Cannery Row (1982)

Sick Product of a Sick System

Expected more

Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

This film is not for everyone. It is a romance between two characters (played by Nick Nolte and Debra Winger) who seem to be without purpose, living in the Cannery Row district of Monterey, California. Every person in the neighborhood has a kind heart and everyone wants love to bloom between the two star-crossed misfits.Adapted from the works of John Steinbeck, "Cannery Row" uses sets and a crew of characters that feel, somewhat, like inventions of the Muppet factory. Doc and Suzy--the lovers--are definitely the focus of the film and they are played well by Nolte and Winger, but still they feel like caricatures. Everything is just a little too cute. As in a fairytale, we know the outcome and its sugar-coated circumstances before we see it on screen.As I said, the acting is fine. It's the story that will not square with all viewers.

Could this be the most underrated film of all time? I have seen lukewarm responses by critics that remind me of the limited usefulness of critics. I loved this film 30 years ago and watching it again today I see that it is timeless. If you ever feel despairing of life watch this film and see how a crew of lovable misfits can enjoy life and one another. Ebert didn't see it as a realistic portrayal of drunks. He didn't hate the film but didn't love it the way you'd think he would. But he didn't love Silence of the Lambs either. Look, even Michael Jordan missed shots, like half of them.I have known drunks, well pot-heads actually, old washed up ones from the sixties. And they could go about life with humor and disheveled dignity just like the characters in this film. Sometimes artists bring out the dignity that people don't even know they have. That's what Steinbeck did and this wonderful film is a dutiful tribute to him. A classic film. And let us not fail to mention the one of a kind narration by John Huston.

I was at first a little surprised that this film had received such middling reviews and was not a box-office success. I had loved it when I first saw it in the 80s on some pay TV channel and thought that Nolte and Winger were a terrific couple. (My discovery that Rachel Welch was originally cast in Winger's role was completely unfathomable.) After seeing the film I read the Steinbeck novels on which it was based: Cannery Row and the sequel Sweet Thursday. I also loved the novels and thought that the film was generally faithful to them.But I soon realized that I was a lover of sentimental films, and that this was a sentimental film. Skid rows are not full of the lovable and eccentric characters that inhabit Cannery Row. But if you are also a lover of sentimental films, and especially if you are a fan of one of the stars, by all means see the film. You may be enormously pleased.

Even after 23 years I still have the newspaper ad for this movie on my bulletin board. "You don't have to be crazy to live here, but it helps." I love this movie. Of course, it pairs my two favorites, Nick Nolte and Debra Winger. It has the feel of an old time movie, or surreal, as another person commented. The characters are wacky and lovable and the dance scene and the frog hunt are unforgettable. The narration by John Huston is perfect.Watching Cannery Row is a relaxing, enjoyable way to spend an evening. And I have used Doc's speech to Hazel at least twice -the one about paying for breaking something.I don't think it is meant to be the retelling of Steinbeck's novel. I read both Cannery Row and Sweet Thursday ....and preferred the movie!!