Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Nick Nolte | ... | Wade Whitehouse | |
Brigid Tierney | ... | Jill Whitehouse | |
Holmes Osborne | ... | Gordon LaRiviere | |
Jim True-Frost | ... | Jack Hewitt (as Jim True) | |
Tim Post | ... | Chick Ward | |
Christopher Heyerdahl | ... | Frankie Lacoy (as Chris Heyerdahl) | |
Marian Seldes | ... | Alma Pittman | |
Janine Theriault | ... | Hettie Rogers | |
Mary Beth Hurt | ... | Lillian Horner | |
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Paul Stewart | ... | Mr. Horner |
Sissy Spacek | ... | Margie Fogg | |
Wayne Robson | ... | Nick Wickham | |
Sean McCann | ... | Evan Twombley | |
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Sheena Larkin | ... | Lugene Brooks |
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Penny Mancuso | ... | Woman Driver |
Boston University professor Whitehouse tells of the events leading up to the disappearance of his older Wade. The police officer who investigates is deeply troubled, and the murder case drains his mental acuity to the point of a total mental collapse. Written by Huggo
Based on a novel by Russell Banks who also wrote "The Sweet Hereafter", and directed by Paul Schrader of "Raging Bull" and "The Mosquito Coast" fame, the winter landscape and cold bleakness of the town sets the tone for this exploration of the dark legacy of what it is to be a man.
Nick Nolte stars in this dark story of a the lone policeman in a small New Hampshire town investigating a hunting accident. James Coburn is excellent as Nick Nolte's father, a brutal and angry old man who typifies a sick machismo which has in turn afflicted his son. His acting is extraordinary as is Nolte's although their styles are different. Noltle is subtle; his facial expressions are controlled and typical of a man who has learned to hold in emotion. Coburn's face, on the other hand, is more deeply expressive; his eyebrows move, his mouth hardens, his eyes glare.
This is the kind of dark, brooding movie that I like. For a brief few hours I enter its world and get completely absorbed in the characters in the way I did with "A thousand Acres" or "The Horse Whisperers". Like these films, there are no easy answers and the conclusion does not wrap up in a neat little Hollywood package that is soon forgotten.