireland to continue the tour Stan finally confesses he has deceived Ollie about the prospects of the future film even while they continued to work on it, Stan believes maybe no one wants to see a Laurel and Hardy movie anymore. Ollie confesses in turn that he had read that from Stan's demeanor and already knew. He asks why they had kept working on the script if Ollie had known the truth all along. Ollie confesses that's all they could do. Upon arriving in Ireland, the duo are welcomed by a large crowd of fans, both young and old, with the local church bells playing their theme tune. As the film ends, it is revealed in a written epilogue that the tour was the last time they ever worked together. Ollie's health didn't improve and deteriorated after the tour, leading to his death in 1957, and Stan, devastated by his friend's death, refused to work without his partner and effectively retired, dying eight years later in 1965. Even though his friend was gone, Stan continued to write sketches for Laurel and Hardy in the last eight years of his life. Hearing Stan admit to his wife that he loves Ollie and see the pair physically recognise and state their fondness for each other in the film is a bit of cinema magic. It may not have happened that way but it is all true. However, even with everything in place as perfect as it was, getting the characters right was always going to be key and I have to say Steve Coogan and John C. Reilly couldn’t have been better. Their performances were stunning, to the point that you really could believe that you were watching the real Laurel and Hardy. It’s a brilliant film but the performances are absolutely stunning. The prosthetics are one thing, but the mannerisms and the voice work is second to none, making Stan & Ollie one of the most authentic looking biopic ever made. I loved it from beginning to end.