Ricjard Jaeckel was deservedly nominated for Supporting Actor Oscar.
Sometimes a Great Notion (1971)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:11
Fresh:11
Rotten:0
Average Rating:7.2/10
Synopsis: Melodrama and action mix in this film about the personal and business struggles of a tightly knit family. The Stamper family runs an independent logging operation in the Pacific Northwest. While... Melodrama and action mix in this film about the personal and business struggles of a tightly knit family. The Stamper family runs an independent logging operation in the Pacific Northwest. While the rest of the logging companies in their city are frozen by union unrest, the defiant Stampers remain indifferent to the bitterness of the striking townspeople. The cantankerous elder Stamper simply dismisses the workers' struggle as a "pinko commie conspiracy." But the angry loggers are determined to make the Stampers pay a high price for ignoring their demands... [More]
Starring: Paul Newman, Henry Fonda, Lee Remick, Michael Sarrazin
Starring: Paul Newman, Henry Fonda, Lee Remick, Michael Sarrazin, Richard Jaeckel, Linda Lawson, Cliff Potts, Sam Gilman
Director: Paul Newman
Director: Paul Newman
Producer: John Foreman
Screenwriter: John Gay
Composer: Henry Mancini
Reviews for Sometimes a Great Notion
Based on Ken Kesey's book, Newman's second film as helmer is not effective or cohesive as the first (Rachel Rachel), but on location shoot in Oregon and good acting by Henry Fonda and the rest compensate for the uneasy fit between melodrama and action
When the film cuts away from the family soap opera dramatics and shows the macho men at work wielding their chainsaws at the logging camp among the giant trees, it has a buzz.
Kesey's 600-plus-page novel would have made a fine six-hour mini-series, and it's a tribute to scenarist Gay that he managed to condense that much material into under two hours.
The result is rather good -- a sort of contemporary 'western' in the timber territory.
Newman's handling of the outdoor scenes, especially those involving work, is -- like his own acting -- restrained but powerfully evocative.
Newman starts tunneling under the material, coming up with all sorts of things we didn't quite expect, and along the way he proves himself as a director of sympathy and a sort of lyrical restraint.
Newman handles the emotional drama well and directs one outdoor scene with consummate brilliance.
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