Ironweed (1987)

Director:

Hector Babenco

Writers:

William Kennedy (novel)
William Kennedy (screenplay)

Release Date:

February 1988 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

A schizophrenic drifter spends Halloween in his home town after returning there for the first time in decades.

Plot Keywords:

Albany New York | Cancer | Ghost | Singer | Drifter

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 2 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Jack Nicholson	...	Francis Phelan
Meryl Streep	...	Helen Archer
Carroll Baker	...	Annie Phelan
Michael O'Keefe	...	Billy Phelan
Diane Venora	...	Margaret 'Peg' Phelan
Fred Gwynne	...	Oscar Reo
Margaret Whitton	...	Katrina Dougherty
Tom Waits	...	Rudy
Jake Dengel	...	Pee Wee
Nathan Lane	...	Harold Allen
James Gammon	...	Reverend Chester
Will Zahrn	...	Rowdy Dick
Laura Esterman	...	Nora Lawlor
Joe Grifasi	...	Jack
Hy Anzell	...	Rosskam

Runtime:

143 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Australia:M | Argentina:13 | Canada:14A | Chile:14 | Finland:K-14 | Sweden:11 | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Albany, New York, USA

Company:

Home Box Office (HBO)

Trivia:

The scene in The Bird in a Gilded Gage, where Meryl Streep sings, the Mayor of Albany, Tom Whalen is an extra. The scene was shot in what was the Boulevard Cafeteria and has been operated as Restaurant Paridiso at Central Avenue and Robin Street in Albany, NY. The Boulevard Cafeteria was a famous hangout for students at the New York State Teachers' College (now UAlbany)and it was famous for its nude murals, its coffee and black and white cookies.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: When the vigilantes' cars approach the hobo camp, they are observed across the steel-ribbed top of a boxcar with no running board, impossible in 1938.

Quotes:

Francis Phelan: By God, Helen, that's as good as it gets. You were born to be a star.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Simpsons: Homer the Moe (#13.3)" (2001)

Grim And Wonderful

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.