The melding of two novels by John Steinbeck, "Cannery Row" and "Sweet Thursday" into one long, boring movie starring Nick Nolte as Doc and Debra Winger as Suzy. Plot follows her arrival in Monterrey and moving in Cannery Row where she becomes a hooker and he lives and collects sea specimens.
The original Stenbeck novel took place during the Great Depression while its sequel picked up after World War II. This film jumbles it all together into one unsaid time frame.
Nolte and Winger bring nothing to their roles and seem to just walk thru the film, with a few outrightly embarrassing moments such as their attempts to dance to "In the Mood" and the scene where she has moved into an industrial boiler.
Also terrible are Sunshine Parker as the Seer and Frank McRae as Hazel, a character clearly borrowed from Steinbeck's own "Of Mice and Men." Neither one of these guys can act. Almost all of the supporting players and extras goon and ham their ways thru their various scenes. They act like cartoon characters.
The saving graces of the film are thee supporting players. Audra Lindley is very good as the Fauna the whore house operator, M. Emmet Walsh is good as Mack, and Judy Kerr is fine as the waitress in the beer milkshake scene.
While there are some terrific ocean shots along the Monterey peninsula that burst with sun and wind, the rest of the movie is a stagnant mess of lifeless movie sets that depict Cannery Row as a dead zone free of sun and wind. You can almost hear the echoes when the actors speak in the cavernous set.
The film is so episodic and disjointed that it requires a droning narration from John Huston to help link the scenes. Then there's the boring "dixeland" style music of Jack Nitzsche that seems to go on forever. The film is a total misfire. With a budget between of about $12M, the filmed grossed around $5M at the box office.
Raquel Welch was original cast as Suzy.
The original Stenbeck novel took place during the Great Depression while its sequel picked up after World War II. This film jumbles it all together into one unsaid time frame.
Nolte and Winger bring nothing to their roles and seem to just walk thru the film, with a few outrightly embarrassing moments such as their attempts to dance to "In the Mood" and the scene where she has moved into an industrial boiler.
Also terrible are Sunshine Parker as the Seer and Frank McRae as Hazel, a character clearly borrowed from Steinbeck's own "Of Mice and Men." Neither one of these guys can act. Almost all of the supporting players and extras goon and ham their ways thru their various scenes. They act like cartoon characters.
The saving graces of the film are thee supporting players. Audra Lindley is very good as the Fauna the whore house operator, M. Emmet Walsh is good as Mack, and Judy Kerr is fine as the waitress in the beer milkshake scene.
While there are some terrific ocean shots along the Monterey peninsula that burst with sun and wind, the rest of the movie is a stagnant mess of lifeless movie sets that depict Cannery Row as a dead zone free of sun and wind. You can almost hear the echoes when the actors speak in the cavernous set.
The film is so episodic and disjointed that it requires a droning narration from John Huston to help link the scenes. Then there's the boring "dixeland" style music of Jack Nitzsche that seems to go on forever. The film is a total misfire. With a budget between of about $12M, the filmed grossed around $5M at the box office.
Raquel Welch was original cast as Suzy.