"breezy" was the first clint eastwood film not to star clint eastwood himself, its appropriate that its the first none-clint starring film that iv viewed on this run. having not previously seen the film, i was pleasantly surprised by the slow, assured nature of the drama, which is reminiscent of martin scorsese's "alice doesn't live here anymore" (1974) in style, and hal ashby's wonderful "harold and maude" (1971) in subject. "breezy" would make an interesting double bill alongside ashby's film, as both deal with "may to december"-style relationships, albeit with a spin on the couples (with "breezy" featuring an older gentleman with a younger girl, and "harold and maude" looking at an elderly woman and young man). while "harold and maude" looks at the relationships with comedy the focus, "breezy" takes a psychological and dramatic stance, and while its clear that both films deal with similar material, its fairly apparent just how different the two films are.
william holden plays the aging male lead, known as "black cloud" to the young, stereotypical "flower child" breezy, a girl who is seemingly so optimistic that nothing gets to her. the only holden performance seen by myself to date is in sam peckinpah's "the wild bunch" (1969), obviously a fairly different role!
it will become more apparent how and where exactly "breezy" fits into eastwood's oeuvre as my season goes along. it will be especially interesting to see how it sits alongside his other none-starring films.
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