I love this movie so much

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

I have just seen this wonderful film for the third time. For many years it was unavailable on DVD, and could only be obtained on a very old video tape of 1985, which I have. This film and THE MEMBER OF THE WEDDING (1952) are the two great classic films based on novels by Carson McCullers (1917-1967), whose tales were set in her native state of Georgia in America's Deep South, and are drawn from her early experiences. Carson McCullers was a far greater writer than the Deep South writer Harper Lee (born 1928), of whom so much more fuss is made. This film is a heart-rending study of the loneliness and desperation experienced by several people simultaneously, whose private sufferings are largely unknown to and unappreciated by the others, in a small Southern town, even though they all know one another. The lead character is Mr. Singer, a young deaf mute man played by Alan Arkin with such astonishing brilliance that it goes way beyond Oscar calibre and is probably the finest thing he has ever done. The other lead character is the young girl 'Mick', a lonely and poverty-stricken tomboy waif aged about 16, played in her first film role by Sondra Locke, then surprisingly aged 23 but not looking it, and whose Tennessee upbringing enabled her to speak like a convincing Southerner. Her performance is also spine-tingling in its pathos, and she proved herself overnight in her debut to be a major screen actress. Locke however later became famous for other reasons. In 1975 she moved in with Clint Eastwood and lived with him for 13 years, starring in six films with him. The story of their spectacular bust-up and the three lawsuits which arose from it are extremely tragic. It is impossible not to sympathise with Locke in her struggle against Eastwood, who appears to have been what is called 'a control freak', and the Hollywood Establishment. The details of all this sad saga, sadder even than a Carson McCullers novel, are widely known. Perhaps only McCullers could have done it justice in a fiction format, and expressed what the unfortunate Locke must have gone through. If there is a moral to the story, perhaps it is that girls from Shelbyville, Tennessee, had better watch their backs when they go to Hollywood, as no good can come of it. She did survive to direct four films and recover from breast cancer, but was shunned by many people who did not want to alienate Clint. As for the other performances in this film, they are all spectacularly good. The most impressive of all is probably that by Chuck McCann in his first feature film (he now has 151 acting credits) as Spiros Antonapoulos, a Greek immigrant (and there were many of them across the South in those postwar days who came over because of the Greek civil war, like the Syrian emigrants to Europe of today) who suffers from a strange and extreme form of autism whereby he has constant euphoria, compulsive eating habits, and total oblivion of his surroundings except for his one pal, Arkin. Arkin has spent years looking after him and has become his legal guardian, and in his own loneliness he has taken on McCann's as well, and they have become two lonely peas in a pod. But a tragic ending is inevitable, due to McCann's uncontrollable behaviour and his need to be institutionalised. All of these dramas are playing out without the knowledge of any of the other characters with whom Arkin interacts. He befriends an embittered black doctor in the Georgia town's 'bucktown' who hates all white people, played by Percy Rodrigues, and whose impassioned and rebellious daughter is played by Cicely Tyson. Rodrigues and Tyson are both explosive screen presences as well. The film is so packed with performances which are way off the scale in terms of talent that it is a real showcase for acting at the highest level. Thomas C. Ryan, who only scripted two other films, wrote a magnificent screenplay. He had written two scripts in the two preceding years, he then also produced this film, and then he mysteriously vanished from the film business. There must be a story there. He died in 1986. Apparently he assisted Otto Preminger when younger and came from Minnesota. That's all I know. Minnesota is a cold place, so maybe he got cold feet. This film was directed by Robert Ellis Miller, who later directed REUBEN, REUBEN (1983, see my review), who had spent 8 years directing for television before breaking into features two years earlier. This film is probably the crowning achievement of his entire career. It is so sensitively directed that Miller proved his higher abilities, if failing to achieve the higher status to which his talent alone should have entitled him in a just world. Sometimes in life, if you make only one great film, whereas your others have been good but did not set the world on fire, you have still succeeded at accomplishing what everybody else wishes they could do but never pulled off. Miller retired from directing in 1996 with 56 directing credits. If he will be remembered in the halls of fame, it will be for this early masterpiece. My advice to the unwary is, however, be ready to cry. But the ultimate point of this film is what is teaches us about human kindness and compassion. Mr. Singer, an obscure and ignored 'dummy' who communicates by holding out a card in his hand saying 'I am a deaf mute', becomes a hero of immense stature, not only in the story, but to all of us, because of what he gives to others, while having nothing for himself. He even buys a gramophone and plays classical music in his rented room so that Mick can overhear it, though unable to hear it himself.

Alan Arkin is John Singer, a deaf mute who takes an interest in practically everything and everyone around him. He wants to be the legal guardian for the mentally disabled Chuck McMann, who is first seen breaking the window of a pastry shop so he can eat the displays. To be near McMann (who is committed for observation), Arkin rents a room from physically disabled Biff McGuire and his tired wife, Laurinda Barrett, and slowly becomes friends with their lonely teen-aged daughter (Sondra Locke). He also befriends drifter Stacy Keach, whom he first meets while Keach is causing a drunken disturbance in a greasy spoon. When black doctor Percy Rodriguez refuses to take care of the injured drunken Keach, Arkin begins to work on him. Rodriguez, who is angry both at white people, as well as blacks who don't try to rise above their station in life, at first resists Arkin's intrusion in his life. His daughter (the brilliant Cicely Tyson) has married a man he refers to as an "Uncle Tom". Later, she tells him basically that he acts more white than white people do after he refuses to help her husband out of a disastrous situation that results in catastrophe. It is only through compassionate Arkin that the two are able to come to an eventual understanding. At his boarding house, Arkin wins Locke's trust by using her love of classical music to win her trust. It is through his upbeat look at life that seems to bring the people around him (including the surprisingly wise and kind drifter Keach) any sense of hope.It appears that Arkin's disability is a metaphor for the emotional disabilities that all these people are hiding from the world. Locke is initially hateful towards Arkin, but grows to trust him as her parents become more distant because of their own growing bitterness's. McGuire (in the type of role that Arkin might have later played) is quietly understated as the injured father whose inability to work has caused the family financial hardship. Barrett's fall from tired, hard working wife to slightly embittered mother who wants her daughter to drop out of school and work full time (while taking night classes), is also nicely subtle. Their characters reminded me a bit of the parents in "Breaking Away". Rodriguez is outstanding as the embittered black doctor who only treats Keach because of his pity towards deaf Arkin. The scene where he admits how ironic it is that at this point in his life, it is a white man to whom he can confide his deepest feelings, is so quietly powerful. Ms. Tyson, of course, is excellent; Already a stage veteran, she makes her character quite believable and the love for her husband most admirable.Stacy Keach is only in the film briefly in the first half, but makes a nice impression as the multi-layered drifter who has become a social outcast that only Arkin understands. As for Chuck McCann, as Arkin's child-like friend, he seems to really become this character. It is apparent that Arkin would never be able to take care of him, revealed in a powerful scene where Arkin uses a box of Whitman's chocolates to lure the sweets loving McMann away from a cake to get him to a court hearing. Arkin's good intentions are more than admirable, but ultimately leads to a tragic conclusion that will rip your heart out.Sondra Locke, best known in the 70's as Clint Eastwood's on and off screen partner in movies like "The Gauntlet" and "Every Which Way But Loose", has her best role as the teen-aged Mick. As I looked more closely at her, I was stunned by her resemblance to Allison Arngrim ("Little House on the Prairie's" Nellie Olsen) in both looks and facial expressions. She greatly deserved the Oscar Nomination she received, because she makes what could have been an annoying character really quite likable. She's not movie star beautiful, but there is something very unique in her that makes her quite special here.Without a doubt, there is no other word to describe Alan Arkin's performance than amazing. He really studied this character inside and out to get every niche of him down. There is no moment of unbelievability in his portrayal. While he lost the Oscar to Cliff Robertson's equally brilliant performance in "Charly", it must have been a really close race. "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" is a much better film that unlike "Charly" and many other films of the 60's doesn't add a strange "mod" feeling into it that makes no sense.There are some terrific moral lessons to be learned from films like "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter". The biggest for me, based upon the tragic ending, is that in life, it is not only what people do in their lifetime that makes them special, but what they add to the lives of others around them (particularly strangers) that matters. We can give all the kindness in the world to our family, friends and partners, but if we ignore the opportunity to help someone we haven't brought into our lives, it takes away from our importance while here on this earth. The ending may have been tragic, but what lessons that other characters learned from Arkin's John Singer would change their lives eternally. Something tells me that Mick (Locke) would end up in social services helping disabled people, and that the black doctor (Rodriguez) would never again distrust all white people and be open to helping everybody who came to him.

This was a very touching movie. This movie made me cry upon thinking of it the next day. Very few movies have done that to me. I was particularly struck by what a sweet and pure performance that Sondra Locke gave as Mick. And the loneliness that Alan Arkin portrayed as John Singer really resonated with me. I really liked how Mick dealt with this and the snobbery too. Why no one received an Oscar for this movie is beyond me.My only criticism with this film is that is seemed to try to hit too many emotional chords in too short a span of time. It tried to do too much all at once and I noticed myself being left with a slight disappointment and rushed feeling that points were left undeveloped. The loneliness and snobbery were quite enough to deal with without all the racism too. It seemed like a whole other movie was somehow lurking in the background. Perhaps this is the fault of the book. I plan to read it since I think it will develop these points much better.Although all the racism had a definite impact, I can't help thinking that the movie would have been simpler and sweeter without it. I suppose longing for a simple and sweet melancholy resolution and being left with an unsettled feeling was what Carson McCullers may have been after.Still a great and timeless movie!

You can read the many fine comments already made to appreciate why this is a superb movie that simply deserves to be seen. If you appreciate the story and want to see how actors and directors and the rest of the cast that make a film are there to tell the story, this is a good choice.It is evidence that Hollywood can make significant art, brilliant storytelling, and impacting entertainment.Alan Arkin and the whole film delivered. I saw this movie on an afternoon by chance on AMC or TCM and have never forgotten it. I might never forget this film.