Review: The Heart is a Lonely Hunter

Singer (Alan Arkin) finds out that his chubby, intellectually-challenged deaf-mute friend Spiros (Chuck McCann) has gotten arrested for smashing the window of a candy store and sampling some of the merchandise. Spiros has done similar things on numerous occasions and although Singer and his lawyer manage to get Spiros out of this one, Spiros’ cousin can no longer deal with him and decides to have him committed to a mental institution a long distance away. Singer (who himself is a deaf-mute, but of ‘normal’ intellect) decides to move to a town that’s close enough for him to visit his friend from time to time. He manages to get lodging as a boarder, staying with a family headed by disabled and embittered Biff McGuire. It is here that Singer interacts with several of the small town’s inhabitants, including McGuire’s tomboy teenage daughter Mick (Sondra Locke), the grumpy local African-American doctor (played by Percy Rodriguez), and the hard-drinking Blount (Stacy Keach), a new arrival who manages to get a gig at the local amusement park and makes fast friends with Singer. Cicely Tyson plays Rodriguez’s strong-willed daughter, whom he has a strained relationship with.

Not-bad film about those on the outer in society for one reason or another, with several very fine performances. However, this 1968 drama from director Robert Ellis Miller (“Any Wednesday”, “The Baltimore Bullet”) is just a tad too clichéd and unfocussed for me to completely recommend. It also takes a major nosedive with a depressing ending that seemingly comes out of nowhere. At least, that’s how it played out for me, perhaps I wasn’t paying close enough attention. Scripted by producer Thomas C. Ryan (who scripted the awful “Hurry Sundown”) from a novel by Carson McCullers (“Reflections in a Golden Eye”, which made for a terrible film with Marlon Brando), it’s sensitive, well-meaning stuff but some will roll their eyes at the ‘disabled person who changes the lives of those he interacts with’ cliché. For me, although Cicely Tyson is very fine, the main issue I had was that the scenes with her and her doctor father played by an Easter Island statue named Percy Rodriguez (who seems to be held at gunpoint to appear in the film) seem to come out of a different, more racially-themed film. Being placed in this one, there’s just not enough room to let this storyline live and breathe. I bet it worked a lot better in the novel, where there would’ve been a lot more room to bring all of the strands together.

On the plus side, Alan Arkin probably deserved his Oscar nomination on degree of difficulty alone, playing a deaf (but not dumb) mute. He’s immediately sympathetic and grips you without ever saying a word. Fellow Oscar nominee Sondra Locke amazed me on two fronts; 1) She actually smiles here, and it’s a truly bizarre sight. 2) She gives undeniably the best performance of her entire stiff career, and it was actually her debut role. Looking rather young and gangly, it’s the closest she has ever seemed to being human. In smaller roles, a grubby-faced Stacy Keach steals his every scene and possibly the whole film (his first!), despite not being in the film all that much. It’s a good, colourful part for him. Showbiz veteran Chuck McCann, meanwhile plays the chubby, happy-faced, intellectually-disabled role that would eventually turn into a bit of a cliché, but he’s undeniably memorable. In fact, he probably should’ve been in more of the film, too.

A subplot that doesn’t mesh, and a completely rushed finale just pull this otherwise well-intentioned drama back from a recommendation. Several of the performances are terrific, however, including Sondra Locke’s one truly commendable performance. Who knew she could act? It’s probably worth a look if you’re a fan of hers or Alan Arkin, but only if you don’t have to pay much for your trouble. Meanwhile, the film definitely could’ve used a little more Stacy Keach. Still, I bet this is someone’s favourite film. I can just tell. Good Dave Grusin (“Waterhole #3”, “The Midnight Man”, “The Front”, “The Goonies”) score, too.

Rating: C+