Ron Howard’s Skyward: Bette Davis

Suzy Gilstrap plays Julie Ward, a young paraplegic girl (it is never explained in the script if she was injured, or born without the use of her legs – which I think is a good choice. Well done, Potsie.) mainly sits in her wheelchair wherever she is, staring up at the sky. She is kind of a morose character. Shy, withdrawn, never speaks. But later in the movie when Bette Davis, hair tucked up under her cap, asks her why she wants to be a pilot, Julie thinks a bit and then says, “Because I’m tired of looking up all the time.”

And whaddya know, those are the magic words that make Bette Davis decide to take on this pupil – despite her challenges (she is only 15, she is in a wheelchair) … There’s a big ol’ closeup of Bette’s indelible face in reaction to Gilstrap’s line, and you can see her eyes squint a bit, and she glances subtly over at Howard Hesseman. She is moved. It was the ‘right’ answer.

All of this can be seen as rather silly, but a couple words on Bette Davis – and I truly hope that Dan ends up writing about this, too – I’d love to hear his perspective:

In a couple of the scenes you can tell that Davis is struggling with the blistering heat. She is winded, she has to take time between words … and then in other scenes she is at the top of her game, with a couple of camp-Davis moments that will please her fans (one rolling on the eyes moment, a couple of big angry moments) – but also just fulfilling the role she needs to play. Davis always was a real actress, more so than many of her contemporaries, who were “stars” only.

Billie Dupree, the character she plays, was once a stunt pilot (which, just the thought of that made Keith, Dan and I guffaw) with her husband – and they flew planes in movies during the 30s. At one point, Bette Davis is bringing a tray of chili to the table, and she says, in regards to one of the photographs on the wall, “That one was from 30 Seconds Over Tokyo. We damn near got ourselves killed.”

Why is that so funny to me? We were all just howling.

Ah yes. Bette Davis. A stunt pilot in a movie called 30 Seconds Over Tokyo.

In the film, she is way past her prime, obviously – but has created a life for herself that makes sense and suits her. She runs a small dusty airport on the outskirts of town. Pilots come and go, and they stop by her little rickety restaurant she runs for a bowl of her famous chili. (I swear, how many times does Bette Davis say the words, “Want some chili?” in this movie. I need to know.) There was also an amusing moment when Davis is trying to figure out how strong her new pupils’ arms are, since they need to be strong to manage the controls of the airplanes. She reaches out and says to Gilstrap, “Squeeze my hand.”

And perhaps because of all of the chili references that have come beforehand, Keith, when we were watching it, said at that moment, in Bette Davis’ voice, “Pull my finger.”

Ah, the fun we had.

There are lines (mainly from Howard Hesseman’s character) intimating that Billie Dupree has kind of stepped out of the action. She’s old now, she doesn’t mess around as much, and she doesn’t take risks in her flying like she used to. This, I suppose, is to up the stakes for HER character … that SHE finds new life by teaching this young student. That element didn’t really work in the movie, for me, because it’s hard to believe that Bette Davis would ever step out of any action. Even if she’s just making a bowl of that damn chili, she seems engaged, 100%. It would be more interesting to watch her make a bowl of chili than to hang out with some daredevil bungee-jumping off the Verrazanno Bridge.

But whatever, that’s what the plot requires. She doesn’t want to take a new pupil. She doesn’t “have time”. She doesn’t teach any more. She’s done with all that.

But then … but then … Suzy Gilstrap wheels through her door … and everything changes.

What is interesting to me to watch is Davis in her closeups. Ron Howard uses them sparingly – at least with Davis – so when he moves in you pay attention. I’m not saying this is a brilliant performance or anything like that – Davis could play this role in her sleep – but to watch what she does when that camera is 2 inches away from her face, to watch how well she knows her own face, and how to work it … how to fill her eyes up with thought … It’s truly remarkable, and I have to say – without even trying, she shows up everybody else in the picture. It’s easy for her. That’s what acting is. It’s her talent. When the camera moves in, time to let the guard down. That’s what closeups are for.

She manages some very delicate subtle moments here and there, where you can see Billie thinking, or troubled, or getting angry.

Unlike Howard Hesseman, who is, pardon me, acting the SHIT out of his character – with an accent, a walk, a swagger, a cheese, a malarkey, an attitude … it is so overdone, man!! Not without charm at times … but good Lord, man, just chillax. Stop all that acting, please!

In certain moments, when Davis is in a scene with Gilstrap – who is doing her best, but let’s be honest – not great … and suddenly, Davis “goes under”, playing UNDER, bringing it down … not matching Gilstrap’s energy, but softening her own. This is a technical feat – you can see it happen all the time onstage: one person’s bad acting kind of infects the rest of the cast, and people either try to match the vocal energy of the bad person, because bad-ness like that can be a vortex that sucks you in … or, with those who know how to survive better, detaching a bit, playing underneath that energy, resisting the pull of generality.

There’s one big fight scene, after a particular lesson, when Gilstrap disobeyed one of Bette’s commands, while in the air. Bette gets out of the plane when they are back on the ground, and she is FUMING. She says to sulky Gilstrap, “Don’t you EVER question my authority again.”

Gilstrap is a brat and shouts back, “I’LL DO WHATEVER I FEEL LIKE DOING.”

Now.

What is a good actress to do in a moment like that? Bette doesn’t ratchet up her energy – instead, she drops it. Says calmly, “Julie, you’re acting like a baby.”

Gilstrap shouts, “I’LL ACT HOWEVER I WANT TO ACT. AND IF YOU DON’T LIKE IT MAYBE I SHOULD GET A NEW TEACHER.”

Again, Bette receives this calmly. Standing on the tarmac (her “sneakers sticking to the TAR, shit!!”), she says, “Maybe you should just do that.”

Gilstrap shouts, “OKAY I WILL.”

Bette turns to go back to the diner and in a brief moment you can see her roll her eyes, almost with tiredness. It’s the most honest moment in the movie. We burst out laughing when we saw it. You can almost feel Davis the actress going, “What the hell am I doing right now? Why is that little chippie yelling at me? Jesus Christ, I need to go get into the shade. This is bullshit.”

But mainly what I see in the entirety of the movie is that even if an alien from another planet were to watch the film … or someone who had no idea who Bette Davis was … out of the entire cast, you would be able to pick out the gigantic movie star.

It’s obvious. Your eye goes to her. She knows that. And she knows how to not do anything, if that is what is necessary, and she also knows how to make a scene flash and crackle, if that is what is necessary.

It’s really fun to watch her.

Dan has perspective on her later career – and much of her other later television work that she did in the early 80s and late 70s – much of which he said was rather mannered and stilted. Here she is neither.

I just would love it if this film could be made available to everyone – so that the Bette Davis fanatics out there could see it.