Second-Hand Hearts (1980) User Reviews

Not too good

[kinguule · 4/10 · 4 March 2017]

Movie was slow but had potential with some better acting and editing one scene shows a child leaving a vehicle where he was obviously molested and that's it, no repercussions, just leaves the viewer in like, what the hell did I just see and now what happens? nothing. That scene should have been dropped. Blake is his usual self I felt more sorry for the car than his character. I kept hoping the movie would speed up a little but that was not to be. They should have kept the original title, "The Hamster of Happiness"

Ashby's decline begins

[adamwarlock · 3/10 · 24 March 2017]

Hal Ashby's 70s movies are fantastic films with quirky characters and oddball plots. I had always read he lost it in the 80s and died somewhat young due to drug abuse. This film was shot in 1979 but not released until 1981 and then only in limited release. The critics were not kind and it was forgotten. And deservedly so. Why? Ashby had made losers lovable in his previous films but Robert Blake can't pull it off. Far too broad for Ashby's low key approach. Barbra Harris does a bit better but talks non-stop. Scenes drag on and on. I lost what plot there was in the dialogue (who's funeral were they at at one point?). Unlikable and going nowhere. Plus, Blake draws the ire of some Mexican-Americans he accuses of trying to run him over, not sure if this is supposed to be funny. Worse, there seems to be an incident of child molestation here that is mentioned and then forgotten since the boy in question doesn't talk and can't tell anyone about it and seems no worse for ware afterwards. Why is that scene even there for? Ick.

Pretty unbearable

[Wizard-8 · 19 March 2017]

The distributor of this movie (Paramount Pictures) shelved this movie for two years upon completion before barely releasing it to theaters. Watching it, it's pretty easy to see why they didn't have much confidence in the movie. It's kind of garbled in telling its story, seemingly starting at around chapter three instead of first taking the time to introduce its characters and how they met. There are also some plot threads that are unfinished or seemingly show no purpose, such as an uncomfortable brief scene where a young boy was clearly molested. It's odd that with downbeat material like what I just described, the movie tries for the most part to be funny. But there is not one laugh or smile to be found anywhere. Blake and Harris (who both look and act like they just got back from spending a week on skid row) are so utterly stupid and obnoxious that watching them blubber and protest throughout quickly gets to be unbearable. It's no wonder why this movie has fallen into obscurity.

The Nut from Nutley

[Matthew_Capitano · 1/10 · 7 November 2014]

Robert 'Baretta' Blake (you know, the guy who killed his wife) left his hometown of Nutley, New Jersey in 1933 to make a fool of himself over and over again in Hollywood (see the video on Youtube where Blake gets kicked out of a celebrity autograph show), including the time he got featured in this ridiculous waste of celluloid.

Blake (his real name is Mickey Gubitosi) pulled his head out of his butt just long enough to stumble through this garbage about a loser who travels with a woman to Nowheresville, USA. The plot (so called) of this throw-away flick is no more complex than that, and if you think that sounds lame, you're right.

Blake appears here predictably bad and typically unbalanced. No wonder his real-life daughter Delinah got a restraining order on him. Pass on this vomit.

Super-boring!

[RodrigAndrisan · 2/10 · 27 October 2022]

Not much happens in this movie. Dinette Dusty (Barbara Harris) together with Loyal Muke (Robert Blake) travels in a car across America, together with three minor children. Dialogue, talk, and talk again, and dialogue again, the whole movie. Barbara Harris is sweet, both as an actress and as a character. Robert Blake is good in a drunken idiot role. It's not a comedy at all and it's extremely long (1 hour and 42 minutes) for what is offered to us on the screen, that is, almost nothing. The "pillar" of the film is obviously the super-talented Barbara Harris, great expert in the art of improvisation, a perfect actress, the kind who can make you laugh or cry just by reading the phone book. At 45, Barbara Harris looks like a maximum 30-year-old beautiful doll, with a delicious voice and charming eyes. Those 2 stars are only for her! To make a good movie, you need a cool story. And this production has nothing like that. But the music is beautiful.

I saw it on TV, so it didn't cost anything

[ca_skunk · 7/10 · 18 February 2015]

Robert Blake plays Loyal Muke, a drunken loser who marries bar waitress Dinette Dusty, who is his equal in loserability and who also has three kids staying with in-laws.

When she was a baby, Dinette was traded by her parents for a rebuilt transmission when theirs went south on the highway. Loyal has a job at a car wash for a few weeks, only to be fired when he misses several days work after getting married. The two take off for California from Texas in Loyal's beaten-up old Rambler station wagon (a brave or foolish venture, or both), stopping to pick up Dinette's kids along the way.

Blake does a good job in his role as a drunken, fidgety bum who can never remember what he did when he was drinking. Harris is also good as an airheaded waitress whose singing career never got off the ground (when you hear her sing, you'll know way). At least the two don't make any more kids, since they are already saddled with Dinette's three elementary school-aged offspring. They're looking forward to arriving in California, because, as Dinette's father in-law says, "They have the welfare out there."

Uneven comedy-drama laced with winning performances

[aromatic-2 · 8/10 · 13 January 2003]

Barbara Harris is terrific as Dinette Dusty, and supporting vets Shirley Stoler and Bert Remsen give her plenty of help setting the atmosphere in her hash-house for losers. The score also does a good job in helping set the mood. Once Robert Blake's character comes on the scene, the chemistry between the two stars takes center stage. Some of the writing makes little sense, and the direction seems unfocused in the first half of the film. But, overall, worth watching once.

Had an underlying lesson for thinkers

[trulanpbi · 7/10 · 6 March 2017]

The other reviews didn't get the plot correct. And, if you didn't like this movie, it's a good bet it rang too close to home. It's a story about two people who complete each other, in a bottom of the barrel story line. The story is the same even if the characters had been wealthy and educated. I liked it.

not the worst ever but close enough

[myopnionis · 7 February 2019]

This isnt the worst movie I've ever watched but it is definitely in a small group of the worst movies. The writing is mostly terrible with occassional bouts of mediocracy. The acting is atrocious. It plays like a bad hallmark movie of the week. The directing is laughable as well. The pregnant pauses between lines that don't warrant one are frequent and the overly dramatic deliveries when it didnt build were completely out of place. The very few genuine moments werent even enjoyable because the script and acting didnt match the moment trying to be created with bad actors. The only reason I gave it 2 stars rather than 1 is because I have seen worse...just not many times.