Touches You

Thanks for the memories!

Great Film overall

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

The melding of two novels by John Steinbeck, "Cannery Row" and "Sweet Thursday" into one long, boring movie starring Nick Nolte as Doc and Debra Winger as Suzy. Plot follows her arrival in Monterrey and moving in Cannery Row where she becomes a hooker and he lives and collects sea specimens.The original Stenbeck novel took place during the Great Depression while its sequel picked up after World War II. This film jumbles it all together into one unsaid time frame.Nolte and Winger bring nothing to their roles and seem to just walk thru the film, with a few outrightly embarrassing moments such as their attempts to dance to "In the Mood" and the scene where she has moved into an industrial boiler.Also terrible are Sunshine Parker as the Seer and Frank McRae as Hazel, a character clearly borrowed from Steinbeck's own "Of Mice and Men." Neither one of these guys can act. Almost all of the supporting players and extras goon and ham their ways thru their various scenes. They act like cartoon characters.The saving graces of the film are thee supporting players. Audra Lindley is very good as the Fauna the whore house operator, M. Emmet Walsh is good as Mack, and Judy Kerr is fine as the waitress in the beer milkshake scene.While there are some terrific ocean shots along the Monterey peninsula that burst with sun and wind, the rest of the movie is a stagnant mess of lifeless movie sets that depict Cannery Row as a dead zone free of sun and wind. You can almost hear the echoes when the actors speak in the cavernous set.The film is so episodic and disjointed that it requires a droning narration from John Huston to help link the scenes. Then there's the boring "dixeland" style music of Jack Nitzsche that seems to go on forever. The film is a total misfire. With a budget between of about $12M, the filmed grossed around $5M at the box office.Raquel Welch was original cast as Suzy.

I fell in love with this movie the first time I saw it, perhaps in the late 90s/ early 2000s. I lost count of how many times I've seen it since, but it never loses its magic. I love many movies but I rarely give any a complete 10/10. This gem, however, more than earned it. Everything about it was perfection; from the characters to the pacing to the dream-like world and atmosphere that looks so familiar from my dreams, the ones you never want to wake up from. I read another comment here from a another reviewer who said s/he wished they could live there. My feeling exactly. Other wonderful aspects of the movie included the lead actors, who were spot on and had the most natural chemistry, the gorgeous soundtrack so fitting to the characters and atmosphere and, of course, the perfect narration that makes you feel as if you're transported to the imagined world of a perfect book. Talking of books, I want to stress that you don't have to have read the books on which the film is based to enjoy this masterpiece, I certainly didn't (although I would snap up the books should I ever come across them). On the other hand, if you read the books, let me give you a piece of advise; don't compare the two. A movie is a different art form which should always be taken on its own merits, not compared to anything else. That way you will see this effort for its own true beauty and not through some unrealistic expectations of being a carbon copy of something else. Enjoy.

This film is not for everyone. It is a romance between two characters (played by Nick Nolte and Debra Winger) who seem to be without purpose, living in the Cannery Row district of Monterey, California. Every person in the neighborhood has a kind heart and everyone wants love to bloom between the two star-crossed misfits.Adapted from the works of John Steinbeck, "Cannery Row" uses sets and a crew of characters that feel, somewhat, like inventions of the Muppet factory. Doc and Suzy--the lovers--are definitely the focus of the film and they are played well by Nolte and Winger, but still they feel like caricatures. Everything is just a little too cute. As in a fairytale, we know the outcome and its sugar-coated circumstances before we see it on screen.As I said, the acting is fine. It's the story that will not square with all viewers.

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!!