This is my favorite acting performance of the always underrated Alan Arkin. He plays a widowed father of two young boys in Spanish Harlem who works numerous jobs and will do anything - ANYTHING - to provide a better life for his two young boys. There is no job he will not take and no sacrifice he will not make for his boys. The method Arkin finally decides to take is controversial. How? Let's just say that during the whole Elian Gonzalez saga, quite a few references were made to this movie. (PLEASE don't let that comparison turn you off to this movie - I cringed at those comparisons as well at first until I realized that yes, the comparisons had a valid point.) This movie is very much a drama, but Arkin, in his magical way, manages to not detract from the drama while injecting his own brand of physical comedy as well as his patented panicking dialogue (such as in the hospital scene.) The two young boys, who lived in Spanish Harlem when they were selected to act in this movie, are very good as well.
Reviews
2 Reviews
Some films just do not age well...
21 August 2000
...and this is one of them. This movie will always hold a special place in my heart as it is the first movie my parents and I ever rented when we purchased our first VCR. At the time (I was 12), I loved the movie, as I wasn't old enough to recognize cliches at that point in time. With each viewing, I enjoy the movie less and less - except for the performance of Alan Arkin, whose performance I enjoy more and more and more. With each viewing, I notice another subtle facial expression he gives, another subtle body movement, another subtle vocal inflection. A brilliant actor. Very underused today, alas. Arkin's performance is still a 10; the movie, alas, no longer occupies such a high place. Paul Ford also garners plenty of laughs as a grumpy old man.
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