Critics in the popular view are more chaste than Cæsar's wife,
perched like epicurean pigeons on some Olympian ledge high
above the hurlyburly of everyday emotions. Plain folk may get
dewy-eyed and demonstrative about their favorite stars, but
critics are thought to be Solomonic in their judgments,
unswayed by the twined lures of flesh and sentiment. But
inside every sentient critic there resides the biggest fan what
am. Which is all by way of saying I'm crazy about Karen Allen
and don't care who knows it.
Karen Allen does not appear on lists of actresses commonly
thought to be sex symbols, but she is a secret passion among
meny gentlemen of my acquaintance. Bo Derek gets all the
publicity, but in the dark 3 A.M. of the masculine soul the
votes go to Allen every time. It's not just her physical
attractiveness, which is considerable; it's her strikingly
human qualities as an actress that make her a favorite. More
than any of her contemporaries, Allen projects empathy,
accessibility, and sweet intelligence. Philip Kaufman
perfectly understood this when he cast her as his hero's
often-glimpsed, never-quite-attained dream girl in The
Wanderers (1979). This is more than a (very) pretty face;
this is someone you can talk to, someone who'll
understand. Try and get that from Bo Derek.
Because she is so good at conveying caring and compassion,
Allen's most successful roles have been as the humanizer of
distinctly mechanical situations. In Raiders of the Lost
Ark she was the girl Harrison Ford fought all those Nasties
for; in Starman she defrosts space robot Jeff Bridges
and gives him a taste of terrestrial love. Opinions vary on
both those pictures, but it is indisputable (at least in my
house) that without her saving warmth and empathy neither one
would have been nearly as satisfying.
Being a fan means having to endure your favorite in parts that
don't utilize her to full capacity. Who can forget (more to
the point, who except a devotee can even remember?) Allen's
role, one of the most thankless in recent history, as Al
Pacino's heroically neglected wife in Cruising? What Al
saw in all that leather when Karen was waiting soulfully back
home is something I'll never understand. Then there was
Until September, an indefensible bit of romantic fluff
that at least got Our Girl a trip to Paris. I hope she had a
swell time over there; she deserves it. Really she does. --
KENNETH TURAN
Copyright © 1985 Film Comment