Gentleman’s Agreement

Rating

Director

Elia Kazan

Screenplay

Moss Hart (Novel: by Laura Z. Hobson)

Length

118 min.

Starring

Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire, John Garfield, Celeste Holm, Anne Revere, June Havoc, Albert Dekker, Jane Wyatt, Dean Stockwell, Nicholas Joy, Sam Jaffe, Harold Vermilyea, Ransom M. Sherman

MPAA Rating

Approved (PCA #12488)

Review

As World War II came to a close, Hollywood got to the business of telling stories of life after the soldiers came home. Pictures like Gentleman’s Agreement, while not at all about people involved in or in any general way impacted by the war, nevertheless told important stories of prejudice that ring as true today as they did then.

The anti-Semitism wasn’t just a world away in Germany. It was fully visible, though only implied, in the United States. Jews were called names, they were prevented from going to country clubs or into certain neighborhoods, and they were even discriminated against in hiring. Xenophobia permeated western culture to such an extent that many began looking for ways to discreetly expose it and eradicated it.

Gentleman’s Agreement,a term used late in the film to describe the unspoken rule of keeping Jews out of certain neighborhoods, tells the story of someone searching for a way to end the cycle of hate. Philip Schuyler Green (Gregory Peck) was a famed journalist who wrote stories that were a marked departure from traditional journalism at the time. When his publisher John Minify (Albert Dekker) asks him to write about anti-Semitism, Phil’s first instinct is just to catalogue such events and create an article from that. However, Minify wants something different. He wants something original.

Though it takes him time to come up with his concept, it is a potentially hazardous one. He decides he will live as a Jew and interact with his new surroundings as such. After the death of his wife, he moves his son Tommy (Dean Stockwell) and mother (Anne Revere) to New York City.

His decision impacts the lives of everyone around him. His son gets beaten up at school, his mother’s doctor recommends a Jewish physician after a serious health crisis and his girlfriend Kathy Lacey (Dorothy McGuire)works to undermine his efforts, not wanting to be the object of derision and ostracism. Phil gets what he wants, though. He experiences first hand the depth and breadth of anti-Semitism in a country so devoted to freedom.

The film’s biggest detriment is the abominably emotionless Peck. While considered one of the greatest actors of his generation, in Gentleman’s Agreement, the only emotion he seems to display is anger. Everything he does seems tinged with anger. His character remains stiff throughout the picture, never truly embracing the role he’s given.

McGuire doesn’t improve matters. Her selfish hypocriticalness is inescapable. Though she does try her hand at emotional response to various stimuli, we can’t help but wonder what Phil sees in her character. She repeatedly attempts to get him to repent his ways and announce to the world he isn’t really a Jew. She vacillates positions upon whether Phil seems to give her attention or doesn’t. Her character is a mass of contradictions but the attraction is utterly elusive.

Celeste Holm and Anne Revere break dramatically from the ensemble to deliver two terrific performances. Holm plays fellow journalist Anne Dettrey who takes the position of the moral compass. Whenever Phil goes off the track, she’s there to steer him back. The love she feels for the man is real and it’s far more believable that she would be the woman for him but reality and fiction diverge every time he goes back to Kathy. Holm’s liberating progressivism is not only credible it’s sensational. She shows the depth and passion that the two leads can’t seem to muster.

Revere’s prodding mother carries the burden of both parents and likewise tries to guide Phil in the correct direction. Any scene she shares with Peck becomes her scene, not his. She dominates the very life of those moments. It’s not surprising why Phil believes and listens to her advice. It’s with a world weary view that she pushes him to question and understand the differences facing humanity. Revere is rarely on screen but her presence carries the weight of the film every time she’s on screen.

Gentleman’s Agreement maintains a great deal of its social relevance. Bigotry isn’t as evident as it used to be, though our society still has a long way. Movies like this help to put history into perspective and show us what we can achieve through courage and determination. While we may not be discriminated against in our daily lives, someone is. The duty belongs to all of us to protect the disenfranchised and ensure that no one tears one man down in order to build himself up. Don’t let a privileged few determine who is worthy of equal rights and who is not. True freedom, as Phil Green came to understand, is being able to stand up and let no one put you down.

Review Written

October 23, 2006