Nobody's Fool
Theatrical release poster
Directed byRobert Benton
Written byRobert Benton
Based onNobody's Fool
by Richard Russo
Produced byArlene Donovan
Scott Rudin
Starring
CinematographyJohn Bailey
Edited byJohn Bloom
Music byHoward Shore
Distributed byParamount Pictures
(USA & Canada)
Capella Films
(International)
Release dates
  • December 23, 1994 (1994-12-23)
(limited)
  • January 13, 1995 (1995-01-13)
(North America)
Running time
110 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$20 million[1]
Box office$39.5 million[2]

Nobody's Fool is a 1994 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Robert Benton, based on the 1993 novel of the same name by Richard Russo. It stars Paul Newman, Jessica Tandy, Melanie Griffith, Dylan Walsh, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Gene Saks, Josef Sommer, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Philip Bosco and Bruce Willis.

It was Paramount's final production under its Paramount Communications ownership (being sold to the original Viacom in July 1994) as well as Tandy's final film performance before her death on September 11, 1994.[3]

Plot

Donald "Sully" Sullivan is a stubborn old reprobate living in the peaceful, snowy northern New York state village of North Bath. He freelances in the construction business, usually with his dim-witted friend Rub by his side. He is often at odds with Carl Roebuck, a local contractor, suing him at every opportunity for unpaid wages and disability. Sully's one-legged lawyer Wirf is inept, and his lawsuits are repeatedly dismissed. As a way to irritate him, Sully openly flirts with Carl's wife Toby at every opportunity (which she enjoys). He is a regular at the Iron Horse Saloon, where he often has drinks and plays cards with Wirf, Carl, Rub, Jocko the town pharmacist, and Ollie Quinn, the town's Chief of Police.

A running joke is the repeated theft of Carl's snowblower. Sully steals it to get back at Carl for his latest failed lawsuit. Carl steals it back, placing it in the yard at his construction business guarded by his doberman pinscher guard dog. Sully, after drugging the dog, steals it a second time. Carl takes it back a final time, and leaves the dog, who is now skittish due to his drugging, at Sully's childhood home for him to find.

Sully is a tenant in the home of the elderly Miss Beryl, his 8th grade teacher, whose banker son Clive strongly urges her to kick him out and sell the house. Family complications of his own develop for Sully with a visit from Peter, his estranged son who is a jobless professor at odds with his wife. While he and Sully reconstruct their relationship, Sully begins a new one with young grandson Will. Peter's sudden everyday presence does not sit well with Rub, but Sully tells him that although Peter is his son, Rub is still his best friend. Meanwhile, Clive is on the verge of a lucrative deal to build an amusement park in North Bath. However, the deal unexpectedly falls through when the promoter turns out to be a con man, and Clive quietly skips town in shame since he used his bank's resources to help finance the amusement park.

After being jailed for punching a police officer named Raymer who has been persecuting him, Sully's luck seems to be all bad. But his son and grandson start to warm up to him, and his fortune takes a turn for the better when his horse racing trifecta ticket wins. Even the lovely Toby expresses a willingness to leave Carl, mostly due to his constant womanizing, and run away with Sully to Hawaii. Sully realizes he can't leave his grandson and thanks Toby for considering him, just before she leaves for the airport. In the end, Sully is pretty much back where he began, boarding at Miss Beryl's. But now he is a little richer, both financially and in his soul, he's a new dog owner, and he has become the picture of contentment.

Cast

Production

The setting for both the book and movie, the fictional[4] North Bath, New York, is based on the city of Ballston Spa, New York, in Saratoga County, New York, just east of Gloversville, where Russo grew up.[5] The real Ballston Spa was overshadowed by neighboring Saratoga Springs, just as North Bath was eclipsed by the fictional Schuyler Springs. Nobody's Fool was filmed in the Hudson Valley city of Beacon, which was paid a $40,000 location fee for services and inconveniences. Production began in November 1993 and concluded in February 1994. The Iron Horse Bar, located on N. 7th Street in Hudson, NY, is now the Governor's Tavern; and the Diner is now The Grazin' Diner on Warren Street, just around the corner in Hudson.[6]

Bruce Willis reportedly agreed to a substantial pay cut to appear in the film, accepting the SAG-AFTRA scale of $1,400 per week at a time when the actor was earning roughly $15 million for his action movies. His name appears only in the closing credits.[7]

Reception

Box office

Nobody's Fool was given a limited release on December 23, 1994, earning $92,838 in six theaters. The film was given a wide release on January 13, 1995, earning $7,142,691 over its opening weekend in 792 theaters.[8] The film ultimately grossed $39,491,975 in North America.[2]

Critical response

Nobody's Fool was well received by film critics. The film maintains a "Certified Fresh" 91% rating on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes based on reviews from 55 critics. The site's consensus states: "It's solidly directed by Robert Benton and stacked with fine performances from an impressive cast, but above all, Nobody's Fool is a showcase for some of Paul Newman's best late-period work."[9] On Metacritic the film has a score of 86 out of 100 based on reviews from 28 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[10]

Todd McCarthy of Variety wrote:

Nobody's Fool is a gentle, flavorsome story of a loose-knit, dysfunctional family whose members essentially include every glimpsed citizen of a small New York town. Fronted by a splendid performance from Paul Newman as a spirited man who has made nothing of his life, Robert Benton's character-driven film is sprinkled with small pleasures; the dramatic developments here don't take place in the noisy, calamitous manner that is customary these days.[11]

Desson Howe of The Washington Post similarly remarked:

Nobody's Fool is so eloquently straightforward, it practically sings to the soul. A story about very real people caught in the everyday woes and worries of a small Upstate New York town, it shows the kind of character traits, tics and from-the-heart chatter you wish there was more of in the movies.[12]

Jonathan Rosenbaum of The Chicago Reader also wrote:

This is the first Robert Benton movie I've really liked — and possibly my favorite Paul Newman performance since The Hustler. Conceived somewhat in the spirit of Chekhov's stories, [Nobody's Fool] ambles along semiplotlessly, focusing on the petty love-hatreds that link people together in small towns and the everyday orneriness that keeps them alive...it has both the poetry and the authenticity of failure.[13]

Paul Newman was particularly lauded by critics. Caryn James of The New York Times described the star's performance as "the single best of this year and among the finest he has ever given."[14]

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote:

I have been watching Paul Newman in movies all of my life. He is so much a part of the landscape of modern American film that sometimes he is almost invisible: He does what he does with simplicity, grace and a minimum of fuss, and so I wonder if people even realize what a fine actor he is.[15]

Accolades

Award Category Nominee(s) Result
20/20 Awards Best Actor Paul Newman Nominated
Best Adapted Screenplay Robert Benton Nominated
Academy Awards[16][17][18] Best Actor Paul Newman Nominated
Best Screenplay – Based on Material Previously Produced or Published Robert Benton Nominated
Berlin International Film Festival[19] Golden Bear Nominated
Best Actor Paul Newman Won
Chlotrudis Awards[20] Best Supporting Actor Bruce Willis Nominated
Golden Globe Awards[21] Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama Paul Newman Nominated
Humanitas Prize[22] Feature Film Robert Benton Nominated
National Board of Review Awards[23] Top Ten Films 7th Place
National Society of Film Critics Awards[24] Best Actor Paul Newman Won
New York Film Critics Circle Awards[25] Best Actor Won
Retirement Research Foundation Theatrical Film Fiction Arlene Donovan, Michael Hausman and Scott Rudin Won
Screen Actors Guild Awards[26] Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role Paul Newman Nominated
USC Scripter Awards[27] Robert Benton (screenwriter); Richard Russo (author) Nominated

Year-end lists

References

  1. ↑ Gadberry, Greg (December 20, 1994). "Waterville writer pleased at Hollywood version of novel". The Telegraph. Retrieved September 9, 2022 – via Google News Archive.
  2. 1 2 "Nobody's Fool". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved July 31, 2013.
  3. ↑ Berger, Marilyn (September 12, 1994). "Jessica Tandy, a Patrician Star Of Theater and Film, Dies at 85". The New York Times. Retrieved April 6, 2016.
  4. ↑ Russo, Richard (May 9, 2016). "Richard Russo Returns To North Bath, NY, In 'Everybody's Fool'". Fresh Air (Interview). Interviewed by Terry Gross. Retrieved November 24, 2016. ... the characters they portrayed in 'Nobody's Fool' have been revived in Russo's new novel, 'Everybody's Fool.' It's set in the late-90s, 10 years after 'Nobody's Fool,' in the same fictional economically depressed working-class town in upstate New York.
  5. ↑ Greenhouse, Steven (March 24, 2015). "Richard Russo, Pulitzer Winner, Tells Gloversville Library Thanks for the Memories". The New York Times. Retrieved April 9, 2016.
  6. ↑ "Hollywood on the Hudson". The New York Times. January 16, 1994. Retrieved April 6, 2016.
  7. ↑ Welkos, Robert W. (January 29, 1995). "Yes, Virginia, That Was Bruce Willis". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 6, 2016.
  8. ↑ Natale, Richard (January 17, 1995). "Holiday Spurs Record-Setting Movie Weekend". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 6, 2016.
  9. ↑ "Nobody's Fool". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved September 30, 2019.
  10. ↑ "Nobody's Fool". Metacritic.
  11. ↑ McCarthy, Todd (December 11, 1994). "Review: 'Nobody's Fool'". Variety. Retrieved April 6, 2016.
  12. ↑ Howe, Desson (January 13, 1995). "'Nobody's Fool' (R)". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 6, 2016.
  13. ↑ Rosenbaum, Jonathan (January 19, 1995). "'Nobody's Fool'". The Chicago Reader. Retrieved April 14, 2021.
  14. ↑ James, Caryn (December 23, 1994). "FILM REVIEW; Paul Newman in Blue-Collar Gear". The New York Times. Retrieved April 6, 2016.
  15. ↑ Ebert, Roger (January 13, 1995). "Nobody's Fool". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved April 6, 2016.
  16. ↑ "The 67th Academy Awards (1995) Nominees and Winners". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. AMPAS. Archived from the original on November 9, 2014. Retrieved November 20, 2011.
  17. ↑ Eller, Claudia; King, Susan (February 15, 1995). "The 67th Academy Award Nominations". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 6, 2016.
  18. ↑ Willistein, Paul (January 15, 1995). "At 70, Paul Newman Is 'Nobody's Fool'". The Morning Call. Retrieved April 10, 2016.
  19. ↑ "Paul Newman Wins Award For Best Actor At Film Festival". Orlando Sentinel. February 21, 1995. Retrieved April 6, 2016.
  20. ↑ "1st Annual Chlotrudis Awards". Chlotrudis Society for Independent Films. Retrieved April 23, 2022.
  21. ↑ "The English Patient – Golden Globes". HFPA. Retrieved July 5, 2021.
  22. ↑ "Humanitas Prize Nominees". Humanitas Prize. Retrieved May 6, 2022.
  23. ↑ "1994 Award Winners". National Board of Review. Retrieved July 5, 2021.
  24. ↑ "Past Awards". National Society of Film Critics. December 19, 2009. Retrieved July 5, 2021.
  25. ↑ "1994 New York Film Critics Circle Awards". New York Film Critics Circle. Retrieved July 5, 2021.
  26. ↑ "The Inaugural Screen Actors Guild Awards". Screen Actors Guild Awards. Retrieved May 6, 2022.
  27. ↑ "Past Scripter Awards". USC Scripter Award. Retrieved November 8, 2021.
  28. ↑ Hurley, John (December 30, 1994). "Movie Industry Hit Highs and Lows in '94". Staten Island Advance. p. D11.
  29. ↑ MacCambridge, Michael (December 22, 1994). "it's a LOVE-HATE thing". Austin American-Statesman (Final ed.). p. 38.
  30. ↑ "Awards for 1994". National Board of Review. Archived from the original on November 25, 2010. Retrieved July 20, 2020.
  31. ↑ Maslin, Janet (December 27, 1994). "CRITIC'S NOTEBOOK; The Good, Bad and In-Between In a Year of Surprises on Film". The New York Times. Retrieved July 19, 2020.
  32. ↑ Zoller Seitz, Matt (January 12, 1995). "Personal best From a year full of startling and memorable movies, here are our favorites". Dallas Observer.
  33. ↑ Ross, Bob (December 30, 1994). "1994 The Year in Entertainment". The Tampa Tribune (Final ed.). p. 18.
  34. ↑ P. Means, Sean (January 1, 1995). "'Pulp and Circumstance' After the Rise of Quentin Tarantino, Hollywood Would Never Be the Same". The Salt Lake Tribune (Final ed.). p. E1.
  35. ↑ Lovell, Glenn (December 25, 1994). "The Past Picture Show the Good, the Bad and the Ugly -- a Year Worth's of Movie Memories". San Jose Mercury News (Morning Final ed.). p. 3.
  36. ↑ Simon, Jeff (January 1, 1995). "Movies: Once More, with Feeling". The Buffalo News. Retrieved July 19, 2020.
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