Poseidon-3 Review of Fortune and Men's Eyes

Fortune and Men's Eyes (1971)

Dated but pungent and engrossing prison drama

[3 May 2007]

The inner workings of a prison's sociological system are examined in this gritty, sometimes sensationalistic, yet sometimes insightful, film, based on a play by an author who drew from his own experiences as a brief convict. Burton plays a young man who is busted for possession of pot and sent to prison for a six month sentence. His cell-mates include brooding, domineering Hall, sensitive, henpecked Freedman and outrageous, bitchy Greer, an influential trustee who spends most of his time in partial drag. Burton is horrified at what he sees upon entry as fellow prisoners are dominated into submission, those without protection being gang-raped on a whim or otherwise attacked. Hall convinces Burton to pair up with him, but it isn't long before he regrets it as Hall takes pleasure in humiliating him and in steering him back to the shower room for sexual gratification. Meanwhile, Greer is gearing up for the Christmas variety show and coercing various people into securing items for his piecemeal evening gown and accoutrements. Daily life in this bleak, oppressive hell hole is depicted with occasional bursts of violence or other mayhem. Things come to a head around the time of the variety show when Greer goes over the edge in front of the warden's wife and other special guests and Burton decides to stand up to Hall. The ending of the film is less than uplifting as it shows the endless cycle of events that take place in a stagnant, uninspiring place such as a penitentiary. Baby-faced Burton does a nice job. He took the role to avoid being typecast as boys next door, but it may have stymied his career somewhat as this was a pretty shocking and stigmatic subject for films at the time. Greer is agonizingly annoying, but accurate and assured in his portrayal. It is a full-on, no-holds-barred performance and he puts it all out there - literally! Hall isn't as effective as one might hope for. He's appropriately sneaky and selfish, but his look is all wrong. With big contoured eyebrows and a shock of brown hair standing up, he often resembles a grown-up Eddie Munster! Incidentally, this play is one that Sal Mineo successfully mounted, so to speak, in Los Angeles as both director and star (with newcomer Don Johnson in the Burton role. Johnson bunked with Mineo in real life during this period as well.) It's implied sexual content and nudity caused quite a stir at the time. This film version has a little bit of nudity and the sex is mostly obscured from view, but the desperation, cruelty and sense of dread still comes across vividly. Clichés abound and it's a far from perfect film, but it does retain some impact.