Cannery Row (1982) Movie Scene - Ball's on the 1-yard Line

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1982 Cannery Debra Emmett Houston John Movie Nick Nolte Row Steinbeck Walsh Winger
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  • Added: 21-Jan-08

In this scene, Doc (Nick Nolte) is getting his mysteriously broken arm put in a cast. Mack (Emmett Walsh) sets out to go see Hazel, the bum, "with the mind of a small child grafted to the body of a bull..." (as narrator John Houston put it.) It is Hazel, who is the real hero of the story, because he sets the 'wheels in motion" by breaking Doc's arm, which then makes Suzy DeSoto (Debra Winger) come help Doc collect specimens during Spring tides. As Mack puts it, "You (Hazel) got the ball to the one yard-line. Ol' Mack's gonna carry it in for ya!"

This film, largely unknown and all but forgotten by all except for the most ardent cine-philes is well worth the watch — if you can find it. It's funny, heartwarming, a great cast and blend of oddball characters: Doc (Nick Nolte), and Suzy DeSoto's (Debra Winger) as star-crossed lovers, Mac and the Bums, Fauna, and the other "girls" of the Bear Flag Restaurant, Joseph and Mary and the Seer, all combine to make a really delightful story of how down-and-outers support and help each other albeit in quirky ways. You will definitely love this film. John Huston's narration is the sardonically comic capstone to it all. The movie is based on two Steinbeck novellas: Cannery Row and Sweet Thursday and both of these are worth the read too.

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Cannery Row (1982) Movie Scene - Ball's on the 1-yard Line

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