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Don Juan DeMarco (1995)
Starring Marlon Brando, Faye Dunaway, Johnny Depp, and Rachel Ticotin. Cinematography by Ralf Bode. Edited by Tony Gibbs. Produced by Francis Ford Coppola, Fred Fuchs, and Patrick J. Palmer. Written and Directed by Jeremy Leven.
Don Juan (played by Johnny Depp), the world’s greatest lover, has suddenly appeared on top of a billboard demanding a duel with the world’s most gifted swordfighter so that he can die an honorable death. He has just faced his very first rejection by a woman and can not bear to continue living. The authorities are summoned and he is talked down from the ledge by Dr. Jack Mickler (played by Marlon Brando); a burned out psychiatrist.
Don Juan is then taken to Woodhaven State Hospital where he is to be held and evaluated for ten days. There Dr. Mickler continues his conversation with Don Juan and hears the stories of his romantic and exciting past. It seems that he was sold into slavery by his own father, but disguised himself as a woman which resulted in him working in a harem. While there he perfected the art of lovemaking by seducing and bedding every one of the fifteen hundred women. But all of this is far too fantastic to believe and Don Juan is put on medication. The focus then shifts from Don Juan to Mickler as he deals with his approaching retirement and lackluster marriage.
The legend of Don Juan has existed for hundreds of years. The character has made appearances in a countless number of story telling devices including plays, operas, novels, and poems since his inception. The name symbolizes libertinism and has become synonymous with seduction. The man believed to have first written about the character was Spanish writer Fray Gabriel Tellez; better known as his pseudonym Tirso de Molina.
His tragic novel El burlador de Sevilla (The Trickster of Seville) was first published in the seventeenth century. The story quickly spread and soon there were versions of Don Juan all over Europe. In the eighteenth century Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart used the character in his two act opera Don Giovanni. In the nineteenth century George Gordon Byron, or Lord Byron, used him as inspiration for his epic poem Don Juan. In the twentieth century George Bernard Shaw’s thought provoking play Man and Superman features a long third act titled “Don Juan in Hell”.
Enter psychologist turned filmmaker Jeremy Leven, who in the early 1990’s wrote his own adaptation of the ever popular myth, Don Juan DeMarco. New Line Cinema, the film’s production company, sought the participation of Francis Ford Coppola likely because of his connections with Marlon Brando. Coppola had been working in a producer’s role for a number of pictures in the early nineties and agreed to add this one to his list.
Don Juan DeMarco’s strongest selling point is the wonderful performance by Johnny Depp, who plays Don Juan. He is smooth and seductive and everything that you could ever want with an on-screen Don Juan. On the other hand, the film’s weakest point is that by his counterpart Marlon Brando. He coasts through the film without displaying any legitimate emotion and ultimately comes off as a joke. But all in all the film is pretty cute and is certainly something that one could watch on a date.
Budget: $25,000,000
Total US Gross: $22,032,635
Genre: Romantic Comedy
Runtime: 97 Minutes
US Release Date: 4/7/95
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Awards: Academy Awards: Nominated for best original song. Golden Globes: Nominated for best original score and best original song.
Tagline: The Story Of A Man Who Thought He Was The Greatest Lover In The World… And The People Who Tried To Cure Him Of It.
Quote: “There are only four questions of value in life, Don Octavio. What is sacred? Of what is the spirit made? What is worth living for? And what is worth dying for? The answer to each is the same: only love.”
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