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IMDbPro

Nuts

  • 19871987
  • RR
  • 1h 56m
IMDb RATING
6.6/10
6.7K
YOUR RATING
Richard Dreyfuss and Barbra Streisand in Nuts (1987)
A high-class call girl accused of murder fights for the right to stand trial rather than be declared mentally incompetent.
Play trailer1:24
1 Video
25 Photos
  • Drama
  • Thriller
A high-class call girl accused of murder fights for the right to stand trial rather than be declared mentally incompetent.A high-class call girl accused of murder fights for the right to stand trial rather than be declared mentally incompetent.A high-class call girl accused of murder fights for the right to stand trial rather than be declared mentally incompetent.
IMDb RATING
6.6/10
6.7K
YOUR RATING
  • Director
    • Martin Ritt
  • Writers
    • Tom Topor(based upon the play by)
    • Darryl Ponicsan(screenplay by)
    • Alvin Sargent(screenplay by)
  • Stars
    • Barbra Streisand
    • Richard Dreyfuss
    • Maureen Stapleton
Top credits
  • Director
    • Martin Ritt
  • Writers
    • Tom Topor(based upon the play by)
    • Darryl Ponicsan(screenplay by)
    • Alvin Sargent(screenplay by)
  • Stars
    • Barbra Streisand
    • Richard Dreyfuss
    • Maureen Stapleton
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 55User reviews
    • 22Critic reviews
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 4 nominations

    Videos1

    Official Trailer
    Trailer 1:24
    Official Trailer

    Photos25

    Richard Dreyfuss and Barbra Streisand in Nuts (1987)
    Richard Dreyfuss and Barbra Streisand in Nuts (1987)
    Richard Dreyfuss and Barbra Streisand in Nuts (1987)
    Richard Dreyfuss and Barbra Streisand in Nuts (1987)
    Barbra Streisand in Nuts (1987)
    Barbra Streisand in Nuts (1987)
    Barbra Streisand in Nuts (1987)
    Barbra Streisand in Nuts (1987)
    Richard Dreyfuss and Barbra Streisand in Nuts (1987)
    Barbra Streisand in Nuts (1987)
    Barbra Streisand and Sarina C. Grant in Nuts (1987)
    Richard Dreyfuss, Barbra Streisand, Paul Benjamin, and James Whitmore in Nuts (1987)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Barbra Streisand
    Barbra Streisand
    • Claudia Draperas Claudia Draper
    Richard Dreyfuss
    Richard Dreyfuss
    • Aaron Levinskyas Aaron Levinsky
    Maureen Stapleton
    Maureen Stapleton
    • Rose Kirkas Rose Kirk
    Karl Malden
    Karl Malden
    • Arthur Kirkas Arthur Kirk
    Eli Wallach
    Eli Wallach
    • Dr. Herbert A. Morrisonas Dr. Herbert A. Morrison
    Robert Webber
    Robert Webber
    • Francis MacMillanas Francis MacMillan
    James Whitmore
    James Whitmore
    • Judge Stanley Murdochas Judge Stanley Murdoch
    Leslie Nielsen
    Leslie Nielsen
    • Allen Greenas Allen Green
    William Prince
    William Prince
    • Clarence Middletonas Clarence Middleton
    Dakin Matthews
    Dakin Matthews
    • Judge Lawrence Blockas Judge Lawrence Block
    Paul Benjamin
    Paul Benjamin
    • Harry Harrisonas Harry Harrison
    Warren Manzi
    • Saul Kreiglitzas Saul Kreiglitz
    Elizabeth Hoffman
    Elizabeth Hoffman
    • Dr. Johnsonas Dr. Johnson
    Castulo Guerra
    Castulo Guerra
    • Dr. Arantesas Dr. Arantes
    Stacy Bergman
    • 16 year-old Claudiaas 16 year-old Claudia
    Hayley Taylor
    Hayley Taylor
    • 11 year-old Claudiaas 11 year-old Claudia
    • (as Hayley Taylor-Block)
    Matt Riivald
    • Court Reporteras Court Reporter
    John Wesley
    John Wesley
    • Holding Cell Guardas Holding Cell Guard
    • Director
      • Martin Ritt
    • Writers
      • Tom Topor(based upon the play by) (screenplay by)
      • Darryl Ponicsan(screenplay by)
      • Alvin Sargent(screenplay by)
    • All cast & crew
    • See more cast details at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      This is the final film of both Robert Webber and Karl Malden.
    • Goofs
      At the end of the movie, Claudia been released and is walking down the street in her hospital gown, laughing at passerby. She has only been judged competent to stand trial, not innocent. She should be in lockup at Riker's Island or The Tombs. Also, even if they had released her, she would have had her street clothes returned.
    • Quotes

      Claudia Draper: Now, you talk to me and pretend I'm sane, okay?

      Aaron Levinsky: Okay.

      Claudia Draper: And I'll do the same for you.

    • Connections
      Featured in At the Movies: Oscar Nomination Surprises for 1987 (1988)
    • Soundtracks
      Here We Are At Last
      Music by Barbra Streisand

      Lyrics by Richard Baskin

      Arranged & played by Randy Waldman

      (Bar Music)

    User reviews55

    Review
    Top review
    7/10
    A Credentially Surefire Disappointment
    Though it's largely set in a daunting courtroom, Nuts tries to be more psychological mystery than legal dilemma, and for the better part of the way throughout, Nuts is startlingly gripping before it shamelessly tumbles into agonizing, even cringe-worthy sermonizing at the lugubrious and pedantic conclusion when Streisand serves a painfully affected monologue all in close-up. It's the household psychodrama between patient and shrink, except here a lawyer does the evaluating. Dreyfuss plays this intersection between Perry Mason and Sigmund Freud, Aaron Levinsky, court-appointed to represent Claudia Draper, a call girl who killed a john. The exhaustingly hostile Claudia longs to be tried, but the court is about to pronounce her mentally incompetent to stand trial. The judge, played with truthful and temperate keenness by James Whitmore, certainly merits that available seat on the Supreme Court. Seasoned and resolute as he is, the judge questions how this smart, well-heeled girl came to this. Her mother and stepfather, Maureen Stapleton and Karl Malden, seem to be ideal parents, and Claudia the indulged child gone strangely nutty. Levinsky, the intellect detective, prods for resolutions for this catch-22 that's quickly wearing his patience thin when he needs it most: dealing with her.

    In another first-rate performance, Richard Dreyfuss plays the stunningly durable Levinsky. With infectious charm, he unearths some bleak skeletons from her cupboard, and in turn from those of Claudia's stepfather, her mother and her psychiatrist. This credentially surefire film, for awhile, seems like a plucky movie with an unpleasant lead who intractably defies bowing to the agendas, neuroses, or desires of anybody else. But by the end of Nuts, when the case has been decided, there's an unshakable sentiment of tackiness, that the antagonists were trumped-up sitting ducks the script contrives to be taken lying down. If all of psychiatry had been this undemanding, Freud wouldn't have been needed to invent it. The Brothers Grimm would've already taken care it for us.

    But regardless, the unraveling of those details is executed so well. At the helm of such masterpieces of delicate subtlety and sensitivity like The Spy Who Came in From the Cold, Pete 'n' Tillie and The Front, Martin Ritt is efficient with the technique of the flashback that expands step by step, showing but an instant of a past event, then a little more, then ultimately the entire event. Two distinct bathroom sequences are divulged in this manner, one surrounding Claudia as a little girl, the other her brutal confrontation with her victim. Nuts culminates like a Broadway musical, but otherwise it's an absorbing character study, cadenced like a fine thriller. Ritt has always undoubtedly been a performer's director with a predilection towards oppressed female protagonists. Sally Field's Norma Rae, Patricia Neal in Hud.

    Supported by a dignified cast, Streisand and Dreyfuss pair for the first time, but they work together like practiced dancers. He spins her and she laps up the ovation. And that's not uncommon for the controlling Streisand, who characteristically holds the fort on all her projects, but whether it's Streisand or Stallone, supremacy on a movie set only achieves either profundity or chaos. Eli Wallach is entertaining arcane as the psychiatrist. Stapleton is deeply felt, if way too broad, as the feeble mother, with Malden fluently overtaking his Am Ex stamp as Claudia's stepfather. Leslie Nielsen is every prostitute's dread as the client who insists upon and gets more than has been agreed to.

    In the opening scenes, we are submerged in the dark-light worlds of the robotizing single-file lines and pencil-pushing procedures of the womens' prison and the crowded, busy courtroom. Director of photography Andrzej Bartkowiak's camera-work begins us in a stark rhythm and atmosphere. But unfortunately, Nuts is below the summation of its memorable parts. Regardless of all its strong suits, it's ultimately ineffective and vain inside. No matter their cred, Ritt, Bartkowiak, screenwriter Alvin Sargent never entirely follow through with their ultimate intent, setting inner integrity against social facades to compel us to determine what it truly means to be crazy.
    helpful•7
    4
    • jzappa
    • Jul 13, 2011

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • December 11, 1987 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Nuts ... Durchgedreht
    • Filming locations
      • Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA
    • Production companies
      • Warner Bros.
      • Barwood Films
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $25,000,000 (estimated)
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $30,950,002
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $4,606,083
      • Nov 22, 1987
    • Gross worldwide
      • $30,950,002
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 56 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby Stereo
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

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