There’s Plenty of Action in Life’s Third Act

Hollywood has four films this year whose leading men are smart, vital, even sexy--and whose ages range from 69 to 83.

The stars in three of the movies--Paul Newman in “Where the Money Is,” which opens Friday, Clint Eastwood in the summer release “Space Cowboys” and Kirk Douglas in “Diamonds,” from earlier this year--not only defy old age, but redefine it as a time when a sense of adventure, linked to life experience, helps rejuvenate their more cautious juniors:

* Newman’s character, after a long career as a bank robber, fakes a stroke to get out of prison and into a nursing home, and then teaches his old trade to a beautiful nurse (Linda Fiorentino) who’s attracted to his rebellious style.

* Eastwood, who also directed “Space Cowboys,” plays a former test pilot who is launched into space with other old-timers (Donald Sutherland, James Garner and Tommy Lee Jones) to save a crew of young astronauts when a satellite goes out of control.

* Douglas, slowed only slightly by a stroke, leads his son and grandson in a search for some diamonds he was promised long ago, with a short detour to a Reno bordello.

In the fourth picture, the recent romantic comedy “Hanging Up,” Walter Matthau hews closer to the traditional stereotype of the cantankerous oldster, but even he proves his virility when his three daughters catch him in bed with a woman.

“We are discovering that the third act of life can be just as interesting as the first and second acts,” says Delia Ephron, who wrote the novel “Hanging Up” and co-wrote the screenplay with her sister Nora.

John Asher, the 29-year-old director of “Diamonds,” who also acts in “Space Cowboys,” says he looks on Hollywood’s older stars as “the wise men of an Indian tribe. They’re smarter, they have something to say, and it’s important to listen to them.”

To Douglas, 83, though, “it’s not a matter of age, but of talent.” But the veteran actor acknowledges, “As you get older, you’re not afraid to fall on your ass, to ask more questions or to give ideas to the director. If he doesn’t like them, he’ll tell me.”

There is evidence of an emerging image--both in the movies and in real life--of the resourceful, virile older man, says Stuart Fischoff, professor of media psychology at Cal State L.A. He believes this may be a reflection of the aging baby boomers, who call most of the shots in Hollywood and who also represent the main target audience of the four films.

Carroll Cartwright, who with Topper Lilien wrote the screenplay for “Where the Money Is,” notes: “As the boomers’ parents die, they start thinking about their own mortality. One way to deal with that is to project a fantasy of a virile old age and to insist that if you stay active, you can stay young. That all gives comfort to the boomers.”

Also feeding into the portrayal of the virile older man is the perception, fueled by Steven Spielberg’s D-day movie, “Saving Private Ryan,” and Tom Brokaw’s “The Greatest Generation” books, that the World War II generation was made of sterner stuff than the present, wimpier crop.

“We live in a time of IPOs and stock options, and we long for the heroic virtues of the past,” says Howard Klausner, 39, who co-wrote the screenplay for “Space Cowboys” with Ken Kaufman. “We feel more assured if Clint Eastwood or Harrison Ford or Sean Connery kick some ass and save the day, rather than some younger guy who hasn’t earned our confidence.”

Adds Kaufman, 36: “You look at the faces of these men and you see a lot of character, experience and hard times. They go back to an era of movie making when the older virtues were celebrated.”

Kaufman says he visualized his own father and grandfather in creating the movie’s characters. “These men had different values, they were less selfish and more heroic than my generation,” he says. “The older actors come from that era of movie making when the traditional values were celebrated. You look at their faces and you see a lot of character, experience and hard times. They’re really much more interesting to look at than most younger actors.”

Avoiding Stereotypes

In their script, Klausner and Kaufman consciously played against the stereotype of older men as bumbling, cranky, physically unfit and just waiting to die. “What we didn’t want was something like ‘Grumpy Old Men in Outer Space,’ ” says Kaufman.

Even at that, Eastwood was at first reluctant to produce and star in “Space Cowboys,” believing that it was unrealistic that NASA would accept a 69-year-old man as a crew member. Fortuitously, NASA did just that by sending up 74-year-old Sen. John Glenn.

Christopher Dorr, co-producer of “Where the Money Is,” says that the character of 75-year-old Paul Newman works in the movie “because he lives life totally in the present. He plays the rascal, the guy with a twinkle in his eyes. I think that this type appeals to baby boomers and gives them greater confidence about their own aging.”

At the same time, says Dorr, “Paul’s character ignites a passion for life in the young nurse played by Linda Fiorentino. It’s not a romance--we’ve steered away from that--but a kind of partnership. We think that boomers in the audience will say, ‘Maybe I’m in a bit of a rut, how can I recapture my relish for life?’ ”

A new Newman or Douglas film carries an extra bonus for older people who make up almost 20% of the moviegoing audience, according to recent surveys.

“The audience sees not only the present performance, but, mentally, all the actor’s past roles,” Ephron says. “If you see Paul now, you may also remember him as he was in ‘The Long Hot Summer’ some 40 years ago.”

A less emotional reason for casting older actors is that they come cheaper than leading younger stars (Eastwood excepted). Richard Farnsworth, who at 79 became the oldest best actor nominee ever this year for his role in “The Straight Story,” says that the Oscar nomination “has given me a shot in the arm. I might even get some work.”

In the past two years, the Oscars have rewarded several older actors. Besides Farnsworth’s nomination, Michael Caine, 67, won this year’s supporting actor Oscar for his role in “The Cider House Rules,” and James Coburn, 71, garnered the same award the preceding year for his performance in “Affliction.”

Opportunities are much slimmer for older actresses. Save for a rare starring role--for example, Jessica Tandy’s in “Driving Miss Daisy” (1989)--when actresses reach their 40s, “it’s almost impossible to get lead roles,” says Dorr.

Just as portrayals of the elderly in movies help shape general social attitudes, so actual demographic and lifestyle changes in the population affect Hollywood writers and producers, says Elyse Salend, a lecturer at UCLA’s Center on Aging who has done a study on television portrayals of the elderly.

She notes that over the past century, the average life span has increased by some 30 years. Not only do people live longer, but they stay healthy and active well into their 70s and 80s.

For young directors, working with screen idols can be frightening, at least initially. “I was really nervous about directing an icon of a man like Kirk Douglas,” admits Asher. “But the first day on the set, I gave him some directions, and Kirk said, ‘Yes, sir.’ That made me feel very comfortable. Working with Douglas and Eastwood, I learned a year’s worth of lessons every day.”

As an actor in “Space Cowboys,” Asher felt the same awe for director Eastwood. “In one scene, I had to pick up a scorpion and hold it to my face,” Asher recalls, “I was terrified, but Clint told me quietly to go ahead. So I did, because I wanted so much to impress him.”