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A wonderful character driven film, brilliantly crafted by a gifted director and some of the best acting ever put on film. Robert Duvall inhabits his retired-barber character to the point of being unable to picture him as anyone else, let alone the hard-ass Vietnam Colonel Kilgore who "loves the smell of napalm in the morning". The first time I watched this movie (and trust me, it's worth watching again and again) I completely forgot the actor and was watching the life of this Cuban transplant unfold. And please, oh please, let Richard Harris find another role within which to shine as he did this one. He may be a prolific actor, but I hate to see his talent wasted in such "blockbusters" as Gladiator and Harry Potter.... His face, his eyes... you feel the distance and sorrow his character feels without his uttering a word. Brilliant. I'm constantly amazed when I mention this film that NOBODY seems to have seen it! One of my top ten favorite films of all time.

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.

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.

This movie isn't for everyone. There is little action, no sex, nudity, or violence, no voluptuous bodies, no chase scenes (the fastest anyone goes is on a tandem bicycle), no glitzy special effects. There are very few characters at all; nearly all dialogue comes from the five top billings, and most from the two central characters: the old men played by Duvall and Harris.

Yet it is one of the most engaging and thoughtful films I've seen in a long time. It deals with aging in a realistic way that isn't morose or gruesome, but instead pulls you into the movie as if you're one of the cast who just doesn't happen to have any lines. You are "there" for the entire two hours and you don't want to leave. You quickly care about these people as if they're your own family members, and you move through the movie with them.

Neither do you want to miss a line. The acting is superb all the way around. Duvall's performance is incredible. I didn't come to IMDb today to write a review; I came to see if Duvall won an academy award nomination for his performance. I'm disappointed that this film appears to have won no awards at all. This is probably more a result of the film's poor box office showing than the quality of the movie (it only grossed $231,700, not enough to even pay the crew, let alone the cast). It's a shame that quality films such as this can't draw enough of an audience to be successful, or to even attract enough attention from Academy members for them to even see it and vote on it.

If you didn't know that Duvall was in this film, it might take you awhile to even realize it's him. I can't say enough about it, and am not a good enough movie reviewer to do his performance justice. I hope you'll just trust me on this one and rent this film. It's worth seeing for Duvall's work alone. The rest will be gravy.

But what tasty gravy it is. If you like movies that draw you in and present characters who are real, whom you care about, who change before your eyes in ways you can relate to and understand, then you'll really like this movie. If you like movies that change you a little, that teach you something about life without being at all obvious about it, that don't try to manipulate you, that are sincere, that elicit a range of your emotions without playing you like a cheap fiddle, then you really should see this.

I'm also disappointed in the movie's rating here on IMDb. I notice that the raw numbers are much higher, but the IMDb special formula has adjusted it significantly downward to factor out "the village idiots." While I'm sure there's a good reason for IMDb's secret adjustment formula and that it is appropriate for many situations, I can't imagine that this is the kind of movie for which village idiots would try to stuff the ballot box. Most people who voted for this movie gave it very high ratings--7 to 10--and I'd recommend that you believe them. Wrestling Ernest Hemingway is a quality movie with broad appeal that will leave you feeling very glad you invested two hours in watching it.

In 1992, I was a literary agent at Writers & Artists Agency in Los

Angeles. In a town where new scripts by unproven young writers

can't get their scripts read, I was one of the few agents who was

eager to find new talent. One day, I received a letter from a young

writer asking me to read his script. The title intrigued me and the

story he described demanded that I read the script. The young writer's name was

Steve Conrad and he had just graduated from the University of

Chicago. The script was "Wrestling Ernest Hemingway", and from

the very first page, I knew I had to represent it. The writing was so

simple, so poetic, so powerful, so witty and so real that I called

him before I had even finished reading the script. I was able to

convince Todd Black, an enthusiastic young producer, to read it

and his passion matched mine. He sold it to Warner Bros. and

they made the movie. In a Hollywood rarity, Steve remained the

sole writer of the script.

I am so gratified to read the User Comments and to see how this

little gem of a movie has affected so many people. I am no longer

a literary agent; I now teach English and History to 6th graders. I

shall always be so proud that I had some part in bringing this

wonderful writer and his script to the screen, and that so many of

you have shared my passion about it.