Stanley's Gig

After seeing so many Hollywood blockbusters you get drawn in and think that they're great films, with great direction, great acting, great special effects... but then you watch a film like Stanley's Gig, and it snaps you out of it... Bill Sanderson is excellent as a mentally unfit ukulele player, who lands a job as "Recreation Therapist" for an elderly home with the dream of playing on a cruise ship... Stanley (Bill Sanderson) manages a "breakthrough" at work with an old retired jazz singer, Eleanor Whitney (Marla Gibbs) who seems to want to forget her past, he befriends the elderly woman and finds where she once performed and attempts to set-up a gig for her to sing again. This film is an excellent film and deserves more recognition. The Characters are finely detailed and portrayed even better, it's a very free-flowing film despite needing patience to catch on. I can find no faults except with the occasional slow bit during the film, and i would rate it very highly and grab a copy tomorrow!

A slow starter, well worth hanging on to the end, Stanley's Gig is a beautiful, understated story of redemption, full of quiet humor and amusingly real characters. William Sanderson, an actor with a memorable voice and a forgettable face, was perfect as Stanley, a recovering alcoholic who has wasted much of his life, but finds his talent as a ukulele-playing music therapist at a drab Los Angeles nursing home. Marla Gibbs, as Eleanor, was equally effective as an aged jazz singer who reclaims her past. Faye Dunaway, in an uncharacteristically unglamorous role, plays Stanley's friend and another recovering alcoholic. The plot is thin, but it is not the plot that matters. Stanley, in his quirky way, brings pride to Eleanor's memories of her past and at the same time finds his way late in life. The reward is well worth the journey.

This was not a great movies. It wasn't even a really good one. But see it, anyway. William Sanderson is a character that you will never forget, and he plays the role with impeccable perfection. Forget about the defects in the film and the other characters who are less than great. Just sit back, with no expectations of anything great, and let Sanderson walk you through a nice but very simple story.

Stanley's Gig is one of the most unexpectedly moving and endearing films in a long while. So unpretentious that you could go right past it, but just stay with it a while and it unfolds in unexpected and marvelous ways. William Sanderson is a barely functional recovering alcoholic ukulele player who stumbles into a job as a musical therapist in an old age home. He so perfectly controls the movie in a quirky, shy way that the movie seems like dropping into a slice of real life.

Marla Gibbs has power and dignity without even speaking and a wonderful speaking and singing voice once she deigns to honor us with words. Faye Dunaway has a compassionate but small supporting role that does her proud.

Stanley's Gig is a gift of an hour and a half that will transform your heart for a while. What a joy to discover such a gem.

Please go see this film. It is what movies used to be in the golden age of cinema. Simple, moving, a joy. The performances are award winning. And I heard the movie was done for less then $600,000.00. Wow! The music alone makes this movie worth seeing. A pure film from start to finish.