Cannery Row (1982)
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Cannery Row
Overview
Monterey, California in the 1940's. Cannery Row - the section of town where the now closed fish canneries are located - is inhabited primarily by the down and out, although many would not move away even if they could. Probably the most upstanding citizen in the area is Doc, a marine biologist who earns a living primarily by collecting and selling marine specimens for research. He is a lost soul who is looking for his place in life. He is running away from his past, one where he is trying to make amends for what he considers a past wrong. But his current life isn't totally satisfying either. He believes that his recent collection of eight baby octopi will help him define that future in conducting research on their behavior. However, he is finding that research is not as easy as he had hoped, and that he is still feeling restless. Into the area comes drifter Suzy DeSoto. She too is a lost soul. With few job skills, she gets a job as what she calls a floozy in the local whorehouse, despite her openly headstrong demeanor not making her well suited to the work. Doc and Suzy are immediately attracted to each other, but theirs is a clash of personalities, despite each truly liking the other. The other residents of Cannery Row do their part for a Doc/Suzy coupling, not always with successful results. Doc and Suzy will first have to find their own lot in life before they can commit to someone else, be it the other or anyone else.
Trailer
Cannery Row Film Details
Overview: Monterey, California in the 1940’s. Cannery Row – the section of town where the now closed fish canneries are located – is inhabited primarily by the down and out, although many would not move away even if they could. Probably the mo
Tagline: You don’t have to be crazy to live here…but it helps.
Review: 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.
Country: United States
Language: English
Duration: 120 min
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Also known as: John Steinbeck’s Cannery Row,Hyvien ihmisten juhla,Консервный ряд,Cannery Row,Ulica Nadbrzeżna,Rue de la sardine,Die Straße der Ölsardinen,Paixões sem Destino,Torstai on toivoa täynnä,Et mægtigt gilde,Улица *Консервна*,A kék öböl,Destinos sin rumbo,Bairro da Lata,Esquecendo o Passado