{"id":4555,"date":"2007-10-23T10:36:45","date_gmt":"2007-10-23T17:36:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=4555"},"modified":"2020-12-11T19:55:21","modified_gmt":"2020-12-12T02:55:21","slug":"magic-garden-of-stanley-sweetheart-the-1970","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=4555","title":{"rendered":"Magic Garden of Stanley Sweetheart, The (1970)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;First of all, I don&#8217;t know what I want to do; and second of all, I keep changing my mind!&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/10\/Magic-Garden-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/10\/Magic-Garden-Poster-194x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"194\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-22573\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/10\/Magic-Garden-Poster-194x300.jpg 194w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/10\/Magic-Garden-Poster-83x128.jpg 83w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 194px) 100vw, 194px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nCollege student Stanley Sweetheart (Don Johnson) explores sex, drugs, and underground filmmaking in New York.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>College<\/li>\n<li>Counterculture<\/li>\n<li>New York City<\/li>\n<li>Sexuality<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nBased on Robert T. Westbrook&#8217;s semi-autobiographical novel, this counterculture curio is primarily notable for featuring Don Johnson in his screen debut. While Stanley&#8217;s not exactly sympathetic (like many 20-something males, he&#8217;s both self-absorbed and sex-obsessed), his attempt to keep his two disparate lives &#8212; one sex-and-drug filled, the other monogamous &#8212; separate from each other is unique and somehow believable. Johnson is a charismatic cutie, and folk singer Holly Near as Stanley&#8217;s pudgy yet sexually confident conquest is enjoyable as well. With that said, the screenplay (which clings faithfully to its source material) often feels like simply a filmed version of a more introspective narrative, with the resolution (a key character suddenly dies) coming out of nowhere; because we can&#8217;t see into the &#8220;magic garden&#8221; of Stanley&#8217;s mind, we don&#8217;t understand the true significance of this event in his life. Ultimately, <em>Stanley Sweetheart<\/em> remains a flawed and dated film, but is worth a look if you stumble upon it; my dark-hued copy was taped off of TNT years ago.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Don Johnson in his screen debut as Stanley Sweetheart<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/10\/mgss-johnson.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/10\/mgss-johnson.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"625\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-4556\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Michael Greer as &#8220;Cherry&#8221;<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/10\/mgss-greer.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/10\/mgss-greer.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"625\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-4557\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Holly Near as redheaded Fran<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/10\/mgss-holly-near.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/10\/mgss-holly-near.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"625\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-4558\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nNo, but it&#8217;s recommended, and a must for any Don Johnson fans. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/imdb.com\/title\/tt0066036\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1970\/05\/27\/archives\/screen-a-plastic-gardendon-johnson-portrays-stanley-sweetheart.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.tvguide.com\/movies\/magic-garden-stanley\/review\/105247\">TV Guide Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;First of all, I don&#8217;t know what I want to do; and second of all, I keep changing my mind!&#8221; Synopsis: College student Stanley Sweetheart (Don Johnson) explores sex, drugs, and underground filmmaking in New York. Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: College Counterculture New York City Sexuality Review: Based on Robert T. Westbrook&#8217;s semi-autobiographical novel, this counterculture curio is primarily notable for featuring Don Johnson in his screen debut. While Stanley&#8217;s not exactly sympathetic (like many 20-something males, he&#8217;s both&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=4555\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4555"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4555\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57169,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4555\/revisions\/57169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}