Wrestling Ernest Hemingway

This is a great movie, and the critic's plot summary doesn't come close to helping you decide whether or not to watch it. It's NOT a tear jerker either. With this cast you're obviously not watching any rookies or male actors lost in their macho. Every character in this movie is played superbly, and becomes so real, that you can't help but feel like you are right in the middle of a slice of life in a little town on the coast of Florida.

Robert Duval (Walter) is a retired Cuban gentleman, Richard Harris (Frank) is a lonely, crusty retired sailor. Each lives alone, without any family around. They meet in the park at Franks' unwelcome prompting, and with some real reluctance on Walter's part. Shirley McClaine (Coonie) is the divorced motel landlord where Frank lives, and they go toe to toe over one issue after another, occasionally over a little Irish whiskey, including whether or not she'll let Frank get his hands on her. Sandra Bullock (Elaine) is Walter's favorite waitress at the Sweetwater Cafe, and they exchange fond jabs each time he comes around. Piper Lorie is a self respecting single lady, on whom Frank clumsily works his flawed romanatic magic in their town's only movie house.

At the center of this light drama is the unlikely and rocky friendship developing between Frank and Walter. With the backdrop of a laid back little coastal town, and moving to wonderful cuban music and rhythms, each one of the characters and relationships unfolds a little at a time, and begin to cross over one another. Just as you get to know people in your life a little at a time, these folks become more and more themselves as the story unfolds.

The timing, setting, filming, music, and subtleties of the characters and the script work beautifully so that you fall right into it all.

The ending is tender, wistful, and the characters just seem to go their own way. This is like that book you read, where halfway through you started dreading the last few pages.

In life, one of the simple pleasures for me is getting a haircut, closing your eyes and feeling someone's massaging fingers on your scalp, snipping your wet hair, in the caring hands of an old pro. I came to this fifteen minutes in -- I hope I didn't miss anything crucial -- but in a way, the movies we watch having missed a portion are always more interesting. This is a just a small, easy slice-of-life drama -- a perfect example of a "good little movie," the kind to watch on a Sunday afternoon with someone you love. An actor who never stops taking chances and a master of understatement, Robert Duvall slides into his role of a humble, honorable, respecting Cuban so perfectly here and he's complemented by excellent work from Richard Harris, as the well-meaning but coarse drunken loudmouth ex-sailor in the park he befriends out of a need to simply not be alone anymore. Because of their mastery, we grow so attached to these fully-formed characters that it honestly hurts to leave.

The film is exceptionally well-paced, and written with fresh dialogue and immensely touching observances. There's a scene where Duvall learns his favorite waitress is moving away (Sandra Bullock, with appropriate charm), and the expression on his face and hesitance in his speech rips your heart clean out. Then there's the buried disappoint on his face when he sees her reaction to the farewell gift of vodka suggested by Harris. Where Duvall has his junior league baseball games and poignant dancing in his apartment (alone), Harris gets positively hostile towards a woman (Piper Laurie) in a movie theater (where he works, thanks to a spiffy haircut by Duvall) and Shirley MacLaine, also in his housing complex. The plot is thin but in the meandering vignettes there are superb moments, like Harris accosting Duvall in the street about his fantasy of dancing (whether it comes true, you'll have to watch), or later, Duvall insisting that Harris be a well-dressed gentleman at all times. The sentimental score and old time Cuban music enhance the movie; it's quiet and wonderful -- the years may fly by, but the summer days are nice and slow. 9/10

The teaming of Robert Duvall and Richard Harris sounded promising even before this film opened, and neither disappoint in this tale of a couple of elderly oddballs having one last fling. Walter (Duvall) is a shy man, who has never danced with a woman, and whose only friend is a young waitress (Sandra Bullock) for whom he has developed a quaint affection. Frank (Harris) is a boaster, who claims to have wrestled with Hemingway – hence the film's title – who antagonises his landlady (Shirley MacLaine) and his lady friend (Piper Laurie); his family largely ignore him.

The beauty of this film, written by twenty-one year old Steve Conrad and directed by Randa Haines, is that it gives you both a belief in the characters, and a genuine interest in what will happen to them. As Walter and Frank, misfits both, become friends, we cheer them on and are concerned for them at the same time. There can't be a happy ending for both of them (and there isn't), but this movie really is a celebration of age and what can be achieved beyond the prime of life. Bullock, Laurie and MacLaine are fine in small, less showy role, but this movie belongs squarely to Duvall and Harris.

The lack of attention this film received is an embarrassment. This is a fantastic film. Simple, elegant and true. Beautifully rendered from all points. In a just world, Duvall and Harris would have shared the Oscar. No other actors that year came anywhere near what these two accomplished. The fact that neither was even nominated is truly shameful.

If you were to ask me what it's about, I guess I'd say that it's about life, death, and rebirth, and all the human stuff that goes with that. Oh yeah, and joy. About how joy can seem like a distant, unreachable memory, when really it can be as close as the next park bench over--if only we have the courage.

If you want to experience a quiet little movie that will move you and reverberate in your memory long after, then seek this one out.

If you are a Duvall nut, as I shall forever be, you must rush out and rent this immediately. I spent last night cuddled up with my husband sobbing quietly at this rich and beautifully told story of a shy Cuban barber and a salty sea captain thrown together in retirement hell. They make, needless to say, a momentary paradise out of their touching and sly friendship. Some of the best ensemble acting you will ever witness. Go...now!