John Fischer's Philadelphia
Vol. 1 - Number 29 - 08/02/99
For those who didn't make it to the shore or the mountains for the weekend, an afternoon at the movies was an option chosen by many. Locally, the new film Runaway Bride was clearly the hands down choice of most folks.
Reuniting Julia Roberts and Richard Gere in their first film together in nine years since Pretty Woman, Runaway Bride is set in New York City and in the fictional small town of Hale, Maryland. Actually filming was done in Berlin, Maryland in Worcester County on Maryland's Eastern Shore and just a few hours drive from Philadelphia.
Gere plays Ike Graham, a columnist for USA Today, who in agonizing over a topic for his next story encounters a man in a bar who tells him the story of this young woman in a small town in Maryland who literally runs away from her weddings as she walks down the aisle.
Graham writes his column pegging Maggie as a man-eater who entices men with her charm and then dumps them at the altar. The runaway bride, Maggie Carpenter, played by Julia Roberts reads the story. When she writes to his editor (who is also his ex-wife) and challenges the accuracy of the story, the paper begins to worry about a suit, Graham is fired.
Determined to prove his story correct, Graham secures a free-lance job with a magazine and off he heads to Maryland where Maggie is soon scheduled to walk down the aisle for the fourth time.
At first Maggie despises Ike and refuses to cooperate with him in his story. Unfortunately everyone else in town spills their guts to the columnist rehashing all of the stories of Maggie's first three failed walks down the aisle.
The
relationship between the columnist and his subject develops through flirtation, to
understanding, to friendship and more, as Ike and Maggie spend time with each other and
learn that the real reasons that their previous efforts at romance have failed, (Maggie's
by running and Ike's in divorce).
Neither really knew themselves and what they needed in life before they tried to please someone else. Maggie was so concerned with being what her future husbands wanted her to be that she lost herself and never knew her place or what she herself wanted in life. Ike always had written about others but never understood or revealed anything about himself.
Well, to tell more would give away too much of the plot. The film is well acted, beautifully filmed and is a must see despite Roger Ebert's critical review. It is often funny, sometimes sad, romantic and reflective.
If you'd like more information about the film, here are three great links:
Together
Again: Roberts and Gere In Runaway Bride
Runaway Bride - The Official Movie Site
Runaway Bride - a site by Lawrence Mott of Berlin,
MD
I go to many films but I have never seen so many senior citizens in attendance as I saw this weekend. The movies are one of the few places where older people can gather with their friends out of the heat and know that they will be cool, at least for a couple of hours.
Well, that's my spin on things. What's yours? Keep cool and have fun. You can join me in our chat room almost every evening - Philly Chat - or drop me a note at philadelphia.guide@about.com. Also, be sure to check out our new Philadelphia Forum where you can share your comments and feelings, ask questions, post classifieds and much more
If you missed any of our recent columns you can still catch them:
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John Fischer's Philadelphia 07/26/99
John Fischer's Philadelphia 07/28/99
John Fischer's Philadelphia 07/30/99