User reviews

I've watched Robin Williams/Jeff Bridges in this "fairytale" more times than I count. Finally bought it. You have to watch it at least twice , in my opinion,because the first time all I could do was try to let it "settle in".

I love movies that hit me broadsided and then blind me! I keep trying to watch it with my daughter, who only likes love stories, but if I can keep her still long enough she'll find out that this IS a love story, of the most incredible kind. A love story for all mankind.

I hate to gush, but if it's ever called for, it's called for here.

The first time I saw it, I was soooooooo impressed with Mercedes Rhuel's performance and actually said to my friend in the theatre, "That woman's gonna get nominated for the Oscar for this performance", which of course she won for her performance. So, I'm not so unsophisticated after all.

Deep humanism runs through the veins of this film from Terry Gilliam, and in some ways it reminded me of old Hollywood and Frank Capra. Its treatment of the homeless and people suffering mental illness because of trauma is highly sympathetic, and in working in fantasy and romantic comedy elements, the film has a light, magical air to it. Jeff Bridges plays an unpleasant radio DJ and Robin Williams is the homeless man whose world was shattered because of something the DJ broadcast, and they're both brilliant here. Mercedes Ruehl and Amanda Plummer play their love interests, and they're fantastic as well - but Michael Jeter nearly upstages them all as the homeless cabaret singer when he belts out a show tune in drag in an office space.

One of the things I liked most about the film was how it deals with charity. We see people throwing coins at homeless people without even looking at them, and a gift of big bills in a shallow attempt to atone for wrongdoing. The scene where Bridges' character says it's not his fault to Williams who can't respond is powerful, and such a metaphor for the affluent wrestling with guilt over those who've been trampled by life (for the rich who actually feel guilt anyway). True charity begins with true empathy, we see, and the giving that comes from immersing oneself into another person's world is divine.

There are some really sweet scenes here, many of which involve Robin Williams. That beautiful story of the fisher king while looking up at the stars, how he imagines everyone waltzing in Grand Central Station because the woman he's secretly in love with is walking across the floor, and the way he tries to offset her awkwardness at the Chinese restaurant are all touching. We get little bits of his comedy too, like when his character can't help himself from picking up a discarded bottle off a trash heap while walking on his first date.

The story takes a lot of twists and turns, and maybe a few too many, en route to what was probably an inevitable ending, but this is a good one. Now if only all radio talk show hosts who glibly said harmful things had to truly confront the consequences of their words.

A touching yet humorous tale, THE FISHER KING brings together amongst the best performances given by Robin Williams and Jeff Bridges, as well as Terry Gilliam's finest directorial effort. Solid supporting performances by Amanda Plummer and Mercedes Ruehl round out a great film that ranks among my personal favorites.

Bridges portrays an arrogant radio shock-jock, who's big mouth and flippant comments send a disturbed listener on a murderous rampage, thus ending his career. Enter Ruehl as his new enabler girlfriend, waiting patiently for him to drag himself up from the dregs, hoping to catch a ride to the top. Just when Bridges seems to have hit rock bottom, he encounters Williams, a crazed vagrant who thinks he is a knight in shining armor.

What ensues is a tale of remorse, redemption and rebirth which is made all the more magical by Gilliam's magnificent vision. Most notable is a scene which takes place in Grand Central Station where the hustle and bustle of the busy commuters dissolves into a spectacular waltz as Williams follows Plummer, the woman of his dreams. Gilliam's style makes Williams delusions come alive as the character makes the slow journey from trauma-induced insanity to stark, yet hopeful, reality.

Every character in this film undergoes a metamorphosis, each learning from the others along the transformation. It is a beautiful film to watch, and an achievement to all involved that subject matter of such depth can come across with such humor and with such beauty.

The Fisher King can be viewed as an oddball dramedy like several others during one's initial viewing, but then suddenly you're struck by the hallucinations of Robin Williams's character, namely the sight of the large, outlandish, scorching red figure of a demonic knight coming to kill him. Things like this seem at once to throw the film out of balance a little bit, like the film is making a straight line and suddenly makes a sharp and brief stab upward, and then back down to continue the line in the straight way it was before. One has to think about The Fisher King and realize just how largely, outlandishly, scorchingly different it is. Think about this plot when you're watching the film. You'll realize how well it modestly unravels instead of contriving itself to mystify us. The filmmakers show no ego and are not interested in impressing themselves. They are telling their vivid, dynamic story the way good films are made. The story is just completely fresh and new. And with that in mind, thinking outside the box along with Terry Gilliam and Richard LaGravanese, one shouldn't even think of the brief sporadic fantasies the film splashes at us here and there as anything so jolting.

Jeff Bridges turns in a fantastic, despicably likable performance. I say this not so much because I believe he has a universal effect on anyone who understands or enjoys the movie. I say this more because I related to him greatly. I felt like his character was very familiar with his self-centered angst, bitterness lathered on top, an emotional and sexual nature quite like mine, and frankly the performance in a serious relationship quite like mine. Bridges, who I have always thought of as a very good actor, has my kudos for understanding to the point of successful portrayal a type of person who is rarely completely understood.

Robin Williams, constantly underrated at this point for his self-indulgent bombast and personally difficult, nonstop communication of his sense of humor, is proved in this, as well as several other films I could mention, that he has true talent and feels his characters to the very core and projects as such. It is not and never has been right to reduce judgment upon him to surprisingly shameless look-at-me-fests like Mrs. Doubtfire, Patch Adams, and Good Morning, Vietnam, because he has always been tremendously capable. Above all, I think he is an actor whose work is founded upon intuition. He communicates his physical and psychological portrayal by emotional understanding and deep feeling. When you watch this film, do you not have that clutching grip upon his character's pain? Are you not taking that journey face to face with him?

Mercedes Ruehl is not a token here. She is not just the voluptuous Brooklyn Jew girlfriend who nags, criticizes men, and makes dinner the whole time. That is the way her character lays out, because that is the path the emotional position of her presence in the story leads. She is perhaps the strongest, most decisive, and understanding person of all four main characters, and believably so. She is also very sexy and very natural. Take the scene with her and Bridges stumbling with laughter down the street after the dinner scene. She is quite real in a scene that with many other players would've been annoyingly not so.

Amanda Plummer is a sad portrait of a very realistic person, ironically enough in a film that is greatly surreal. She is the lone wolf that drifts through life, crippled by a complete lack of self-assurance and with age has become extremely used to it. Plummer's rich, seldom screen time is great, very wise acting. When she is suddenly accosted by the attention and adoration of these other three people, she reacts, and I feel like I know many people who would react the same way.

The Fisher King is in my opinion the first great film Terry Gilliam ever made. He had never made a bad film before this one, but this is the film that really made me connect. It's filled with emotional understanding of the human condition and a parallel story and cinematic style that are so acutely unique and naturally offbeat. It is among the definitive Gilliam films. Perhaps the click that sounded off for a truly effective film came with the connection of very similar, very compatible perspectives between the writer and the director. It's a determined, forceful, emotional, passionate, and secretive movie.

What really struck me in "The Fisher King" were the visuals. It was the way in which director Terry Gilliam managed to give us a picture of Parry's insanity. Robin Williams was excellent in the part. It was a perfect character for him - a combination of laughably crazy and tragically insane - and he pulled it off brilliantly, but it's still the imagery that stayed with me. The pictures of the "red knight" that stalked Parry in his mind at least and that wouldn't let him go, even when he thought he had finally escaped and started to return his life to normal with his budding relationship with Lydia (Amanda Plummer.) Those images have a haunting quality to them; they don't easily leave you after the movie's over.

After the imagery, it's the performances that stand out in this. As I mentioned, Robin Williams was brilliant as Parry, and Jeff Bridges was almost his equal as Jack - the former radio shock jock whose off the cuff comments led an insane man to shoot up a bar , which led to Parry's wife being killed in front of him and resulted in his insanity. Obviously, Parry's life is devastated. Jack's life is devastated. The story picks up three years later, when Parry and Jack inadvertently meet, and Jack sees his opportunity for redemption - can he help Parry get his life back?

Gilliam did a good job directing this. It starts out tentatively, perhaps a bit slow paced, but it builds brilliantly to what I thought was the real climax - the return of Parry's demons after he walks Lydia to her apartment and says good bye. As he ran screaming through the streets, and ended up beaten and bloodied, it was one of the most powerful scenes I've seen. Well done by Robin Williams. For all the strength of the performances by Wiliams and Bridges, it's surprising to me that the only acting Oscar this won was Best Supporting Actress for Mercedes Ruehl, as Jack's girlfriend Anne. Williams was nominated for Best Actor, but lost to Anthony Hopkins for "Silence of the Lambs." I can't argue with the choice of Hopkins, but Williams was superb. It may be the best performance I've ever seen from him.

For me, the biggest weakness to this was the ending. I'd have left it with that climactic scene, and cut out much of what came after. Frankly, I wasn't that taken with the whole "Holy Grail" theme, and the extended scenes of Jack trying to get the Grail didn't do anything for me. I was ready for this to come to a close with that aforementioned scene, even if it had meant Parry's fate being left up in the air. I can live with the happy ending, but the Holy Grail material was just distracting. Still, that ending aside, I enjoyed this immensely. It's a very impressive movie. (7/10)

When i first rented this movie out, it was like an enchantment, even on a 4 inch screen. It was a tape but still, i felt the magic in the movie its self. But the Fisher King is more than a movie, it is a story of redemption, madness, guilt, sanity, poverty and love. In the movie, all these things come together. Jeff Bridges was always a well respected Hollywood actor. In the Fisher King, he plays a role a lot more different than the star man. He plays a radio talk show host Jack Lucas, a wild, arrogant radio DJ who's advice causes a man to assassinate seven people in a restaurant. Jack Lucas did this unintentionally, but as a result to that, he is now down and out in poverty. When almost killed by thugs, a insane homeless man (Robin Williams), saves Jack, and in the end turns out to be the husband of one of the restaurant victims. Parry (Robin Williams) has lost his sanity because of that. Jack feels so muck guilt that he wishes to help Parry meet with Lydia Sinclair ( the girl that Parry likes, played by Amanda Plummer), and help him find the one thing Parry treasures, the Holy Grail. The performances are incredible. Particualary Mercedes Rhuel, Robin Williams, Amanda Plummer, andJeff Bridges, they stole the show. This should be in the library of the top five fantasy dramas in Hollywood.

Jack Lucas (Jeff Bridges) is an arrogant selfish call-in radio DJ. His rant against yuppies causes a madman to commit a mass shooting in a hip NYC bar. Three years later, he's a drunken mess working at a video store with his girlfriend Anne Napolitano (Mercedes Ruehl). Jack is attacked by a couple of young punks and he's rescued by Parry (Robin Williams) and his group. Parry sees himself as a knight on a quest for the Holy Grail and hounded by an imaginary Red Knight. He thinks that Jack is the one to find the Grail so that he could win the heart of Lydia Sinclair (Amanda Plummer). Jack finds out that Parry is actually college Professor Henry Sagan and his wife was killed in the bar by that madman. There is a lot of crazy acting from everybody especially from Robin Williams. It's a little touching. It's a little surreal. It's a stumbling affair with fits and starts. It meanders a bit and I wish it's more of a quest movie. It's cute sometimes like the date. At other times, I can't wait for the movie to pick up the pace.

I first watched this when I was 16. I'm now a very old man and every time I start the movie I have to watch it till the end. Terry Gilliam's direction is just awesome, there are some amazing scenes that really are magical. The main actors Jeff Bridges, Robin Williams et cetera are just fantastic. To be honest though Mercedes ruehl just steals the whole movie, she is wonderful. I've been in love this movie since I was 16 to be honest. And I wish I'd taken its message to heart earlier in my life. I would be in a much better place now if I had.

Terry Gilliam's typically overreaching style does nothing for this underwhelming material about an unfulfilled radio shock-jock in New York who goes into hiding after suffering career misfortune, learning to live again after meeting an ex-professor who is now some kind of guru among the homeless. Literate perhaps but meandering, self-important comedy-drama, with Jeff Bridges visibly struggling on-screen alongside Robin Williams. Mercedes Ruehl won a Supporting Actress Oscar for showy, one-note role as Bridges' girlfriend. Williams, in free-association mode, attempts to steal the picture with his ranting, but he's mostly a nuisance. Overbaked folk lore and fairy tale symbolism detract from the narrative, and Gilliam is never able to move the audience emotionally with his heavy handedness. *1/2 from ****

Terry Gilliam has made a lot of good films and a couple of great ones(namely Twelve Monkeys and Brazil)this, though could well be his best.

Why ?

For starters there is the cast.Jeff Bridges,officially the most underrated actor of his generation, giving a performance that veers from one end of the spectrum to the other almost imperceptibly.From comedy to tragedy and back again.

Robin Williams- a great comedian and a better actor than he is given credit for.Fair enough he does tend to go through spells of making films primarily for his kids (Mrs.Doubtfire, Hook, Jack) but when he does decide to buckle down and do a serious role he rarely disappoints (Good Will Hunting, Insomnia, Dead Poets Society).It is with this role though that Williams gives what is the best of his career to date,as Parry. He is undoubtedly insane, but it is not yet too late for him, he justs needs someone to take the effort to save him, and if it had not been for Bridges colossal mistake and subsequent search for redemption, no-one would have done it, and he would never have survived, merely another casualty of another one of Gilliams nightmarish cityscapes. Mercedes Ruehl is perfect as Bridges suffering girlfriend.She thinks of herself as hard-bitten a survivor, and yet she continues to stay with Bridges, trying to prove to herself that she has the strength to change him, to redeem him. She wants to be his saviour, and yet he comes in the shape of a homeless madman, prone to dancing naked in Central Park and seeing floating fairies whilst defecating.The Fisher King is a movie about hope, despair and redemption, and all of the human conditions that fit in between.It contains one of the most inspired,beautiful scenes in recent memory,as Grand Central station transforms from a dingy,noisy concrete hole into a luscious, gorgeous ballroom, simply because of Lydia, Parrys love, the one thing that keeps him grounded in any semblance of reality.The chinese restaurant double- date in which Parry connects with her for the first time is both funny and touching, and makes what comes after even more tragic.

It is at times tragic,brutal even but it's heart cannot be doubted,and it remains a wonderful success.

This is one of the best movies I've ever seen. I kept returning to it over they years and I always found it a great and enriching experience to watch. I especially like the shifting incarnations of the legendary Fisher King in this film (the wounded hero, kind of the wasteland, keeper of the holy grail. The archetype of the knight and of the wounded warrior can be seen as one of the prominent archetypes of masculinity we have. By this view, this movie can be seen as a research into masculinity as such. The performances by Bridges, Williams and Ruehl are exquisite. The eighties' New York is a great setting for this ethereal, symbolic quest, and the surreal theatricalness of some of the scenes (a la "Brazil") only adds to the overall artistic congruence of the film. The visuals are great. The movie works on many levels, so apart from this very abstract layer, we get a funny and intelligent comedy about modern misfits - with a great love story, or two. Also, I especially recommend this movie to anyone who loves New York City.

Arguably Gilliam's best film, and certainly his best acted. As usual, Bridges is completely natural and absorbed in his role. This is the only time I've seen Robin Williams combine his best humor with his severe talent for dramatic work. He seamlessly switches from being wildly charismatic to being an empathetic, heart broken man just trying to escape his past. The basic structure is one which has been done many times, but never has it been mastered as Gilliam has done. The parallels in the story are remarkable. Parry's name being short for Parsifal, a knight of the Holy Grail. Parry saves Jack just as Parsifal saved the Fisher King. Also, Parry's flight from the Red Knight is reflected from Parsifal's battle with the Red Knight. Another parallel is seen when Parry's haunted past is brought back to him after kissing Lydia, just as Parsifal is reawakened after kissing Kundry. Gilliam creates all of this beautifully, yet keeps it very subtle and light. The film itself combines outrageous humor, heartwrenching drama and even some thrilling chase scenes. The hallucinations and flashbacks also have a very haunting ambiance to them. The film really is a tour de force on all fronts. As always, Gilliam creates a very haunting yet comfortable ambiance through some of the best cinematography I've ever seen.

I will only do justice to this gem if I compare it to some of my favorite films of all time: Death in Venice (1971), The Chase (1966), The Fugitive Kind (1959), Nostalghia (1983), Solaris (2002), Ran (1985)... This movie is proof great art's shortest way is through modesty and true humility.

My sincere congratulations to all the people that made this masterpiece possible.

THE FISHER KING (1991) **** Robin Williams, Jeff Bridges, Mercedes Ruehl, Amanda Plummer, Michael Jeter, Tom Waits. Brilliant tragic-farce about a shock jock radio personality (Bridges in top form and criminally overlooked for an Oscar nod!) who goes over the brink into madness when he inadvertently causes a tragedy that he ends up reliving when he comes upon a homeless man (Williams equally brilliant, Best Actor nominee) that has become that way due to his actions. Repercussions and setbacks aside, intriguing character study despite some broad strokes. Daring direction by Terry Gilliam and Ruehl (Oscar winner, Best Supporting Actress) is dead-solid perfect as Bridges' taken for granted lover. Pathos and pathologies aplenty. Astonishing screenplay by Richard La Gravenese (who has a blink-n-miss cameo in the first asylum sequence; he's in a strait-jacket). Look sharp for Kathy Najimi as a video store patron Bridges insults and David Hyde Pierce as Bridges' agent.

This is a Modern Day Tale dealing with The Search For Love, Sanity, Craziness and The Holy Grail . A former self-absorbed radio personality ,the popular DJ Jack Lucas (Jeff Bridges), suicidally despondent because of a terrible mistake he made, when a nutty man carries out a slaughter that takes place in a popular New York bar after hearing the radioman speak against Yuppies. He then finds redemption of the unexpected tragedy in helping a deranged homeless named Perry (Robin Williams) , a former professor who turned unhinged and who was an unwitting victim of that mistake and also in desperate need of rescue himself . The ex-DJ strikes up a friendship with the vagabond and both of whom join forces to steal the Holy Grail from the private Library of a New York Socialite . While it is not quoted in the story , Parry's name is short for Parsifal, the "pure fool" and legendary knight of the Holy Grail. Perry brings redemption to Jack Lucas just as Parsifal brings redemption to the Fisher King Amfortas .

This is an imaginative , glamorous , chaotic fantasy based on the relations among four characters , though a little bit tedium too and paced in fits and starts . This touching and stirring film contains nice performances from Jeff Bridges as a radio man dejected by remorse and Robin Williams as a homeless become crazy after witnessing his wife's violent death in the bar shooting . Absorbing and overlong tale , both funny and tender, and full of good feeling , emotion , intrigue and human relations . The film cast includes three Oscar winners: Robin Williams, Jeff Bridges and Mercedes Ruehl; and three Oscar nominees: Tom Waits, Dan Futterman and Richard LaGravenese. It's a good picture but relies heavily on the lovely romance between Robin Williams and Amanda Plummer , and the relationship between Jeff Bridges and Mercedes Ruehl ; lacking adventures and action . Nice secondary cast cast as Michael Jeter and David Hyde Pierce and brief appearance of Kathy Najimy , look fast for John de Lancie and Richard LaGrevanese , film's screenwriter, as strait jacket yuppie . Special mention to Mercedes Ruehl who won best supporting actress . Nice scenarios from N.Y. as the "castle" , it is the facade of the Squadron Armory, now part of the Hunter College Campus Schools building, located at 94th and Madison Avenue. This medium-budgeted , under-appreciated film was a flop in the premiere and at the box office , being panned by the critics ; however , today is very well considered . Colorful and glimmer cinematography by Roger Pratt, and evocative musical score by George Fenton . This is the first film directed by Terry Gilliam to not feature any other members of Monty Python. The motion picture is imaginatively directed by Terry Gilliam , an expert on wonderful , surreal atmospheres ( Time bandits , Brazil , Baron Munchausen, Doctor Parnasus). The film might be described as an extraordinary human drama full of imagination and color . Rating : Good , better than average . Worthwhile watching .

one of the best stories about the life in urban jungle and how everything is related. Jeff bridges and robin Williams are perfect. a must must see for anyone who enjoys a good story well told. last but not least the director terry Gilliam adds his most loved extra grim flavor.

The Fisher King (by: Richard LaGravenese)

It begins with the king as a boy, having to spend the night alone in the forest to prove his courage so he can become king.

Now while he is spending the night alone he's visited by a sacred vision. Out of the fire appears the holy grail, symbol of God's divine grace. And a voice said to the boy,

"You shall be keeper of the grail so that it may heal the hearts of men."

But the boy was blinded by greater visions of a life filled with power and glory and beauty.

And in this state of radical amazement he felt for a brief moment not like a boy, but invincible, like God, ... so he reached into the fire to take the grail, ... and the grail vanished, ... leaving him with his hand in the fire to be terribly wounded.

Now as this boy grew older, his wound grew deeper.

Until one day, life for him lost its reason. ... He had no faith in any man, not even himself. ... He couldn't love or feel loved. ... He was sick with experience. He began to die.

One day a fool wandered into the castle and found the king alone. And being a fool, he was simple minded, he didn't see a king. He only saw a man alone and in pain. And he asked the king,

"What ails you friend?"

The king replied,

"I'm thirsty. I need some water to cool my throat".

So the fool took a cup from beside his bed, filled it with water and handed it to the king.

As the king began to drink, he realized his wound was healed. He looked in his hands and there was the holy grail, that which he sought all of his life. And he turned to the fool and said with amazement,

"How can you find that which my brightest and bravest could not?"

And the fool replied,

"I don't know. I only knew that you were thirsty."

A former radio DJ named Jack (Jeff Bridges), suicidally despondent because of a terrible mistake he made, finds redemption in helping a deranged homeless man (Robin Williams) who was an unwitting victim of that mistake.

I have been aware of this film a long time, though I never really knew what it was about. With Jeff Bridges and Terry Gilliam, it was more or less guaranteed to be good. And sure enough, it takes what could be a sappy romance and makes it something much, much more.

One has to talk about the Red Knight. Although he does not show until two-thirds of the way into the film, this is when you know it is a Gilliam movie. The imagery and oddness really fit the man's vision.

I'm so disappointed in this movie. I love Robin Williams and Jeff Bridges is an excellent actor, but this movie was bitterly disappointing. The story just didn't cut it for me, it took too long to bring Robin Williams in, it was bitty and patchy and the vital spark of empathy was missing - I just didn't care what happened to them. I gave it 45 minutes and then went to unpack some moving boxes - an indication of how dreary it was.