Page 29 - Boca ViewPointe - March '23

March 2023
Film Review: Mr. Harrigan’s Phone
By Nils A. Shapiro
Of all the literary
genres, the one I least
enjoy reading is “horror.”
The only downside I can
think of in that regard is my
having missed almost all
of the published works of
America’s most prolific and
bestselling author of fiction,
Stephen King.
In fact, I can recall having read, and reviewed in this
column, only one book by King: 11/ 22/1963 – a novel about
a man from the present who goes back in time to a period
several weeks before the assassination of John F. Kennedy
and, with full knowledge of the details of that terrible event,
attempts to change the course of history saving the President.
One of my daughters, Brett, gave me her copy of the book,
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Viewpointe, Page 29
insisting I read it despite the opportunity on Netflix to watch such options as the animated
my reluctance because (a) Pinocchio, Brad Pitt’s Babylon and others which are already
I identified Stephen King receiving Academy Award buzz in favor of the King story.
with only horror stories, But in bringing it to the screen as a film with a running
and (b) the book was more time of just over an hour and a half, writer-director John Lee
than 500 pages in length Hancock has clearly been faced with the unenviable task of
and I usually limit myself adding, or stretching, the original brief novella with several
to fewer than 400 because scenes that result in a slowing down of the original’s pacing
of my time constraint in at certain moments – and it must be said that is where the film
having to read a book every runs a risk of lagging audience interest, and why it generated
month for this column. only mixed reviews when released this past October.
I soon learned that King’s But if you stay with it I believe that Stephen King’s brilliant
marvelous skill in writing creative concept will more than make up for that shortcoming
dialogue made this book so by the time the film ends. Here is a brief synopsis of the story
much of a page-turner that I line, carefully presented to include no “spoilers”:
finished it in three sittings and enjoyed every minute of it…not The setting of the film, as is so often the case in Stephen
to mention that it had nothing to do with horror! King’s writings, is a small town in Maine – the kind of town
So when I learned that the film, Mr. Harrigan’s Phone, is where King himself lives, and with which he is so familiar.
based on an 88-page short story by Stephen King I passed up It is a Sunday church service, and the priest calls on a young
boy of about 10 or 11, Craig (Colin O’Brien), to read aloud
a passage from The Bible. Seated in one of the pews is an
old man, John Harrigan (Donald Sutherland), the town’s
richest man – a billionaire recluse hated by everyone, with a
reputation of buying businesses and then closing them down
so he can fire everyone to put them out of work.
Harrigan is impressed by the young boy’s reading of the
Bible passage. He approaches the boy’s father and, explaining
that his own eyesight is failing in old age, offers to pay the
boy $5 a day to read the literary classics to him two hours
a day, three days a week at the Harrigan mansion, where he
lives alone, with just a housekeeper.
Young Craig, a lover of books and reading, is thrilled to
accept the offer, and by the opportunity to earn money at the
same time. Craig shows up at the mansion, duly impressed by
the surroundings, and it soon becomes clear that he has won
the affection of the otherwise coldhearted old man. As title
after title of literary classics flash on the screen to indicate
the passage of time, within moments of his reading an older
actor (Jaeden Martell) takes the role of now teenager Craig,
and by their conversation we learn that five years have passed
since the first reading aloud session.
Craig is now in high school. His father (Joe Tippett) is a good
hardworking man, a loving single parent whose wife passed
away years before and who still mourns her, taking Craig to her
gravesite to visit together. Theirs is a simple, average family.
But Craig is the victim of a bully in school, a much larger,
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reason at all and makes life very unpleasant for the gentle
YOU NEED EXPOSURE & teen, whose only resource for help and consolation is his
Black teacher, Ms. Hart (Kirby Howell-Baptiste).
AGGRESSIVE MARKETING! At their next get-together, Craig tells Mr. Harrigan about
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the problem. The old man makes his point strongly and clearly:
When you have an enemy, treat him harshly. Harshly! It is advice
that will take on great significance later in the film.
At Christmastime, Craig’s father surprises him with a
wonderful gift: an iPhone. He also hands Craig a gift that
had arrived from Mr. Harrigan – a scratch-off lottery card
that turns out to have a value of $3,000!
Deeply appreciative of Mr. Harrigan’s thoughtfulness,
Craig purchases another iPhone and presents it to the old man
at his next reading aloud visit. At first, the gift is rejected as
Harrigan explains he doesn’t even own a radio or TV set in
his house! The newspaper provides all the news he needs,
including the up-to-date stock market prices, he explains.
Craig holds the iPhone in front of the old man’s face,
presses a button and shows him the up-to-the-minute stock
prices, much more accurate than the newspaper. Harrigan
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news, videos, on and on and on. The old man is sold!
3/2 2,902 sq ft One more thing: Craig asks Harrigan for the name of his
favorite song. “The old tune, Stand By Your Man by Tammy
Wynette,” he answers. Craig finds it on the phone and sets
that as the ringtone on Mr. Harrigan’s iPhone, then sets the
SOLD same ringtone on his phone as well.
“Now, when you hear that song you will know it’s me calling
and you promise to answer my call. And I will promise to answer
your calls as well,” Craig announces to Harrigan, who agrees.
That moment becomes the most important in the film.
When Craig arrives at the mansion for his next reading
session, he is shocked to find Mr. Harrigan dead, sitting
lifeless in his chair.
After the funeral service at the church where the two
first met, as everyone files out, Craig approaches the open
casket and surreptitiously places Mr. Harrigan’s iPhone in
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Days later, during a period of crisis in Craig’s life, his
own iPhone goes off with a familiar ringtone, and the singing
Define Your Life in a Non-Mandatory Country Club voice of Tammy Wynette... a call from Mr. Harrigan.
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For the rest of what happens, you will have to view the
the Club at Boca Pointe film … and appreciate the seemingly limitless imagination
of Stephen King. 