Product Description

Adaptation of John Steinbeck's novels "Cannery Row" and Sweet Thursday". A marine biologist romances a prostitute.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5079 in DVD
• Brand: Warner Brothers
• Released on: 2009-01-27
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Color, DVD, Original recording remastered, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 120 minutes

Features

• Adaptation of John Steinbeck's novels "Cannery Row" and Sweet Thursday". A marine biologist romances a prostitute. Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: NR Age: 883929043514 UPC: 883929043514 Manufacturer No: 1000044117

Amazon.com
Director-writer David S. Ward’s 1982 adaptation of John Steinbeck’s Cannery Row (with material from another Steinbeck tale, Sweet Thursday) has its charms, principally some top-drawer talent on both sides of the camera; the cast is headed by Nick Nolte and Debra Winger, Jack Nitzsche composed the music, and John Huston supplies the voice-over. In a previous life, Nolte’s Doc was known as Eddie "The Blur" Daniels, a star baseball pitcher in the 1920s who mysteriously gave up the game while still in his prime; now he’s a self-styled marine biologist with a predilection for octopi who makes his home on "The Row," a string of sardine fisheries in Monterey, California. There are a variety of colorful characters in this rundown ‘hood--a worldly-wise madam (Audra Lindley) and her charges, a bum (M. Emmet Walsh) and his buddies--but although it takes him a while to admit it, Doc only has eyes for Suzy (Winger), a newcomer to the scene who, by her own estimation, "ain’t got the class of a duck." The film relies mostly on these oddballs and their various idiosyncrasies and adventures, and Steinbeck clearly has considerable affection for them; it’s no surprise that some, including Doc, were based on real folks. But while Nolte and Winger have a certain squabbling rapport, the movie too often comes off as stagey (the dialogue), artificial (the sets), and glib. In the final analysis, Cannery Row isn’t John Steinbeck’s greatest book (at the very least, it lacks the heft of East of Eden or The Grapes of Wrath), and this effort, despite its good points, will hardly be considered the best adaption of the author’s work to the screen or the stage. --Sam Graham

Customer Reviews

HS students beware!
First of all...to all High School students out there who are required to read Steinbeck's book "Cannery Row" ...if you try to get by with just watching this movie and writing your report your grade will suffer! Oh, it has nothing to do with the quality of the film...I'll get to that later, it's just that this film is a blending of two of Steinbeck's books, "Cannery Row" and "Sweet Thursday." Both of those stories are set along Cannery Row in Pacific Grove/Monterey, CA, and have many of the same characters in them, but unless you already know the stories you may well include material from "Sweet Thursday" in your report on "Cannery Row," and...OOPS...there goes the old grade! So, beware! Now...on with the review...

Nolte plays "Doc" the main character in the story. His character is based on a real life person, a marine scientist named Ed Ricketts who lived and worked along Cannery Row (which was certainly not the tourist attraction in the 1930s-40s that it is today). You can, by the way, still see the building where Doc Ricketts worked if you visit Pacific Grove...it's just down the road from the Monterey Bay Aquarium. OK, OK, enough history, back to the movie...

Nolte does a great job of playing the out of the way, but not really down and out "Doc." Things are going along smoothly until Winger hits the scene, then there's romance in the air, though it doesn't land until much later.

I suppose you could call this movie a romantic comedy, or you could call it a romance, or you could call it drama, or you could call it real life -- Steinbeck was like that -- he was into real life.

This is, I agree, an underrated film. It's true that there are slower parts, and if you don't like narration in films then you won't like this one much. If you're looking for a barn-burner action thriller this is NOT the film for you. But if you are looking for interesting character and plot development you will enjoy this film.

Nolte and Winger have good on-screen chemistry, and you will enjoy being the mouse in the corner are you observe their developing relationship.

5 stars for the thoughtful crowd.

Alan Holyoak

Steinbeck and Egregious Contrivances? Get a rope.
It's clear that the majority of viewers who've watched this movie disagree with the reviewer so disappointed by it's pacing and verisimilitude. I'm curious why anyone capable of scattering terms such as 'egregious contrivances' in their review of a light romantic comedy was assigned to anything based on Steinbeck's work in the first place. A populist romantic comedy is one film category where it may be wiser to trust the opinion of the viewers who're raving about it over the sneering technical quibbles of a critic armed with a thesaurus. Populist film based on populist fiction simply may not be the best assignment for any reviewer clearly unable to climb off what must be a most uncomfortable corncob. For ordinary folks not frightened by references to egregious contrivances and verisimilitude, other viewers who've seen Cannery Row unite in recommending the movie for it's performances by Nolte and Winger. M. Emmet Walsh outdoes himself as Mack, nearly as good a performance as his masterpiece in 'Blood Simple'. Cannery Row and Sweet Thursday were among the sweetist and funniest books that Steinbeck produced. Perhaps all the humor that the rest of us enjoyed in the film combining the novels was difficult to enjoy while perched atop that unfortunate cob. For Steinbeck fans, or fans of romantic comedy, this film won't disappoint. We join together in urging anyone suffering from egregious contrivance phobia to seek immediate help at the nearest competent proctologist.

Love This Movie!
Looking for an exact replication of Steinbeck's reads on film? Keep looking. Want an entertaining adaptation of those same reads? Look no further. This is another film I never tire of seeing time and again. REALEASE IT ON DVD ALREADY!