Synopsis
Albany, New York, Halloween, 1938. Francis Phelan and Helen Archer are bums, back in their birth city. She was a singer on the radio, he a major league pitcher. Death surrounds them: she's sick, a pal has cancer, he digs graves at the cemetery and visits the grave of his infant son whom he dropped; visions of his past haunt him, including ghosts of two men he killed. That night, out drinking, Helen tries to sing at a bar. Next day, Fran visits his wife and children and meets a grandson. He could stay, but decides it's not for him. Helen gets their things out of storage and finds a hotel. Amidst their mistakes and dereliction, the film explores their code of fairness and loyalty.
Your Movie Library
Cast
- Jack NicholsonFrancis Phelan
- Meryl StreepHelen Archer
- Carroll BakerAnnie Phelan
- Michael O'KeefeBilly
- Diane VenoraPeg
- Fred GwynneOscar Reo
- Margaret WhittonKatrina
- Tom WaitsRudy
- Jake DengelPee Wee
- Nathan LaneHarold Allen
Recommendations
- 75
Chicago Sun-Times
The movie generates little suspense and no relief. And yet it is worth seeing as a chamber piece, an exercise in which two great actors expand their range and work together in great sympathy. Both Nicholson and Streep have moments as good as anything they have done. - 75
The A.V. Club
Ironweed asks a lot with its 140-plus minutes of low-key suffering. It feels long, in part because not a lot happens from a plot perspective. Still, its strongest moments linger. - 70
Time Out
At last, a real part for Nicholson to sink his teeth into. - 63
Washington Post
Ironweed is decent fare, not excellent. It gets by on the strength of the unexpected. - 63
Christian Science Monitor
At many key junctures, the movie's persistent realism keeps it drifting in the weeds when it could have soared into the clouds. [18 Dec 1987, p.25] - 50
The New York Times
Despite its nearly two-and-a-half-hour running time, its superstar cast and its $23 million budget, Mr. Babenco's Ironweed is skeletal, a mere outline of Mr. Kennedy's far more resonant book. - 50
Los Angeles Times
Even illuminated by the unsparing performances of Jack Nicholson as Francis and Meryl Streep as Helen, his companion of nine years and another soul stumbling away from grace, the film becomes becalmed and confusing; it lacks the novel's great unwavering trajectory. [18 Dec 1987, p.1] - 40
Washington Post
Ironweed, the new film by Hector Babenco starring Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep, comes about as close to being an unmitigated waste of talent as any movie in recent memory.
