Screen Sherlocks

For most of my life, Sherlock Holmes has been one of my favorite literary characters.  (It was only in the last few years, with so many apartment moves happening, that I finally downsized to only one complete Sherlock Holmes book set.)  Recent years have been good to Sherlock fans with the launch of two very good TV series: the BBC Sherlock and the American Elementary.  I caught up with Sherlock quickly (because British TV seasons are about 6 minutes long) and then turned last week to the first disk (4 episodes, I think) of Elementary.

Although there are many ways to celebrate S, the best letter of the alphabet, I thought a commentary on some of the screen Sherlocks I have known and, in some cases, loved, would be a fun project.

First, can you name the movie/TV show and/or actor that fit the following descriptors (based purely on my own characterization of their personality)?

The Asperger Dreamboat Sherlock

The Edgy Brawler Sherlock 

The Intense Wry Sherlock

The Quirky Damaged Sherlock

The Sarcastic Misanthrope Sherlock

The Straightforward Hero Sherlock

Answers, and my comments, follow the adorable Snoopy Great Detective image.

You can buy this figurine at Amazon; I own a Christmas tree ornament version. Of course.

The Straightforward Hero Sherlock
Actor:  Basil Rathbone
Movies:  14 films between 1939 and 1946
 

Check out that elegant silk neck scarf.  Classy, Sherlock!

It has been a very, very long time since I've seen any of these films, and at this point I only remember The Hound of the Baskervilles, and one that takes place on a train, and one about a Nazi agent that may or may not be the same movie as the one on the train--that should tell you just how solid my memory for these movies are.  But I do remember that Basil Rathbone's Sherlock is a (surprisingly) urbane, respectable, professional guy who occasionally veers into the territory of almost affable (though he pulls back from this brink quickly enough).  He's an extremely smart person, of course, and this is made all the more clear because his best friend Watson, the police detective Lestrade, and every other person is a complete fucking idiot.  But Sherlock always saves the day!

Basil Rathbone is probably the iconic Sherlock Holmes for the oldest generations.

The Edgy Brawler Sherlock
Actor: Robert Downey, Jr.
Movies: Sherlock Holmes (2009) and Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011)

Complete with artful scrapes on his face.  And Lennon glasses, before Lennon.

Sure, I'm a sucker for an occult mystery and for Jude Law categorically, but I thought Robert Downey, Jr. made an interesting Sherlock in these films--scruffy, physical, a little more rough and gritty and dark in general than we're used to seeing Sherlock Holmes. 

The Sarcastic Misanthrope Sherlock
Actor: Hugh Laurie
TV Show: House, M. D.

A man reduced to pure genius, a love of monster trucks, and startling blue eyes.

What's that you say?  House is not Holmes?  BAH.  House is about as good a Holmes as we have seen in the last 20 years, and having him working as a medical detective is a fitting nod to Arthur Conan Doyle's real-life inspiration for Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Joseph Bell.  Really, by giving House all of Holmes' observational genius, prodigious memory, rudeness, eccentricity, grandstanding, and drug abuse as well as Watson's professional knowledge and physical injury, there's very little for his sidekick Dr. Watson Wilson to offer other than an ignored moral compass and a partner for banter (which is enough).

Also, anyone can see that Robert Downey, Jr.'s Holmes and Laurie's House are practically the exact same person.

The Asperger Dreamboat Sherlock
Actor: Bandersnatch Cummerbund Benedict Cumberbatch
TV Show:  Sherlock

"No, I can't go to prom with you, I am working on an experiment."

Let's get real for a moment.  Sherlock's grasp of psychology could use a bit of help here.  He's most definitely NOT a "high-functioning sociopath," no matter how much he may wish that to be true or how much he may identify with this distinctly non-kosher diagnosis (and note: there is no difference between sociopath and psychopath, the term Sherlock was reacting against).  Cumberbatch's Sherlock has a socially awkward Asperger-y quality that's a bit all over the map--he sometimes doesn't seem to care how people will respond to him, at others he simply mis-gauges the response, and occasionally he has to check in with Watson to find out whether his behavior was "no good?".

I found this difficult to take, at first, because it's not how I see "Sherlock Holmes."  (House's tendency to be the most egregious asshole he possibly can in most situations felt more in keeping with the Sherlock way--it demonstrates that he knows exactly what buttons to push and thus displays his superior intellect.  Also, being a total asshole to everyone you work with, including your girlfriend you work FOR, and yet not getting fired is a great way to underline that you're an irreplaceable genius.)  I had to walk away from the series after the second episode, but when I came back, I found I could accept it.  It helps to have British everyman Martin Freeman as Dr. Watson, playing the role with his usual quiet brilliance--sure, he "humanizes" Holmes and all that, but more importantly for me, he sells Cumberbatch as Holmes.  It helps that the 50 British actor (whom I've most recently seen playing a stick-up-his-ass banker of Braavos on Game of Thrones) who plays Mycroft is excellent in the role.

And OK, it helps that Cumberbatch is easy on the eyes.  And I do mean easy.  No predatory Robert Downey Jr./Hugh Laurie Glares of Doom looks going on here.  (I think he looks a little empty--maybe he's trying to do a more-robotic-than-thou thing?)  You could really be tempted to run your fingers through those curls.  He seriously wouldn't like it, but he probably wouldn't kill you if you tried it--he'd just insult you.  This makes him almost a nice guy by Sherlock standards.

The Quirky Damaged Sherlock
Actor: Jonny Lee Miller [who Robert says is "actually British despite sounding like a guy from Kentucky"]
TV Show: Elementary

"As if."

I had zero resistance to the idea of Dr. Watson being a woman (especially a woman as awesome as Lucy Liu).  Actually, I loved the idea, though I wondered why a woman would hang around Sherlock long enough to develop any affection or loyalty to him whatsoever.  Let me amend that: how would any person hang around Sherlock long enough to do that?  The explanation offered in The Young Sherlock Holmes rings true to me: Watson and Holmes met and became friends in a British boarding school, where I'm willing to believe almost anything can happen.  But they handled this very well on Elementary by introducing Joan Watson as the "sober companion" hired by Sherlock's father to watch him and keep him away from drugs after Sherlock's stint in rehab.  (On preview, I had to amend that sentence to say "watch him" instead of "match him"--she does match him in a way, but that wasn't what she was hired to do.)  She hangs around him because it's her job.  OK.

So, this is the tamest Sherlock yet.  Yeah, he's got his issues, and he's a pain in the ass, and he likes kinky sex with hookers, and he's definitely a druggie, and he's got this whole tattoos/graphic Ts/suit vests look going on that's sorta weird, but yes, he's kind of a pussycat really.  He's apologizing to Joan Watson in like episode 1.  Whoa.

The strangest thing for me about this series is how they've done away with one of the critical characters in the Sherlock stories.  I don't mean Mrs. Hudson, I don't mean Mycroft, I don't mean Irene Adler, I don't mean Moriarty.  I'm talking about the city of London.  It's disconcerting to see Sherlock making his way in NYC.  (Hah, I'm totally laughing at the idea now of Holmes and Watson showing up to help Kate Beckett and Castle solve a murder.  Too bad the shows are on competing networks...although actually, of course they are.)

I've only just started watching it, but I like it fine so far.  It feels like any other good-quality American police procedural/mystery with a buddy aspect, only with a Sherlockian detective who is actually named Sherlock.

The Intense Wry Sherlock
Actor: Jeremy Brett
TV Show:  Sherlock Holmes (1984-1994)

In the spirit of saving the best for last, I offer you the definitive screen Sherlock: Jeremy Brett.

100% Sherlock Holmes. Guaranteed.

Jeremy Brett brought everything to the role--his Sherlock is sharp, dangerous, tormented, occasionally vulnerable, impatient, patient, cold, impassioned, brilliant, sometimes ludicrous, and most of all, wry--wry in every sense of the word.  Sardonic, vexed, devious, perverse, ironically amusing and ironically amused.  I love that there is an unpredictability and volatility in him.

I watched a few episodes of the show within the last couple years and I was blown away once again by how thoroughly Jeremy Brett is Sherlock Holmes.  (I was also interested to see a very young Jude Law in a minor role in a 1990 episode.)

Also, maybe Benedict Cumberbatch will be this attractive--with an amazing and interesting face--when he grows up.  After all, Jeremy Brett was an astonishingly pretty face when he was young.  He played Audrey Hepburn's love interest in My Fair Lady, of all things!

Jeremy Brett's Sherlock Holmes is the Sherlock to beat, and I really doubt that's going to happen in my lifetime, if ever.

That said, thankfully there need not be only one Sherlock Holmes.  I'm hopeful for many, many more versions and variants to come.  So that I can enjoy them and ultimately declare them inferior to Jeremy Brett.  It's a thing I do.

Do you have a favorite Sherlock Holmes?  (Saying "the Sherlock Holmes in the books" is cheating, but I can accept that if it's true.) 

A to Z Blogging Challenge Day 19: S is for Screen Sherlocks