Biblical Odd Couple Martin Sheen and Alan Arkin Anchor The Fourth Wise Man

I’ve read a lot of Christmas books, and some of my favorites are inspired by Matthew 25, the chapter of the Bible that includes the account of the separation of the sheep and the goats, with the sheep being rewarded for clothing the naked, feeding the hungry, welcoming the stranger and tending to the sick, for “whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” Earlier this year, I was surprised to realize that I’d never read perhaps the most famous of the stories in this vein: Henry Van Dyke’s The Story of the Other Wise Man.

I made that discovery after reading my friend Beth’s review of the film adaptation. Conveniently, we actually happened to have a copy of the book, so I read it, but I didn’t get around to watching The Fourth Wise Man, directed by Michael Ray Rhodes, until this week, when I once again devoted the top slots in my Netflix queue to Christmas movies.

It’s a reverent, no-frills made-for-TV film that features Martin Sheen in the role of Artaban, the wise man who spends the second half of his life searching for the King whose birth was heralded by the night sky. Though he is the central character, Tom Fontana’s screenplay shifts the focus away from him somewhat by introducing a new character, Orontes, a slave pressed into the sage’s service by his father Abgarus (Ralph Bellamy) and promised freedom at the end of his journey, which he fervently hopes will be a short one. Adding Orontes changes the flavor of the story significantly, providing a constant foil for the selfless, determined Artaban and allowing for the gradual development of another kind of hero.

The book’s tone is uniformly serious, but Orontes adds a comical touch to the film. Alan Arkin really has the whining down in this part; Orontes may be a faithful servant, but he rarely agrees with his master’s ideas. He reminds me of Sancho Panza, resolutely trekking along with a delusional Don Quixote. Artaban shows, thanks to Sheen’s heartfelt performance, and Orontes tells, writing sarcastic letters to Abgarus. His speech sounds more contemporary than that of the other characters, accentuating his role as the voice of the skeptical everyman. For Artaban’s quest, and his deviations from it, are not rational. But they are good.

Sheen and Arkin perform wonderfully together and also have the opportunity to act alongside their children, Charlie Sheen and Ramon Estevez and Adam Arkin, in brief scenes. More prominent are Eileen Brennan as Judith, the bedraggled leader of a leper colony, and Lance Kerwin as Passhur, her blind son. In the book, Van Dyke merely indicates that Artaban spent many years among the disenfranchised; he covers this section of his life in a couple of pages, whereas it takes up half the movie, allowing us to see first-hand some of the godly work of this man who always arrives just a little too late to see the King but never entirely gives up hope of finding Him. Lovely Sydney Penny is also affecting as Shameir, the young teenaged daughter of Artaban’s onetime colleague.

The movie is very low-budget, seeming to use as few props as it can get away with and featuring some not-so-special effects and very obvious pauses for commercial breaks. Fontana takes more liberties with the Biblical framework, actually inserting Artaban and Orontes into the scene of Peter’s denial. He also adds a scene, mostly for comic purposes but also to emphasize Orontes’ lack of devotion to the quest at that stage, that has the servant attempting to fool his master into believing that he has found the young Messiah. This may bother purists, but such scenes work well for fleshing the movie out a bit. I’d almost call this more of an Easter movie than Christmas, but during either season, The Fourth Wise Man is a moving tale of faith and compassion.

DiCaprio Resurfaces as Con Man Extraordinaire

Poor Leonardo DiCaprio. It must be hard to go from the most popular guy in Hollywood to the laughingstock is just months. Leo was a victim of his own success, grinning out from king-size posters, whispering fervently on that annoyingly spoilerific radio version of My Heart Will Go On (which must have played about once an hour) and appearing in various forms in the lockers and notebooks of millions of teenage girls across the country. It was overkill, and for a while I wondered whether we’d ever see him again. He seemed to drop almost entirely out of view. Then I saw Catch Me If You Can.

It’s five or so years later, and Leo once again is cast as a teenager, just 15 at the earliest point in this movie’s chronology. The teen in question is Frank Abagnale, Jr., a sweet-natured kid who turns con man in order to evade the responsibility of choosing which parent to live with after their divorce. Once his ingenious schemes begin and he starts to make money, he becomes determined to earn enough to replace everything they lost when his father (Christopher Walken), a bit of a con man himself, got caught and had his assets seized.

I can’t help but be reminded a bit of Huck Finn with Frank Abagnale, even though the circumstances are entirely different. Both are kids who are absolutely brilliant when it comes to pulling off highly improbable schemes. Moreover, both start running because of their fathers, though Huck hates his Dad and Frank adores his. At any rate, there’s something very appealing about this young man. He’s very likable, and nothing he does has malicious intent. When Frank begs Carl Hanratty (Tom Hanks), the agent who has been chasing him, to call a truce, we wish he could just give up the game with no consequences.

DiCaprio does a fantastic job as Frank, giving us just the right combination of sweetheart and wise guy. It’s come to the point at which it seems silly to even entertain the suggestion that Tom Hanks could be lousy in a movie. His performance, complete with a heavy New York accent, certainly measures up to DiCaprio’s. While Hanratty is a bit harsher than most of the characters we are used to seeing Hanks play – as demonstrated in an amusing scene that may have been what earned the film its PG-13 rating – he is really a decent guy, and it becomes evident that as aggravated as he is by the fact that Frank keeps slipping through his fingers, he has come to care about the teenager.

Walken turns in a rather haunting performance as Frank Sr. We get the sense that his son is succeeding where his father failed. His father is proud and perhaps a bit jealous as well, and he doesn’t see surrender as a viable option. His son has the Feds on the run; that should be enough to make him happy. Amy Adams turns in a sweet performance as insecure Brenda Strong, a candy-striper to whom Frank becomes very attached during his tenure as a doctor. When she brings him home to meet her parents, he has to reckon with her father (Martin Sheen), who seems intimidating at first but turns out to be a big softie. I really enjoyed his scenes with this family and, as a Lutheran, found their devotion to that denomination charming.

There’s something vaguely campy about the style of this movie. It’s a drama, but it has almost equal parts comedy. As Frank runs the gamut of impersonations – substitute teacher, airline pilot, doctor, lawyer – he relies as much on his charisma as his impressive check-forging skills. There are many scenes demonstrating his remarkable quick thinking, and these are generally the most riotous in the film. His first encounter with Hanratty is especially hilarious.

Catch Me If You Can is a fun movie with a largely happy ending. Like The Terminal, it’s light-hearted enough that it probably won’t go down as a milestone in the careers of its main participants. But it’s an enjoyable couple of hours with little objectionable content, and it was what convinced me that DiCaprio’s career is far from over. Catch yourself watching Catch Me If You Can.