Cannery Row (1982)

I fell in love with this movie the first time I saw it, perhaps in the late 90s/ early 2000s. I lost count of how many times I've seen it since, but it never loses its magic. I love many movies but I rarely give any a complete 10/10. This gem, however, more than earned it. Everything about it was perfection; from the characters to the pacing to the dream-like world and atmosphere that looks so familiar from my dreams, the ones you never want to wake up from. I read another comment here from a another reviewer who said s/he wished they could live there. My feeling exactly. Other wonderful aspects of the movie included the lead actors, who were spot on and had the most natural chemistry, the gorgeous soundtrack so fitting to the characters and atmosphere and, of course, the perfect narration that makes you feel as if you're transported to the imagined world of a perfect book. Talking of books, I want to stress that you don't have to have read the books on which the film is based to enjoy this masterpiece, I certainly didn't (although I would snap up the books should I ever come across them). On the other hand, if you read the books, let me give you a piece of advise; don't compare the two. A movie is a different art form which should always be taken on its own merits, not compared to anything else. That way you will see this effort for its own true beauty and not through some unrealistic expectations of being a carbon copy of something else. Enjoy.

Nothing to do with the book, just used the names of the characters and the location names. It's a simple formula Hollywood movie, boy meets girl, they get on each other's nerves a bit and then it's time to fall in love. I can only imagine that the positive reviews here are from people who hold some sort of financial interest in the film. The story line, again nothing to do with the book really, was scattered and nonsensical. What a waste of my time. Read the book. Skip the movie. This movie actually ruined the book experience for me. Steinbeck would turn over in his grave if he saw this. Now I am reading East of Eden and see that a movie was made about that too. I will watch the film after I finish the book, but I am sure that it will be a poor remake too. As for Cannery Row, you will note that there was no romance between the characters, or any big focus on Dora's whore house. This is all changed in the movie. And the book takes place during the time the canneries were open for business. The film is set at a time when all the factories have closed and the industry had shut down. The characters are never really developed and none of them are likable in any way.

This film has become one of my all-time favourite feel-good movies. Young Nolte and Winger have chemistry, the supporting cast is perfect, the music is perfect, John Huston's narration is perfect, the story is sweet and funny and poignant, and there's tons of atmosphere. I never saw its original theatrical release, which is a shame as I would have loved to have seen it on the big screen. There's enough of Steinbeck's wonderful short novel in the transfer to justify sharing the title, but the book was perhaps funnier and had less romance, and the movie has a couple of interesting new plot detours that work very well with Steinbeck's original themes. Highly recommended.

The title refers to the fishing area of Monterey, California, known as Cannery Row from the large number of canning factories situated there, but these are the depression years of the 1930s; the fishing industry has been badly hit and the canneries are empty and derelict. Although the film is based upon the writings of John Steinbeck, author of "The Grapes of Wrath", this is not a social-realist study of working-class poverty but a romantic comedy about the relationship between Doc, a marine biologist, and Suzy, a prostitute. Suzy does not appear in Steinbeck's book "Cannery Row", but the film is based both upon that novel and its sequel "Sweet Thursday".Both main characters have complicated life histories. Doc was originally a professional baseball player, but quit the sport after an opponent was hit and seriously injured by a ball thrown by him. He has taken up a scientific career despite having no formal academic qualifications; "Doc" is nickname bestowed on him by the people of the town. Suzy is an unemployed drifter who has drifted into prostitution almost by accident. She applies for a job as a waitress at the so-called Bear Flag Restaurant, and does not withdraw her application even when she is told that the establishment is in fact a brothel rather than a restaurant in the strict sense of the world. Their romance is aided and abetted by the down-and-outs of Cannery Row and the other girls of the Bear Flag under the leadership of their madam, the oddly-named Fauna. (Well, if girls can be called Flora, why not Fauna?) Odd names are something of a feature of the film; "Joseph and Mary" refers to a single individual (male) rather than two separate people, and another male character has the distinctly feminine name of Hazel.I would not agree with the reviewer who stated that this is among the best film adaptations of Steinbeck's novels. Steinbeck's writing has inspired some excellent films, most notably John Ford's "The Grapes of Wrath" and Elia Kazan's "East of Eden" with James Dean, but also "The Moon is Down", Hitchcock's "Lifeboat" and the 1992 version of "Of Mice and Men". (I have not seen the 1939 version of that story). "Cannery Row", however, is not quite in the same class, although it certainly has some virtues. It is well photographed- director David S Ward succeeds in making a derelict industrial area look attractive, even at times beautiful. There is a melancholy jazz score in keeping with the mood of the film and its period setting. There a number of amusing scenes such as the great frog hunt (Doc, who needs frogs for his research, has offered the boys a bounty for each one they catch) and the one where Fauna and his fellow bums try to persuade the simple-minded Hazel that he has been chosen by destiny to be the President of the United States. (He is horrified by the idea- "A thing like this could ruin my whole life!") Nick Nolte is good as Doc, but I was less impressed by Debra Winger as Suzy. Winger was a last-minute replacement for Raquel Welch, who was sacked from the film without notice and without any good reason being given. She successfully sued the producers for breach of contract, but I am not sure that Raquel would have been the right choice for the role. Any girl who goes into a job interview hoping to become a waitress and who leaves it having become a hooker, without caring, is clearly in desperate straits, not far from rock bottom. Raquel Welch, still stunningly beautiful in her early forties, might have made Suzy too glamorous. Debra Winger avoided that trap, but at times seemed too feisty and strong-willed to persuade me that this was a woman who had plumbed the depths of desperation.Steinbeck's portrayals of poverty can be grim, especially in "The Grapes of Wrath", but "Cannery Row" is among his lighter works, and the film is surprisingly cheerful in tone when one considers that it is set in a depression-hit industrial wasteland and that its characters are mostly bums and hookers. This is a world where even dereliction has its own beauty, where every hooker is a tart with a heart of gold (to use a well-worn cliché) and the bums are all lovable rogues. (In some cases their lovability is more to the fore than their roguishness). The result is a rather sanitised, sentimentalised account of the Great Depression, but it generally makes for an amiable and watchable romantic comedy. 6/10