ianlouisiana Review of Steppenwolf

Steppenwolf (1974)

An eccentric bunch of individuals pull off a real coup.

[8/10 · 4 April 2006]

What a very useful word "apparently" is.Along with "allegedly" it can be used to preface a paragraph of unsubstantiated statements in order to bestow immunity upon the writer against the possibility that the facts he or she is reporting in good faith may not be 100% er,factual. Apparently Herman Hesse wrote a clause into his will that expressly forbade his novel "Steppenwolf" from being made into a movie. Allegedly it took the producer three years to persuade his heirs to option him the rights. Apparently a bit of a hustler,he rustled up money from American businessmen including Richard Sprague,chairman of "American Semiconductor". Allegedly Timothy Leary was tested for a major role. Apparently the use of certain substances was not uncommon amongst members of the production team during the making of "Steppenwolf",despite which Mr Leary never got the part. The very distinguished actor Mr Max von Sydow plays Harry Haller. A Limo was supplied to drive him around Basle.He would rather have walked,being keen on physical exercise,but he allowed himself to be driven because he didn't want the chauffeuse to be out of a job. He frequently got out of the vehicle and opened the front door for her. All these details and more are recounted by Mike Zwerin in his "The Paris Jazz Chronicles".what he calls "an improvisational memoir" that follows on to "Close enough for jazz" an earlier volume in similar vein. Mr Zwerin was employed as Press Attache on the movie,his wife was Mr von Sydow's driver. In all probability unless you're a committed admirer of Mr Hesse's book Mr von Sydow is the main reason to watch this movie. He is an actor who does not act.Only in very bad films does he find it necessary to do actorish things.In "Steppenwolf" there are no false notes.It may not rank with his early Bergman performances but it is a tribute to director Mr Fred Haines that it might be mentioned in the same breath. Despite its rather strange birth-pangs "Steppenwolf" is a brave and praiseworthy attempt to translate onto film a complex novel of ideas. There is absolutely no way that it would get made today.When movies are made from cash-cows like John Grisham,Robert Ludlum and Dan Browne why should anyone bother with an obscure book from some European intellectual who never wrote a best-seller in his life.Screw him. Thanks to a bunch of hustlers,businessmen ,retired hippies and dopefiends things were just a little different in 1974.We should be grateful for that.Who said the seventies was the decade that style forgot?