Sometimes a Great Notion (1971)

Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

Sadly Over-hyped

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

This film was directed by Paul Newman and he's also one of the stars of "Sometimes a Great Notion". It sure helped him that he had such good support from the likes of Henry Fonda, Michael Sarrazin, Richard Jaeckel and Lee Remick.The film is about a very bull-headed family whose logging business is on the edge of bankruptcy. The family patriarch (Fonda) refuses to budge with the unions and it's hard to fulfill his contracts with so few workers. So, it's up to his family to bust their butts to get the job done. All during which the entire town has grown to hate them--they're out of work and resent the family. Eventually, tragedy strikes and in the end the family is destroyed---and yet, the sons seem unwilling to admit defeat.All in all, this is a very depressing film. Yes, the acting is nice, but the film is a big downer--and I am pretty sure the average viewer will be rather depressed by the film. Not a feel-good film, that's for sure. Also, the family isn't particularly likable. As a result, the final product, as one other reviewer put it, is rather lackluster. Not a bad film but not an especially memorable one either.By the way, this film is NOT for the squeamish. The film features one of the more harrowing scenes I've ever seen in a movie and if you see this one, you'll know what I mean.

Ken Kesey 's second novel, published in 1964, after writing One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest in 1962. When the publication of his second novel, Sometimes a Great Notion in 1964 required his presence in New York, Kesey, Neal Cassady, and others in a group of friends they called the "Merry Pranksters" took a cross-country trip in a school bus nicknamed "Furthur".[9] This trip, described in Tom Wolfe's The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (and later in Kesey's own screenplay "The Further Inquiry") was the group's attempt to create art out of everyday life. After the bus trip, the Pranksters threw parties they called Acid Tests around the San Francisco area from 1965-1966. Many of the Pranksters lived at Kesey's residence in La Honda. In New York, Cassady introduced Kesey to Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg, who then turned them on to Timothy Leary. Sometimes a Great Notion was made into a 1971 film starring and directed by Paul Newman; it was nominated for two Academy Awards, and in 1972 was the first film shown by the new television network HBO, in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. "The answer is never the answer. What's really interesting is the mystery. If you seek the mystery instead of the answer, you'll always be seeking. I've never seen anybody really find the answer-- they think they have, so they stop thinking. But the job is to seek mystery, evoke mystery, plant a garden in which strange plants grow and mysteries bloom. The need for mystery is greater than the need for an answer."-- Ken Kesey

The death scene involving the characters of Mr. Newman and Mr. Jaeckel was as moving and emotional as i have seen in 70 years of watching films. Others have stated that this film fails to live up to the novel by Ken Kesey. On its own merit this reviewer takes under consideration the fine ensemble acting and the rich photography to make this film memorable. Lee Remick, because of her talent, always turns in a believable performance. This movie is being featured on some movie channels this weekend, so i strongly recommend it to viewers. Its important to note the direction of Paul Newman. This is one his earliest directorial efforts.

I saw this seventies movie for the first time last night. It must be one of the greats. The story line from Kesey's book, and the direction by Paul Newman are so closely woven and with such impact that there are times when one is left emotionally bare. There's not a fault in the casting,and the background of logging is nicely interwoven into the action bringing up surprise after surprise. The only flaw might be the glamorization of Lee Remick - I doubt that her character would show such a degree of grooming and cosmetic sophistication, but, as ever, Ms. Remick gives a performance that is impeccable. If awards were ever to come PaulNewman's way for direction and/or acting surely they should for this masterpiece.