Raúl Juliá could make theatrical flair feel warm rather than overbearing. We value that expansiveness, but his sober, absorbing work in Presumed Innocent is the better guide to how carefully he judged a scene.
Fi1m perspective
Raúl Juliá makes the courtroom passages of Presumed Innocent (1990) worth settling into. As Sandy Stern, he brings energy to a film whose careful pace can become oppressive, without breaking its sober tone. We felt relieved by his presence there, because he made the case absorbing when Harrison Ford's tightly controlled unhappiness was becoming exhausting. We rate him for this judgement: he knows how much he can bring to a scene without making everyone else seem to be in the wrong film.
The theatrical flair has a clear grounding in his stage work with Joseph Papp, which included Shakespeare and musicals. Wider film recognition came with Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), and the lead in Romero (1989) made further use of his dramatic conviction. With Gomez Addams in The Addams Family (1991), opposite Anjelica Huston's Morticia, warmth and expressive physicality became the means of making comedy. The comedy benefits from the affection he brings to it; without that warmth, the theatrical flourishes would matter rather less.
Alan J. Pakula's Presumed Innocent gives his supporting players enough space to matter. Alongside Bonnie Bedelia as Barbara Sabich, Juliá draws attention away from Ford and gives us reasons to follow the case beyond its accused prosecutor. These performances do not cure the film's oppressive solemnity, but they prevent Ford's unhappiness from becoming our sole concern. Juliá makes the courtroom's measured pace feel necessary to understanding the case. He does not need the film to speed up in order to give it energy.
His presence is not a guarantee that the material will be worth it: the later work includes the uneven action film Street Fighter (1994). We would not make enthusiasm for his acting an excuse for the material around it. If Gomez is the only Juliá performance that comes readily to mind, start with Presumed Innocent, where the pleasure is watching him give a sober film just the lift it needs.
Biography
Raúl Juliá was a Puerto Rican actor. He was born in San Juan on 9 March 1940 and died in Manhasset, New York, on 24 October 1994.
Juliá began his career in Puerto Rican theatre before moving to New York, where he performed with the New York Shakespeare Festival under Joseph Papp. He received Tony Award nominations for roles in Two Gentlemen of Verona, Where's Charley?, The Threepenny Opera and Nine.
On screen he appeared in The Panic in Needle Park (1971), Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), Presumed Innocent (1990) as Sandy Stern, The Addams Family (1991) and Addams Family Values (1993) as Gomez Addams, and Street Fighter (1994). He received Golden Globe nominations for Tempest (1982) and Kiss of the Spider Woman.
