The Fisher King (1991)

THE FISHER KING (1991) **** Robin Williams, Jeff Bridges, Mercedes Ruehl, Amanda Plummer, Michael Jeter, Tom Waits. Brilliant tragic-farce about a shock jock radio personality (Bridges in top form and criminally overlooked for an Oscar nod!) who goes over the brink into madness when he inadvertently causes a tragedy that he ends up reliving when he comes upon a homeless man (Williams equally brilliant, Best Actor nominee) that has become that way due to his actions. Repercussions and setbacks aside, intriguing character study despite some broad strokes. Daring direction by Terry Gilliam and Ruehl (Oscar winner, Best Supporting Actress) is dead-solid perfect as Bridges' taken for granted lover. Pathos and pathologies aplenty. Astonishing screenplay by Richard La Gravenese (who has a blink-n-miss cameo in the first asylum sequence; he's in a strait-jacket). Look sharp for Kathy Najimi as a video store patron Bridges insults and David Hyde Pierce as Bridges' agent.

Fmovies: This is one of the best movies I've ever seen. I kept returning to it over they years and I always found it a great and enriching experience to watch. I especially like the shifting incarnations of the legendary Fisher King in this film (the wounded hero, kind of the wasteland, keeper of the holy grail. The archetype of the knight and of the wounded warrior can be seen as one of the prominent archetypes of masculinity we have. By this view, this movie can be seen as a research into masculinity as such. The performances by Bridges, Williams and Ruehl are exquisite. The eighties' New York is a great setting for this ethereal, symbolic quest, and the surreal theatricalness of some of the scenes (a la "Brazil") only adds to the overall artistic congruence of the film. The visuals are great. The movie works on many levels, so apart from this very abstract layer, we get a funny and intelligent comedy about modern misfits - with a great love story, or two. Also, I especially recommend this movie to anyone who loves New York City.

I've watched Robin Williams/Jeff Bridges in this "fairytale" more times than I count. Finally bought it. You have to watch it at least twice , in my opinion,because the first time all I could do was try to let it "settle in".

I love movies that hit me broadsided and then blind me! I keep trying to watch it with my daughter, who only likes love stories, but if I can keep her still long enough she'll find out that this IS a love story, of the most incredible kind. A love story for all mankind.

I hate to gush, but if it's ever called for, it's called for here.

The first time I saw it, I was soooooooo impressed with Mercedes Rhuel's performance and actually said to my friend in the theatre, "That woman's gonna get nominated for the Oscar for this performance", which of course she won for her performance. So, I'm not so unsophisticated after all.

The Fisher King fmovies. "The Fisher King" is one of those movies that shows how, although we can't get over certain incidents, they may end up leading to our redemption. Jeff Bridges plays Jack Lucas, a New York radio talk show host. One day, he makes a mean remark to one of his listeners, and the listener murders some people. When it gets reported that the man had done this after a remark by Lucas, Jack knows that his career is over, but also realizes how he has been affecting people.

Some years later, Jack is wondering the streets and meets Parry (Robin Williams), a homeless man whose mind is gone. Parry believes Jack to be a sort of hero and Jack can't get him to think otherwise. So, the two accompany each other from then on.

Probably the movie's most interesting aspect was how director Terry Gilliam shows what is happening in Parry's imagination, contrasting it with reality. The Red Knight and Holy Grail make for some unusual scenes. This may be Robin Williams' best performance ever.

When i first rented this movie out, it was like an enchantment, even on a 4 inch screen. It was a tape but still, i felt the magic in the movie its self. But the Fisher King is more than a movie, it is a story of redemption, madness, guilt, sanity, poverty and love. In the movie, all these things come together. Jeff Bridges was always a well respected Hollywood actor. In the Fisher King, he plays a role a lot more different than the star man. He plays a radio talk show host Jack Lucas, a wild, arrogant radio DJ who's advice causes a man to assassinate seven people in a restaurant. Jack Lucas did this unintentionally, but as a result to that, he is now down and out in poverty. When almost killed by thugs, a insane homeless man (Robin Williams), saves Jack, and in the end turns out to be the husband of one of the restaurant victims. Parry (Robin Williams) has lost his sanity because of that. Jack feels so muck guilt that he wishes to help Parry meet with Lydia Sinclair ( the girl that Parry likes, played by Amanda Plummer), and help him find the one thing Parry treasures, the Holy Grail. The performances are incredible. Particualary Mercedes Rhuel, Robin Williams, Amanda Plummer, andJeff Bridges, they stole the show. This should be in the library of the top five fantasy dramas in Hollywood.

This movie is really exceptional in a lot of ways. It's got one of those plots, full of ironic reversals and personal struggle, that's been turned into melodramatic trash in every creative medium ever invented. With Robin Williams as the magic crazy guy and Jeff Bridges in an 80s ponytail, the ways the basic concept could have gone awry (in other hands) are truly frightening to contemplate. But with Terry Gilliam at the helm, The Fisher King speaks to your emotions more directly and powerfully than 90% of the movies out there without degenerating into sappiness.

Perhaps the most brilliant acheivement of this movie is the way it takes Robin Williams' crazy-improvisational persona and makes it an integral part of the story. Instead of being a tacked-on adjunct to the "real" movie, Williams' stream-of-consciousness patter is essential to the work as a whole.

At the same time, Gilliam is making an almost-mainstream movie for the first time in his career, while explicitly referencing his past (the Holy Grail). It all comes together into a movie you will never forget.