SYNOPSIS
“10” Starring Dudley Moore as a very successful songwriter albeit somewhat dispassionate, he is in his 40s and entering a cliched mid-life crisis phase. Suddenly he sees a young Bo Derek on her way to getting married, which by the way the Director Blake Edwards has cited as the inspiration for making this film as it happened to him whilst in Brussels, although he didn’t stalk the woman, follow her to the chapel, and then halfway across the world.
George becomes obsessed with this girl, what he sees as his perfect ‘ten’ if you will. George’s girlfriend, played by Blake Edwards’ wife Julie Andrews, is clearly miffed by George’s sudden disappearance and is dumbfounded at his notable withdrawal from their relationship.
ROTTEN TOMATOES
Name drops
I was at a dinner with Edgar Wright and David Walliams and Steve Coogan and I gave them this speech, about what my favourite film was, and I didn’t know who Edgar Wright was, or at least I knew his work, but didn’t recognize him, and I could tell he was terribly bored with my bleating on about the film 10.
OK I love this film, again it’s one of those films where perhaps I’m a slave to nostalgia, my family would always sit down and watch this and the scene where Dudley Moore goes to see the Reverend and the old kitchen lady farts is silly and hilarious. When Mrs Entwistle farts we beat the dog. I don’t know what or why that’s hilarious, but it’s brilliant.
Derek and Clive
And this was way before I got into Derek and Clive, or Arthur perhaps Moore’s most famous film. And interestingly, during my college days, my friends introduced me to Derek and Clive and we would sit around in bedsits, and listen to Ad Nauseam and Derek and Clive come again
Which were in some way the original podcasts. People ask who were the first podcasters and it really was Peter Cook and Dudley Moore because they’d record these comedy albums and bands would listen to them on the road, and they would get passed from band to band and that’s how it spread.
“10” (1979) photo – IMDB
Mid-Life Crisis
So I had an early affinity with Dudley Moore. Peter Cook came later on. But it was when Moore separated from Cook that he went to the US and became a Hollywood star, which Cook never really got over and sort of resented Moore for in a way although they later reconciled towards the end of Cook’s life.
But this film to me speaks of that moment, where I think both men and women reach, that mid life crisis, where its not so much about buying the Porsche and trying to look and feel young again, but it can be more about legacy, have we done anything with our lives, is it too late to learn a new skill and do I have what it takes to take on something new on the back nine of our lives, (to quote a golf term).
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Maybe YES?
The answer some people will tell you is yes, but a lot of the time it is no. Your brain doesn’t have the elasticity to learn new skills as it did when you were 15, or even in your 20s.
And this film, whilst the character George Webber is more successful than most, he feels his back catalogue isn;’t one for the ages, I think even in the film Bo Derek refers to his music as amazing elevator music. And he replies, yes I’m very big in elevators.
“10” (1979) photo – IMDB
Legacy
So he is quite indifferent about his legacy, but he also wants to know if he can recapture his youth in some way, in his pursuit of a girl half his age.
And I think the film deals with all that, and the characters all get to redeem themselves in one way or another, it is a comedy and it never forgets that.
I love the soundtrack, and the scene where Dudley Moore plays the piano in the hotel in front of Dee Wallace and Brian Dennehy is one of the best scenes in movie history. The film almost has this musical interlude, and it says, I’m going to let Dudley Moore play the piano for 5 minutes, and you’re just going to sit there and watch this and be amazed by it.
