I saw “The Fisher King” recently and found it was great entertainment. I’ve always been a sucker for Robin Williams craziness and this is one of the craziest. Add to that Terry Gilliam as director and one would expect a completely wacky movie good for many laughs, but not something that would stay with you for very long. This wasn’t the case for me. Long ster the movie was over, and even until today, I am not altogether certain whether the play should be taken at face value, or whether some of it should be taken as the surreal dreams of an insane man.
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On the face value, “The Fisher King” is a voyage of self-discovery and a journey toward friendship between Jack Lucas (Jeff Bridges) and Parry (Robin Williams). As the story begins Bridges plays a big-mouthed, foul-mouth, and arrogant (is there any other kind) shock DJ on a New York radio station. While talking on the air to one of his listeners Lucas makes a comment about how yuppies are arrogant threats to the “real” people of importance to the planet, presumably Lucas would consider himself in the latter category. Lucas casually tells the listener that it’s a war between society and the artificial yuppies who are gaining control. The listener takes the message to heart and proceeds to a nearby yuppie restaurant and begins shooting into the crowd, killing and injuring several. One of the women killed was Parry’s wife.
