Ironweed

source: Ironweed

Ironweed

Given the weak print and media reviews, I was shocked at how moving and poetic this portrait of street bums in the 30s was. Streep and Nicholson are both magnificent, but the whole supporting cast is very good. It has flaws – it's a little overlong, there the occasional heavy handed moment. But it's also a deeply moving portrait of lost souls trying to find meaning in a very cold world. My one big frustration is the US DVD - for some reason it was released full screen (4:3) and not in the original 1:85. That might have been forgivable if the DVD had been released years ago, when that was a more common practice, but 'Ironweed' - a visually stunning film - was released in 2009! So there is no excuse for this inaccurate presentation. Update: There is now - finally - a perfectly decent blu-ray available from Olive. Correct aspect ratio, and a nice, if not amazing transfer.

I saw Ironweed when it first came out in 1987 and thought it was a classic. Unfortunately I was one of the few who saw it at the movies. I have seen it several times since and rank it as one of the greatest movies of all time. Hopefully it will be re-discovered. The acting is absolutely first rate. Streep has her finest role and Tom Waits, Carol Baker and Fred Gwynn are excellent. The movie rightly so belongs to Nicholson. This ranks with Chinatown as one of his two finest roles. That's saying a lot for a guy who has 18 Golden Globe and 12 Oscar noms. Jack really plays this role perfectly. He certainly deserved the Oscar for his work- how Michael Douglas won for Wall St. is beyond me. The scene with his daughter- reading a letter that he had sent her years ago has me balling every time I see it. I love movies and this one ranks as one of the true treasures in cinema.

If you wonder why Meryl Streep and Jack Nicolson became famous as superstars, this movie will demonstrate why. These two people probably provide enough acting genius in this movie to blow out a major cineplex. Tom Waits also turns in a suprisingly good performance. If you want to see what two mature master actors can do with a rather depressing story, set in a world grimier then Cannery Row and with out the genius of Steinbecks' writing, but nevertheless excellent, rent or buy this film. It is a masterpiece.

(Flash Review) I saw Nicholson & Streep and an unknown movie title, clicked play and was ready for an acting clinic. I was not disappointed. The film opens with Jack awaking from his slumber under a blanket of cardboard, on the side of the road, in the midst of the Great Depression. There by circumstances partially within his own control as we slowly come to learn, he is there to visit his old hometown and later runs into a female friend, played by Streep, who is also down on her luck. Much of the film follows the two of them as they wrestle internal strife, try to earn a couple dollars to fill their stomachs with more booze than food and mend old relationships. Will this phase in their life lead to a happier place or drive them deeper into despair? Overall, the acting was really good but it wasn't an enjoyable watch. Not just because it was gritty and depressing but the pacing felt uneven and it failed to honestly emotionally affect me rather than superciliously.

Jack Nicholson usually relies on his quirky mannerisms and catch phrases; in this movie he shows his acting talents in a more serious manner. This movie is a brutal look at street people in the late 1930s. Meryl Streep immerses herself into her part as usual. This movie is harsh, cold and depressing. And the running time almost pushes two and a half hours long. I honestly don't know what they could have left out to make it shorter. Once is enough for this one. It will take a while for you to get your mind off of the abundance of hardship and sadness. Nicholson and Streep are joined with a solid, diverse cast that includes Carroll Baker, Michael O'Keefe, Tom Waits, Nathan Lane and Fred Gwynne.

Cold, desolate in the surface and an uncomfortable warmth in the inside. Meryl Streep leads in a way that is difficult to explain. She provides a truly magic movie moment when she sings "He's My Pal" for her supper. For a moment we live her fantasy. Her moment is our moment, that's why as the song and the fantasy ends something inside me cracked. I felt tears running down my face and, I swear, I wasn't ready for that. The humanity of Meryl Streep, the actress, filters through the devastating circumstances of her character. Circumstances that, by the time we meet her, are already a way of life. At the beginning of the film, when somebody asks her how is she, her reply is "Delightful". Trying to adjust to this character I listen to her stained, tired voice, trying to be heard and I did, heard her. I love Meryl Streep.

Never the timing for a movie had been so disastrous.Released in those "glorious " eighties when the success stories and the triumphalist heroes were the golden rule,"Ironweed" stood no chance at all.Two tramps did not fit well in the movie landscape of those "feel good" times.And two tramps played by two megastars ,it was unforgivable! The cast is stellar,but it's Meryl Streep whom I will remember FOREVER.When she sings her little tune "he's me pal" she's so heart-wrenching that she will move you to tears."At least ,I didn't betray anybody" she said.Although it was a colossal flop,Streep would only approach such an emotion afterwards.(notably in "the bridges of Madison County")Nicholson was equally courageous to play such a demeaning part,and he gets strong support from Carroll Baker who proves here she can age gracefully and from Tom Waits ,ideally cast as a barfly. "Ironweed" is very hard to see nowadays.One of these days ,it will be given the place it deserves.