The Prince of Tides ***½ (1991, Barbra Streisand, Nick Nolte, Jason Gould, Jeroen Krabbé, Blythe Danner, Kate Nelligan, Melinda Dillon, George Carlin) – Classic Movie Review 1303

Producer-director-star Barbra Streisand’s troubled 1991 romance is an infuriating half-success of a movie, with enough good stuff to make it attractive and appealing, but also enough to suggest the much better movie it could have been.

On the plus side, Nick Nolte delivers one of his most astounding, mesmerising performances as former football player Tom Wingo, a middle-aged southerner who struggles to overcome the psychological damage inflicted by his dysfunctional childhood in South Carolina. He comes to New York City to talk to his sister’s psychiatrist Dr Susan Lowenstein (Streisand) after his sister Savannah (Melinda Dillon) has just attempted suicide and is now in a deep depression.

As the truth about Tom’s mother emerges, and he coaches her son Bernard (Streisand’s real-life son Jason Gould) in football, Tom and Susan fall in love, despite her being his psychiatrist and both of them being married.

Jeroen Krabbé plays Herbert Woodruff, Susan’s husband, and Blythe Danner plays Sallie Wingo, Tom’s wife. Kate Nelligan, Brad Sullivan and George Carlin are also in the cast.

On the minus side, Pat Conroy’s well-meaning story (from his 1986 novel) seems hollow here in his screenplay written with Becky Johnston, especially considering its seriousness. The dialogue regularly plays flat and uninvolving, and the psychiatrist’s couch romance is embarrassingly soapy and clichéd. Streisand is basically miscast and, though she works incredibly hard, there’s little she can do to be convincing as a believable shrink, especially with the actressy hairstyle and fingernails she has here.

Then again, and surprisingly, several of the support performances are weak, James Newton Howard’s music score is soupy and Stephen Goldblatt’s cinematography is too pretty-pretty, all working against the conviction and authority the film could bring.

Nevertheless, for the serious-minded subject matter, the charismatic acting of Nolte, Dillon and Gould, and the plush, handsome production of designer Paul Sylbert, as well as for Streisand’s highly emotional, powerhouse direction, this movie is well worth anyone’s time.

There were a highly promising seven Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, but it lost that top award to The Silence of the Lambs, which swept the board that year so there were no wins for The Prince of Tides at all. Nolte did however win the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama.

Costing $30million and taking just under $75million, the film was a box office hit and raised Streisand’s reputation as a director, though its numerous changes from the novel upset some of Conroy’s fans.

Gould said in 2001: ‘I still act. I admit I haven’t pursued it with the intensity of some young actors, probably because I grew up around the business.’ Around 1988, at the age of 21, Gould came out to his parents as gay and around 1991 tabloids outed him.

In a 1999 interview with The Advocate Streisand said: ^‘I would never wish for my son to be anything but what he is. He is bright, kind, sensitive, caring, and a very conscientious and good person. He is a very gifted actor and film-maker. What more could a parent ask for in their child? I have been truly blessed. Most parents feel that their child is particularly special, and I am no different. I have a wonderful son. My only wish for my son, Jason, is that he continues to experience a rich life of love, happiness, joy, and fulfilment, both creatively and personally.

‘Nobody on this earth has the right to tell anyone that their love for another human being is morally wrong. I will never forget how it made me shudder to hear Pat Buchanan say that he stood “with George [H.W.] Bush against the immoral idea that gay and lesbian couples should have the same standing in law as married men and women.” Who is Pat Buchanan to pronounce anyone’s love invalid? How can he deny the profound love felt by one human being for another? … Unfortunately, however, as long as people like Newt Gingrich and Pat Buchanan continue in public life, the fight to codify gay marriages will be a tough battle to win.’

Streisand went on to direct The Mirror Has Two Faces in 1996, her third and so far last feature.

Pat Conroy, the South Carolina author of bestsellers including The Prince of Tides, The Great Santini and The Lords of Discipline, died on 4 March 2016, aged 70.

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Derek Winnert is the author of Barbra Streisand Quote Unquote.

© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 1303

Link to Derek Winnert’s home page for more film reviews: http://derekwinnert.com/

 Nolte has been nominated for three Academy Awards, twice for Best Actor and once for Best Supporting Actor.