Oh, What a Movie!
アメリカ人の友人が言ってた。「こっちでモテる男はどんなかって？甘いマスクでも、高身長でもないね。本当に女にモテる奴は、『COOL GUY』だ。」
COOLはいつも男たちのなかで最高の美。厳密な定義は難しいけど、真の底からしびれるような感動を与えてくれ、おまけには、それを感じ取った自分自身も、同じくCOOLになったかのような気分にさせてくれる。映画というのは、そうしたCOOLな体験を与えてくれる場であり、その体験後、現実の世界へと戻された時には、前とは違う、少し明るい世界が待ってくれている。
【原題】Jersey Boys
【邦題】ジャージー・ボーイズ
【IMDb】6.9（2015年12月1日）
ニュージャージーのストリートで、いつかはフランク・シナトラのように歌でスターになることを夢見て暮らすFrankie。兄貴分であるTommyやNickといったガラの悪い先輩たちとともに、様々なトラブルに巻き込まれながらも、その音楽に磨きをかけていく。Bob Gaudioという才能あるシンガーソングライターを迎え、名をThe Four Seasonsに定めた4人は、名曲Sherryを皮切りとして、一挙にスターダムへとのし上がり、後にロックの殿堂が「the Beatles以前に最も成功した」と認めるほどの大ブームを巻き起こす。しかし彼らの成功は、永遠に続くものではなかった...
※本作は同題の大ヒットミュージカルをクリント・イーストウッドが映画化したもの。
単純明快な筋書き。個性の強い4人。思わずフッと笑ってしまうサーカズム。誰もがどこかで聞いたことのある名曲たち。そして、観客を最後の最後でそっと泣かせる。
頭から尻尾まで実にCOOL。のっけから爽快。まさに「これぞ映画」ということを気づかせてくれる作品。これを最後まで見た日には、もう街中を肩を落として歩くなんてことはできない。しっかりと胸を張って生きていこう。目の前が明るくなってくる。
ストーリーは、4人の視点を一つずつ追いながら進んで行く。
Tommy Devito: You wanna hear the real story? I'm the one you wanna talk to: Tommy DeVito. Wasn't for me, we all would have wound up in the trunk of somebody's car with a bullet in our head（俺のおかげで、みんな死なないで済んでやがるんだ。）. There's even a street named after me. Of course, it don't〔sic〕 come easy. You gotta have skills, talent and vision. And luck!
Bob Gaudio: I heard them all, but I never heard a voice like Frankie Valli's. After eight bars, I know I need to write for this voice.
Nick Massi: Tommy will tell you the trouble started that day at the Ed Sullivan show with the $150,000. But that was Tom. He was always working so far down the road（その時が来るまで何もしない）he couldn’t see what was going on around him. Truth is, trouble started a long time ago. You’d think after everything that went down, Frankie would have cut Tommy out by now. If that's waht you think, you’re not from Jersey.
特に、TommyのCOOLさには、作中最初から最後まで強く惹きつけられる。
Tommyの借金が露呈し、4人で今後について語り合う
Nick Massi: Excuse me, with all due respect, he opened it up, I'm gonna say something. I've been rooming with this guy on and off for what is it, ten years? This was not a walk in a park, this was a sentence. A ten year sentence. The man is a personal nightmare. He wears the same underwear 3 days running. He takes no pride in his appearance in the simple amenities of life. You wanna talk about towels? The man cannot be in a hotel without using all the towels. I'm talking face towels, bath towels, the bathmat, the little washcloths like he's living alone. You need a towel, you know where it is? In a wet pile on the floor. I come back to the room one time, the man is pissing in the sink.
Tommy Devito: I never pissed in the sink.
Nick Massi: Right in the sink, right in the fucking sink! I say "Tommy, what's wrong with you? There's a toilet over there." He says "This was closer." This is what I'm dealing with! The man is not properly socialized. Frankie doesn't have to deal with it, Gaudio doesn't, I've had to deal with it. TEN YEARS!
作品の終盤、ロックの殿堂にて、4人がカメラに向かって真実を語る。
Tommy Devito: You know what I do now? I work for Joe Pesci. Little Joey Fishes, same kid I used to smack around. A couple of months ago, we were driving through the old neighborhood. He said "Hey Tommy, how do you remember yourself back then?" I said "I think I was a pretty stand up guy." He said "I gotta be honest with you. You were total prick（嫌な奴）. Nobody would have put up with your shit except we all needed something. Everybody remembers it the way they need to, right?
Nick Massi: People always ask the same question, why'd you do it Nicky? Why'd you walk away? Well let me clear that up. It wasn't the signed deal, it wasn't the touring, it wasn't the bad food or rooming with Tommy, it just came out of my mouth. Once I said it, I knew it was what I wanted. I wanted to go home.
Frankie Valli: They ask you "what was the high point?" Hall of Fame（ロックの殿堂）, selling all those records, pulling Sherry out of the hat（手品のように）, it was all great. But four guys under a street lamp, when it was all still ahead of us, the first time we made that sound, our sound. When everything dropped away and all there was was the music. That was the best.
Bob Gaudio: I'm not drawn to the old neighborhood, my life never revolved around （中心に展開する）the old neighborhood, I don't give a fuck（=don't care） about the old neighborhood. I'm from wherever I happen to be, and these days that's Nashville, Tennessee. Just me, my beautiful wife and a good cigar. Quiet, and peaceful in the knowledge that none of this could have happened without me.
Tommy Devito: Oh, by the way, if you're ever in Vegas, go to a casino. Say the name, "Tommy DeVito." My hand to God（神に誓って）, you'll be outta（= out of）there in about 12 seconds.
フィナーレはぜひともご自身でしっかりとご覧あれ。
