"The Shining" 1980

"The Shining”

This movie is a great divide among my Stephen King friends. That is right, I have Stephen King friends. And I met them on the internet! When we planned a meeting my mother was horrified. She was positive that I was going to end up on a milk carton. Or the news. I don’t think they put grown ups on milk cartons.

Anyway, as an adaptation, “The Shining” sucks. As a horror movie it is good. They did attempt a more faithful adaptation some years back in the form of a mini series, but I had some problems with that one too.

Jack Nicholson is Jack Torrance. He is a teacher who wants to be a writer. He has had some issues with alcohol and one bad night he dislocated the shoulder of his toddler son. He decides to take a caretaker’s position at a secluded mountain resort. The hotel is shut down for months and has a testy boiler that needs attention so the things don’t freeze up.

Stuart Ullman: When the place was built in 1907, there was very little interest in winter sports. And this site was chosen for its seclusion and scenic beauty.
Jack Torrance: Well, it's certainly got plenty of that, ha, ha.
Stuart Ullman: ...The winters can be fantastically cruel. And the basic idea is to cope with the very costly damage and depreciation which can occur. And this consists mainly of running the boiler, heating different parts of the hotel on a daily, rotating basis, repair damage as it occurs, and doing repairs so that the elements can't get a foothold.
Jack Torrance: Well, that sounds fine to me.
Stuart Ullman: Physically, it's not a very demanding job. The only thing that can get a bit trying up here during the winter is, uh, a tremendous sense of isolation.
Jack Torrance: Well, that just happens to be exactly what I'm looking for. I'm outlining a new writing project and, uh, five months of peace is just what I want.
Stuart Ullman: That's very good Jack, because, uh, for some people, solitude and isolation can, of itself become a problem.
Jack Torrance: Not for me.
Stuart Ullman: How about your wife and son? How do you think they'll take to it?
Jack Torrance: They'll love it.

My main problem with Jack is that in the beginning you know he isn’t right. He just looks crazy. He laughs and there are chills. It isn’t a surprise when he descends into madness.

Shelley Duvall is Wendy Torrance. She has the same issue. You immediately see that she isn’t very stable. She seems to be a woman that has already survived a horror movie. I always have the desire to just shake her and tell her to buck up.

Dick Hallorann: Mrs. Torrance, your husband inroduced you as Winifred. Now, are you a Winnie or a Freddy?
Wendy Torrance: I'm a Wendy.
Dick Hallorann: Oh. That's nice, that's the prettiest.

Danny Lloyd is Danny Torrance. Even in the beginning of the movie you get the sense that he is terrified whenever he is in the same room with his father.

Scatman Crothers is Dick Hallorann. He immediately sees Danny’s gift and reaches out to him. It gives us the exposition we need to understand where the movie is going.

Dick Hallorann: I can remember when I was a little boy. My grandmother and I could hold conversations entirely without ever opening our mouths. She called it "shining." And for a long time, I thought it was just the two of us that had the shine to us. Just like you probably thought you was the only one. But there are other folks, though mostly they don't know it, or don't believe it. How long have you been able to do it?... Why don't you want to talk about it?
Danny Torrance: I'm not supposed to.
Dick Hallorann: Who said you ain't supposed to?
Danny Torrance: Tony.
Dick Hallorann: Who's Tony?
Danny Torrance: Tony is a little boy that lives in my mouth.
Dick Hallorann: Is Tony the one that tells you things?
Danny Torrance: Yes.
Dick Hallorann: How does he tell you things?
Danny Torrance: It's like I go to sleep, and he shows me things. But when I wake up, I can't remember everything.
Dick Hallorann: Does your Mom and Dad know about Tony?
Danny Torrance: Yes.
Dick Hallorann: Do they know he tells you things?
Danny Torrance: No. Tony told me never to tell 'em.
Dick Hallorann: Has Tony ever told you anything about this place? About the Overlook Hotel?
Danny Torrance: I don't know.
Dick Hallorann: Now think real hard now. Think.
Danny Torrance: Maybe he showed me something.
Dick Hallorann: Try to think of what it was.
Danny Torrance: Mr. Hallorann, are you scared of this place?
Dick Hallorann: No. Scared - there's nothin' here. It's just that, you know, some places are like people. Some "shine" and some don't. I guess you could say the Overlook Hotel here has somethin' almost like "shining."
Danny Torrance: Is there something bad here?
Dick Hallorann: Well, you know, Doc, when something happens, you can leave a trace of itself behind. Say like, if someone burns toast. Well, maybe things that happen leave other kinds of traces behind. Not things that anyone can notice, but things that people who "shine" can see. Just like they can see things that haven't happened yet. Well, sometimes they can see things that happened a long time ago. I think a lot of things happened right here in this particular hotel over the years. And not all of 'em was good.
Danny Torrance: What about Room 237?
Dick Hallorann: Room 237?
Danny Torrance: You're scared of Room 237, ain't ya?
Dick Hallorann: No I ain't.
Danny Torrance: Mr. Hallorann. What is in Room 237?
Dick Hallorann: Nothin'. There ain't nothin' in Room 237. But you ain't got no business goin' in there anyway. So stay out. You understand? Stay out.

Of course he doesn’t. This movie scared me as a kid. I saw it before I read the book. I think my biggest problem with this movie is the casting. I get the feeling Kubrik cast the actors as the people they are at the end of the movie. There is no descent into madness. You see some of the every day life, but not enough to believe and care about this family. Every time Shelley Duvall says “hon”, I just cringe.

The remake tried to fix some of these things. While Steven Weber and Rebecca DeMornay resembled the couple in the novel they still weren’t quite right. Weber was that goofy guy from “Wings”. DeMornay was the evil woman from “The Hand That Rocks The Cradle”. I had a hard time letting their prior roles go.

The kid was COMPLETELY AND TOTALLY WRONG! He was too old. In the book Danny has seen the letters spelling out REDRUM in one of this visions. He becomes desperate to learn to read so he can understand what the word means. The kid in the mini series was about ten years old. There is no way the child of two educated people wouldn’t know how to read. I’m sorry, but just because you put footie pajamas on a ten year old doesn’t fool me into thinking he’s five.

Kubrick changed enough things that it didn’t feel like an adaptation. It is a decent horror movie with some truly creepy moments.

There are evil little girl ghosts.

A gross demon in the bathtub.

The picture at the end, showing Jack at the party from the twenties.

And of course the blood rushing in a tidal wave out of the elevators.
 

It is visually incredible. It has a stark, overly bright atmosphere.

The ending leaves you a little cold.

I have avoided the obvious quotes. It is a highly quotable film as well. And don’t get me wrong, it is well acted. If you consider it as totally separate from the book it is easier to enjoy.

But read the book and try to keep from seeing Jack Nicholson in Jack Torrance.