Review of Ironweed (1987) by Brian V — 15 Nov 2013

After reading William Kennedy's eminently overrated Ironweed, winner of the 1984 Pulitzer Prize, I was curious to know what the two preeminent actors of our era could do with the material. This is not a story about two souls down on their luck in depression-era America struggling hard to make it despite terrible odds.

Don't expect The Grapes of Wrath or They Shoot Horses, Don't They? The story is about lazy bums (both literally and figuratively) who are inebriated through most of the film and whose idea of hard work involves sexual favors.

The antihero Francis Phelan left his family after dropping and killing his infant son, ostensibly in a drunken stupor. He naturally drinks a lot of booze, begs for food, beats his girlfriend and tries to befriend the family he abandoned.

At one point in the film, he even berates the ghost of a man he murdered. Nevertheless, I can still enjoy movies featuring despicable, amoral characters provided those characters are interesting. Francis and his girlfriend Helen are not in the least and no amount of exceptional acting could have changed this.

Rudy, played brilliantly by singer-songwriter Tom Waits IS an interesting character but used far too sparsely. I would have preferred a feature-length movie of Meryl Streep as Helen singing Tin Pan Alley standards like "He's Me Pal" than this completely forgettable film.