Rue de la sardine

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!!

This is one of my favorite "feel-good" films. Its laid-back pace flows as a Steinbeck novel reads. This tone was set at the get-go by John Huston's narration. Most narrations seem to be used mainly as a means of filling in plot holes left by a lousy script, and end up being a distraction. Huston's enhances the film. Makes you feel like you have the book in front of you. One of those films I could watch again and again.

a Steinbeck adaptation. and little more. because the atmosphere, the acting, the voice of John Huston, the details, the precise adaptation and the images and music are good pillars for a pure delight. a classic who preserves its special charm and delicate manner to give force to each character. one of most impressive roles of Nick Nolte and beautiful science to translate flavor of text lines not only in images but in a sort of touching metaphors. a magic film and this fact gives to it extraordinary nuances not only as frame of a picture from South or illustration for a great American writer work spirit but for a mirror-film who gives more than status than reader who becomes viewer to its public. a special contribution has Audra Lindley in this memorable embroidery of emotions and Steinbeck credo.

MGM was in a slump in 1982, and nobody knew how to market this episodic, whimsical adaptation of two plot-light John Steinbeck novels. So a lot of people were deprived of a life-affirming, atmospheric wartime romance that preserves the democratic, people-loving tone of the Steinbeck originals. Shot partly on an elaborate sound stage and partly on or near Monterey seaside locations, it's a leisurely collection of likable losers and near-losers inhabiting the titular sardine- canning center that's seen better days. Nick Nolte as Doc, a marine biologist with a not-too-secret past, is perfection, as is Debra Winger as Suzy, a combative but yearning drifter--the movie captures the character's mercurial, changeable nature far better than Rodgers and Hammerstein did in their own adaptation, "Pipe Dream." We'd like to see more of the gang, and don't really get to know Mac (M. Emmett Walsh) and his cohorts very well. But Frank McRae's a wonderful Hazel, and John Huston's narration, much of it verbatim Steinbeck, ties things together neatly. A bit slow, and a bit fanciful, it's nonetheless a wonderful date movie, best experienced with a good California wine.

There were a few newspapers, here and there, that named CANNERY ROW as one of the Best of the Year, and they were the few that truly appreciated what is one of the finest capturing of Steinbeck ever on the screen. The film unites a couple of Steinbeck works that also became the book for Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Pipe Dream". Unfortunately, Steinbeck goes in and out of favor, and, at the moment, he is not lionized. But CANNERY ROW is a total delight -- replete with an extraordinary capture of the Steinbeck dialogue, a magnificent mise en scene of coastal California, a delicious group of characters captured to perfection, exquisite photography, and a soundtrack that united Bach with a melodic and playful score that deserved soundtrack status. Everything works... the humor is handled with a touch of wonderful madness by Nick Nolte, Debra Winger, and a gleeful bunch of farceurs playing giddy prostitutes and aging drop-outs who live along the desolate Cannary Row. Classic moments include the jitterbug between Nolte and Winger that temporarily interrupts their insults; the infamous frog hunt; Doc's special treat at the diner.... This David Ward film should be elevated to a classic status. It must be rediscovered so that audiences can delight in it for ages to come. See it..... Relax... Enjoy....and listen to the narration of John Huston - another element that is right on the mark !!!