Educating Rita

Educating Rita
by Lewis Gilbert (II)

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DVD details

Actor: Jeananne Crowley, Julie Walters, Maureen Lipman, Michael Caine, Michael Williams
Director: Lewis Gilbert (II)
Brand: CAINE,MICHAEL
DVD: Region Code 99
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0; English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); French (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0
Format: Color, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 111 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-01-24
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Sony Pictures

DVD Reviews of Educating Rita

DVD Review: Educating Rita - DVD
Summary: 5 Stars

This is one of the best films I ever seen! I love Michael Caine and in this movie he's splendid! And Julie Walters is fenomenal. See also84 Charing Cross Road it's soooo good!

DVD Review: A Must See!
Summary: 5 Stars

This is a timeless movie...that my children and I like to see at least once a year. I purchased the DVD when my daughter asked for it.

DVD Review: Rita As Student And Teacher
Summary: 4 Stars

Educating Rita is a funny and enjoyable movie that is difficult to classify. On the one hand, this is definitely light-hearted fare that tries not to take anything too seriously. Yet on the other hand, this is really good! I am not sure if one could call this a masterpiece per se. But if it isn't a masterpiece it's pretty darned close to one. This is the most fun movie I've seen in a long time.

The Cast

The cast members of this movie deserve special mention because they really are the difference maker. Michael Caine is very good as the professor, which is not surprising considering his track record.

But Julie Walters as Rita steals every scene. Her boisterous personality is endearing and amusing. It is a perfect complement to his mostly conventional performance. It's even more impressive considering her prior experience was mostly in the theatre. Indeed, that year she was nominated for the BAFTA award for "Most Outstanding Newcomer To Film."

I have also seen other films with Julie Walters where she doesn't have *the accent.* Her cockney accent in this film is almost a character in and of itself. It's very effective in creating a sense of her character as a free-spirited and salt-of-the-earth personality. And it also makes some of her simple lines very funny.

Incidentally, in 1984 this pair were each nominated for best actor and best actress awards by the Academy. While neither won the Oscar, they each won the respective Golden Globe and BAFTA awards. Of course, it would have been quite a coup to win the Oscar in that year, since they were each up against Jack Nicholson and Shirley MacLaine for their incredible performances in Terms of Endearment, another great picture. I am glad I didn't have to cast the vote in that year, considering what a difficult choice it would have been to make.

Even if the entire cast consisted of those two alone, this would be an award worthy performance. But the additional supporting cast is also good, though they can't stand out from the shadows of those two.

The Story and the Script

Speaking of awards, Willy Russell was also nominated for Best Screenplay, Adaptation. Once again, Terms of Endearment took the Oscar in that category but "Educating Rita" was nominated by every significant awards organization.

While I won't comment on the worth of the adaptation versus the original, the script does follow that common formula of Pygmalion, where a woman is taken under the wing of a man in the attempt to "civilize" her. Yet in his role as teacher, Caine's character is quickly bested by Rita. It appears that he is the one who has much to learn from her.

Most of the beauty in the screenwriting is found in the sharp and witty dialogue shared by this pair. The writing is indeed intimate and effective. I often found myself laughing unexpectedly.

While the plot itself must to a degree be described as "predictable," the artful way the story is developed is definitely the hallmark of good writing and direction.

Conclusion

This film is a beautiful and funny statement on life and personal growth. The dialogue will make you laugh, the performances will leave you in awe and the total result will make you want to watch this one again and again. I highly recommend this movie for all those who haven't seen it yet.

Enjoy!

DVD Review: An Excellent Movie
Summary: 4 Stars

It's intelligent, insightful, and very funny. Brilliant performances by Julie Walters and Michael Caine in a story that you wish was true. I see very little that can be improved here, and it's one of those very rare films that I'll put back on my little shelf to watch again later.

DVD Review: Educating Rita
Summary: 5 Stars

Educating Rita
"Educating Rita" is in my personal top five movies of all time. Although labeled a romantic comedy I think that this movie is in a class by itself and defies categorization. I have a definite academic bent and this Oscar nominated, Lewis Gilbert directed, 1983 film still strikes a deep chord though I've watched it over and over.

Frank(Michael Caine), a divorced and bored-with-life alcoholic professor, just "happens" to be assigned as a personal tutor for the lovely vibrant working-class Rita(Julie Walters).

Rita shoots straight from the hip and is so lovely and full of life that she won't take no from Frank and thus starts her subtle metamorphosis from "uneducated" to "educated". However, in her process of transition Frank finds that he has created a monster, from his point of view(he refers to Shelley's Frankenstein), as Rita takes on the groomed academic veneer that she so desperately covets and Frank so openly despises.

During Rita's "education" a love subtly grows between the two and always lurks just below the surface. Rita is a "looker" and her natural beauty coupled with her delightful frankness sparks a constant longing inside of Frank.

This DVD begs the question...just what is real education? Is it the simple mouthing of academic platitudes from a learned and cultivated rote or is it lighting the spark of investigation inside of someone so that they may excel in life, and love? For the answer to that you need to buy this DVD or at least rent it somewhere :) and find out for yourself!

Description of Educating Rita

Academy Award?-winner Michael Caine (Best Actor in a Supporting Role, The Cider House Rules, 1999, Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Hannah and Her Sisters, 1986) along with Julie Walters earned well-deserved 1983 Oscar? nominations (Best Actor and Best Actress, respectively) for their outstanding performances in this brilliant, bittersweet comedy. Walters is Rita, a working-class woman seeking the path to self-discovery. Bored with her life as a hairdresser, and under pressure from her husband to start a family, she enrolls in literature tutorials at a British university determined to better herself. Caine is Frank Bryant, the disillusioned English professor who is assigned to teach her. While Frank watches Rita embark on a radical transformation, his own life takes on a different kind of transformation as he finds himself falling in love with Rita while sinking into the depths of his alcoholism. Earning a third Oscar? nomination for its screenplay by William Russell (based on his play), Educating Rita is a very funny, very charming and thoroughly entertaining film.

Michael Caine and the knockout Julie Walters deliver a pair of wonderful performances in this endearingly bittersweet tale of a boozily burnt-out professor's tutoring of (and subsequent tutoring by) a free-spirited cockney hairdresser determined to improve her lot in life. The basic plot won't exactly surprise anyone who's ever seen a movie before, but the ace cast (particularly Caine, who's rarely this subtle) continually finds new directions to spin off from the rather rote path. Although the end result is perhaps just a little too convinced of its own adorability to attain classic status, this remains a rarity in the genre--a feel-good film that earns its emotions honestly. A nice change of pace for director Lewis Gilbert, who is perhaps better known for his contributions to the James Bond series. --Andrew Wright

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