Six Days, Seven Nights
USA - 1998
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Movie Review By Heather Clisby
In Ivan Reitman's film, "Six Days, Seven Nights", Harrison Ford's character, a rogue pilot named Quinn, warns Anne Heche's character, a recently engaged magazine editor named Robin, against visions of tropical romantic perfection. "This is an island," he says, "if you didn't bring it here, you're not going to find it."
Robin and her boyfriend, Frank (played superbly by a very funny David Schwimmer), have come to Makatea to escape the stress of their New York lives. On their first night, he proposes marriage and she, more or less, accepts.
Quinn flies the happy couple to Makatea from nearby Tahiti in his dilapidated DeHavilland Beaver four-seater. Quinn flies for a living, drinks as much as he wants, sleeps in a thatched hut and hits on tourist women. He is, he tells Robin, living every man's dream life. "Yeah," she sneers, "until they're about 12."
The film really begins when Robin and Quinn end up stranded on a desert island together. Sound ridiculous and contrived? It is and it isn't. Fortunately, Heche and Harrison have fabulous chemistry and much of the credit is due to Heche's sharp comedic deliveries. Harrison Ford is like a member of the family to us (holding a flair gun, we get a flashback of Han Solo) but Heche has more to prove and she pulls it off with great skill.
When they first realize their dire situation, she looks at Quinn expectedly, "Well," she says, hands on hips, "aren't you one of those guys with skills, that can go into the wilderness with a pocket knife and a Q-tip and build a shopping mall?"
Filmed on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, the scenery is breathtaking. Several times throughout the film, in fact, Robin will simply look around and say, "Beautiful" to herself, without the utterance being any kind of plot advance. A nice, light touch for such a Hollywood summer hopeful.
There nees to be evil conflict, of course, so the two end up being chased by modern-day pirates with abysmal marksmanship. This made for a few ridiculous getaways but allowed for a brief gut-melting homage to the 1953 classic, "From Here To Eternity."
My only real criticism is the occasional emotion cue we'd get from sappy music. It's become the Hollywood trademark, the audience must be told when to feel what or they'll forget and have their own interpretations of the moment and this must be stopped! Otherwise, this is a fun film showing two likable characters seemingly happy but looking for paradise in all the wrong places.
© 1998 - Heather Clisby - Air Date: 6/17/98
