''Nuts'' is a 1987 American
drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...
directed by
Martin Ritt
Martin Ritt (March 2, 1914 – December 8, 1990) was an American director and actor who worked in both film and theater, noted for his socially conscious films.
Some of the films he directed include ''The Long, Hot Summer'' (1958), '' The Black ...
, starring
Barbra Streisand
Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand (; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success in multiple fields of entertainment, and is among the few performers List ...
and
Richard Dreyfuss
Richard Stephen Dreyfuss (; born Dreyfus; October 29, 1947) is an American actor. He is known for starring in popular films during the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, including ''American Graffiti'' (1973), ''Jaws'' (1975), ''Close Encounters of the T ...
. The screenplay by
Tom Topor
Tom Topor (born 1938) is an American playwright, screenwriter, and novelist. Topor was born in Vienna, Austria, and was brought to London in 1939, where he remained until he came to New York City in 1949. He earned his bachelor's degree at Br ...
,
Darryl Ponicsan
Darryl Ponicsan (; born May 26, 1938) is an American writer. He is best known as the author of the 1970 novel ''The Last Detail,'' which was adapted into a 1973 film starring Jack Nicholson. A sequel, ''Last Flag Flying'', based on his 2005 nov ...
and
Alvin Sargent is based on Topor's 1979
play of the same title. It was both
Karl Malden
Karl Malden (born Mladen George Sekulovich; March 22, 1912 – July 1, 2009) was an American actor. He was primarily a character actor, who according to Robert Berkvist, "for more than 60 years brought an intelligent intensity and a homespun aut ...
and
Robert Webber
Robert Laman Webber (October 14, 1924 – May 19, 1989) was an American actor. He appeared in dozens of films and television series, roles that included Juror No. 12 in the 1957 film ''12 Angry Men''.
Early life
Webber was born in Santa Ana, ...
's final feature film, and also included
Leslie Nielsen
Leslie William Nielsen (11 February 192628 November 2010) was a Canadian actor and comedian. With a career spanning 60 years, he appeared in more than 100 films and 150 television programs, portraying more than 220 characters.
Nielsen was bo ...
's last non-comedic role.
Plot
When
call girl
A call girl or female escort is a sex worker who (unlike a street walker) does not display her profession to the general public, nor does she usually work in an institution like a brothel, although she may be employed by an escort agency.< ...
Claudia Draper kills client Allen Green in
self-defense
Self-defense (self-defence primarily in Commonwealth English) is a countermeasure that involves defending the health and well-being of oneself from harm. The use of the right of self-defense as a legal justification for the use of force in ...
, her mother Rose and stepfather Arthur Kirk attempt to have her declared
mentally incompetent
In United States and Canadian law, competence concerns the mental capacity of an individual to participate in legal proceedings or transactions, and the mental condition a person must have to be responsible for his or her decisions or acts. Comp ...
by Dr. Herbert Morrison in order to avoid a public scandal. Claudia knows that, if her parents succeed, she will be remanded to a
mental institution
Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental health hospitals, behavioral health hospitals, are hospitals or wards specializing in the treatment of severe mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, dissociative ...
indefinitely, so she is determined to prove she is sane enough to stand trial.
The attorney her parents hire to defend her quits after Claudia assaults him in the courtroom. The judge appoints
public defender
A public defender is a lawyer appointed to represent people who otherwise cannot reasonably afford to hire a lawyer to defend themselves in a trial. Several countries provide people with public defenders, including the UK, Hungary and Singapore, ...
Aaron Levinsky to handle her case, as he happens to be in the courtroom. Although he is overbooked, he refuses to engage with the other lawyers without speaking to the defendant personally. Claudia resists him and is openly hostile until she finally accepts that he is on her side.
Levinsky begins to probe her background to determine how the child of supposedly model
upper middle class
In sociology, the upper middle class is the social group constituted by higher status members of the middle class. This is in contrast to the term ''lower middle class'', which is used for the group at the opposite end of the middle-class strat ...
parents could find herself in this situation, and with each piece of her past he uncovers, he receives additional, disturbing insight into what brought Claudia to this crossroads in her life.
In the psych ward where she is being held, she has a nightmare reliving what happened the day she killed the man in self-defense. He tried to force her get into the bath.
When her mother gets up on the stand, which Claudia was opposed to, Claudia has a flashback. In it she is very upset crying in her bedroom and her mother closes the door on her, ignoring her.
When her stepfather is on the stand, during the cross-examination, it is revealed that Arthur
molested
Sexual abuse or sex abuse, also referred to as molestation, is abusive sexual behavior by one person upon another. It is often perpetrated using force or by taking advantage of another. Molestation often refers to an instance of sexual assau ...
Claudia as a child until she was 16. Claudia has a flashback with someone trying to force himself into the bathroom. The mother gets visibly upset with this line of questioning, and Claudia also acts traumatized.
Finally, Claudia takes the stand in her own defense, and asserts that she is not insane simply because she doesn't fit society's image of what a woman should be.
In the end, the judge decides she is competent to stand trial, and she leaves the courtroom on her own
recognizance
In some common law nations, a recognizance is a conditional pledge of money undertaken by a person before a court which, if the person defaults, the person or their sureties will forfeit that sum. It is an obligation of record, entered into before ...
while she awaits her trial.
The movie ends with information stating Claudia stood trial for first-degree manslaughter, with Levinsky as her attorney, and she was acquitted.
Cast
*
Barbra Streisand
Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand (; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success in multiple fields of entertainment, and is among the few performers List ...
as Claudia Draper
*
Richard Dreyfuss
Richard Stephen Dreyfuss (; born Dreyfus; October 29, 1947) is an American actor. He is known for starring in popular films during the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, including ''American Graffiti'' (1973), ''Jaws'' (1975), ''Close Encounters of the T ...
as Aaron Levinsky
*
Maureen Stapleton
Lois Maureen Stapleton (June 21, 1925 – March 13, 2006) was an American actress. She received numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a BAFTA Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and two Tony Awards, in addition to ...
as Rose Kirk
*
Karl Malden
Karl Malden (born Mladen George Sekulovich; March 22, 1912 – July 1, 2009) was an American actor. He was primarily a character actor, who according to Robert Berkvist, "for more than 60 years brought an intelligent intensity and a homespun aut ...
as Arthur Kirk
*
Eli Wallach
Eli Herschel Wallach (; December 7, 1915 – June 24, 2014) was an American film, television, and stage actor from New York City. From his 1945 Broadway debut to his last film appearance, Wallach's entertainment career spanned 65 years. Origina ...
as Dr. Herbert Morrison
*
Robert Webber
Robert Laman Webber (October 14, 1924 – May 19, 1989) was an American actor. He appeared in dozens of films and television series, roles that included Juror No. 12 in the 1957 film ''12 Angry Men''.
Early life
Webber was born in Santa Ana, ...
as Francis MacMillan
*
James Whitmore
James Allen Whitmore Jr. (October 1, 1921 – February 6, 2009) was an American actor. He received numerous accolades, including a Golden Globe Award, a Grammy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, a Theatre World Award, and a Tony Award, plus two Aca ...
as Judge Stanley Murdoch
*
Leslie Nielsen
Leslie William Nielsen (11 February 192628 November 2010) was a Canadian actor and comedian. With a career spanning 60 years, he appeared in more than 100 films and 150 television programs, portraying more than 220 characters.
Nielsen was bo ...
as Allen Green
*
William Prince as Clarence Middleton
*
Dakin Matthews
Melvin Richard "Dakin" Matthews (born November 7, 1940) is an American actor, playwright, theatre director, and theatrical scholar. Best known as Herb Kelcher in ''My Two Dads'' (1987–1989), Hanlin Charleston in ''Gilmore Girls'' (2000–2007) ...
as Judge Lawrence Box
Production
In 1980,
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...
purchased the film rights to Tom Topor's
off-off-Broadway
Off-off-Broadway theaters are smaller New York City theaters than Broadway and off-Broadway theaters, and usually have fewer than 100 seats. The off-off-Broadway movement began in 1958 as part of a response to perceived commercialism of the prof ...
play and financed its move to
Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
. The studio
greenlight
To green-light is to give permission to proceed with a project. The term is a reference to the green traffic signal, indicating "go ahead".
Film industry
In the context of the film and television industries, to green-light something is to ...
ed the film adaptation in January 1982 and announced
Mark Rydell
Mark Rydell (born Mortimer H. Rydell; March 23, 1929) is an American film director, producer, and actor. He has directed several Academy Award-nominated films including '' The Fox'' (1967), '' The Reivers'' (1969), ''Cinderella Liberty'' (1973), ...
would produce and direct
Debra Winger
Debra Lynn Wingerhttps://www.pressreader.com/usa/closer-weekly/20200511/282084868951188https://www.discountmags.com/magazine/closer-weekly-may-11-2020-digital/in-this-issue/99961 (born May 16, 1955)https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Inter ...
in the relatively low-budget film.
Barbra Streisand
Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand (; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success in multiple fields of entertainment, and is among the few performers List ...
had campaigned for the role, but filming was scheduled to begin in the summer of 1982 and Rydell was unwilling to postpone the project while she completed ''
Yentl''.
Universal was concerned about the controversial nature of ''Nuts'' and eventually sold it to
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...
, where it remained in limbo until 1986, when Streisand was signed for $5 million plus a percentage of the gross. Topor and Rydell clashed about the film's focus and Rydell eventually quit, citing scheduling problems, budgetary concerns, and artistic differences. It was his second time that he had abandoned a Streisand property; he had walked away from ''
A Star Is Born'' a decade earlier. Streisand assumed producing duties but declined to direct, and Martin Ritt was hired to replace Rydell. Streisand hired
Andrzej Bartkowiak
Andrzej Bartkowiak, A.S.C. (born 6 March 1950) is a Polish cinematographer and film director.
Career
In the early 1980s, Bartkowiak was cinematographer on three films that received Academy Award nominations for Best Picture: ''The Verdict'', ' ...
, who had filmed the documentary chronicling the making of ''
The Broadway Album
''The Broadway Album'' is the twenty-fourth studio album by American singer Barbra Streisand, released by Columbia Records on November 4, 1985. Consisting mainly of classic show tunes, the album marked a major shift in Streisand's career. She had ...
'', as director of photography. She researched her role by studying
schizophrenic
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by continuous or relapsing episodes of psychosis. Major symptoms include hallucinations (typically hearing voices), delusions, and disorganized thinking. Other symptoms include social withdra ...
patients in a mental ward and interviewing prostitutes at a Los Angeles
brothel
A brothel, bordello, ranch, or whorehouse is a place where people engage in sexual activity with prostitutes. However, for legal or cultural reasons, establishments often describe themselves as massage parlors, bars, strip clubs, body rub par ...
, and began to work on her own draft of the screenplay. Although she received no screen credit for her work, the studio later publicly acknowledged her contribution.
Richard Dreyfuss
Richard Stephen Dreyfuss (; born Dreyfus; October 29, 1947) is an American actor. He is known for starring in popular films during the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, including ''American Graffiti'' (1973), ''Jaws'' (1975), ''Close Encounters of the T ...
was offered the role of Aaron Levinsky, but he passed.
Dustin Hoffman
Dustin Lee Hoffman (born August 8, 1937) is an American actor and filmmaker. As one of the key actors in the formation of New Hollywood, Hoffman is known for his versatile portrayals of antiheroes and emotionally vulnerable characters. He is th ...
suggested himself, but Warner refused to meet his artistic and salary demands. At various times the media reported
Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando Jr. (April 3, 1924 – July 1, 2004) was an American actor. Considered one of the most influential actors of the 20th century, he received numerous accolades throughout his career, which spanned six decades, including two Academ ...
,
Paul Newman
Paul Leonard Newman (January 26, 1925 – September 26, 2008) was an American actor, film director, race car driver, philanthropist, and entrepreneur. He was the recipient of numerous awards, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, three ...
, and
Al Pacino
Alfredo James Pacino (; ; born April 25, 1940) is an American actor. Considered one of the most influential actors of the 20th century, he has received numerous accolades: including an Academy Award, two Tony Awards, and two Primetime Emmy ...
were considered. Original choice Dreyfuss finally was cast, and filming was postponed yet again to allow him to complete ''
Tin Men
''Tin Men'' is a 1987 American comedy film written and directed by Barry Levinson, produced by Mark Johnson, and starring Richard Dreyfuss, Danny DeVito, and Barbara Hershey.
It is the second of Levinson's tetralogy "Baltimore Films", set in h ...
''.
This film also has the distinction of being
Leslie Nielsen
Leslie William Nielsen (11 February 192628 November 2010) was a Canadian actor and comedian. With a career spanning 60 years, he appeared in more than 100 films and 150 television programs, portraying more than 220 characters.
Nielsen was bo ...
's final dramatic film role. Nielsen had been establishing himself in comedy and the next year would star in ''
The Naked Gun
''The Naked Gun'' media franchise, also known as ''Police Squad!'', consists of several American crime spoof-comedies, based on an original story written by the comedy filmmaking trio Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker. The installments include one ...
''.
Aside from a few days of exterior shooting in
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
, the film, budgeted at $25 million, was made in Los Angeles. Principal photography began on October 6, 1986 and ended in early February. When the film previewed in October 1987, audience feedback was very positive, leading Streisand to believe it was powerful enough to sell itself. She refused to promote it other than in a three-part interview with
Gene Shalit
Eugene Shalit (born March 25, 1926) is an American retired journalist, television personality, Film criticism, film and Literary criticism, book critic and author. After starting to work part-time on NBC's ''Today (American TV program), The Toda ...
on ''
The Today Show
''Today'' (also called ''The Today Show'' or informally, ''NBC News Today'') is an American news and talk morning television show that airs weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on NBC. The program debuted on January 14, 1952. It was ...
'', although she later participated in a press conference when the film was released in foreign markets.
Critical reception
On
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
the film has an approval rating of 41% rating based on reviews from 27 critics.
Janet Maslin
Janet R. Maslin (born August 12, 1949) is an American journalist, best known as a film and literary critic for ''The New York Times''. She served as a ''Times'' film critic from 1977 to 1999 and as a book critic from 2000 to 2015. In 2000 Maslin ...
of ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' observed, "The film is almost entirely adrift. A group of three screenwriters ... have not succeeded in giving it any momentum at all ... The material is exceptionally talky and becalmed, the central question none too compelling, and the visual style distractingly cluttered … Still, Miss Streisand ... manages to be every inch the star."
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...
of the ''
Chicago Sun-Times
The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...
'' rated the film two out of four stars and noted that "the movie's revelations are told in such dreary, clichéd, weather-beaten old movie terms that we hardly care … As the courtroom drama slogs its weary way home, Streisand's authentic performance as a madwoman seems harder and harder to sustain ... ''Nuts'' is essentially just a futile exercise in courtroom cliches, surrounding a good performance that doesn't fit."
Rita Kempley of ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' called the film "a consistent character study, paced like a good thriller" and cited Barbra Streisand's "bravissimo performance". She added, "She is so dazzling, in fact, that she blinds us to the pat psychology of the facile script ... There's heat in the moment, but there's nothing to chew on afterward ... ''Nuts'' is less than the sum of its illustrious parts. Despite all its achievements, it's ultimately hollow inside, like a cake at a bachelor party. The filmmakers never quite succeed in their larger purpose: pitting inner truths against outward appearances to force us to decide who is and is not nuts. It wants to be a movie with a message, but in the end it's just a
melodrama
A modern melodrama is a dramatic work in which the plot, typically sensationalized and for a strong emotional appeal, takes precedence over detailed characterization. Melodramas typically concentrate on dialogue that is often bombastic or exces ...
."
Desson Howe
Desson Patrick Thomson is a former speechwriter for the Obama administration and former Film criticism, film critic for ''The Washington Post''. He was known as Desson Howe until 2003 when he changed his name after reuniting with his birth fath ...
of ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' said of the film, "
's Hollywood manipulation at its best. You're given little emotional tidbits along the way until the high point."
Jonathan Rosenbaum of the ''
Chicago Reader
The ''Chicago Reader'', or ''Reader'' (stylized as ЯEADER), is an American alternative weekly newspaper in Chicago, Illinois, noted for its literary style of journalism and coverage of the arts, particularly film and theater. It was founded by a ...
'' commented, "While the movie holds one's attention throughout, and its liberal message is compelling, we are clued in to certain facts about the heroine so early on that the audience is never really tested along with the characters. What might have been a sharper existential confrontation of our received ideas about sanity merely comes across as an effective courtroom drama, with strategically placed revelations and climaxes."
Accolades
The film was nominated for the
Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama
The Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama is a Golden Globe Award that has been awarded annually since 1944 by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA). Since its institution in 1943, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association i ...
. Streisand was nominated for the
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
Golden means made of, or relating to gold.
Golden may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
*Golden, in the parish of Probus, Cornwall
*Golden Cap, Dorset
*Golden Square, Soho, London
*Golden Valley, a valley on the River Frome in Gloucestershir ...
, and for the
David di Donatello for Best Foreign Actress
The David di Donatello for Best Foreign Actress ( it, David di Donatello per la migliore attrice straniera) is a category in the David di Donatello Awards, described as "Italy's answer to the Oscars". It was awarded by the Accademia del Cinema It ...
. Dreyfuss was nominated for the
Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
The Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture is a Golden Globe Award that was first awarded by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association in 1944 for a performance in a motion picture released in the previous year.
The formal ...
.
Home media
Warner Home Video
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Inc. (formerly known as Warner Home Video and WCI Home Video and sometimes credited as Warner Home Entertainment) is the home video distribution division of Warner Bros.
It was founded in 1978 as WCI Home Video ...
released the film on Region 1 DVD on July 1, 2003. It is in
anamorphic widescreen format with audio tracks in English and French and subtitles in English, French, and Spanish. Bonus features include commentary by Barbra Streisand and a production stills gallery.
References
External links
*
*
''Nuts'' at the Barbra Streisand archives
{{Martin Ritt
1987 films
1987 drama films
American legal drama films
American films based on plays
American courtroom films
Films set in New York City
Films directed by Martin Ritt
Warner Bros. films
Barwood Films films
Films produced by Barbra Streisand
Films with screenplays by Alvin Sargent
1980s English-language films
1980s American films