Nuts (1987)

Director:

Martin Ritt

Writers:

Tom Topor (play)
Tom Topor (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

20 November 1987 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Mad As In Angry. Or Just Plain... NUTS

Plot:

A high-class call girl accused of murder fights for the right to stand trial rather than be declared mentally incompetent.

Plot Keywords:

Court | Self Defense | Murder | Freedom | Courtroom Scene

Awards:

Nominated for 3 Golden Globes.

Cast

Barbra Streisand	...	Claudia Draper
Richard Dreyfuss	...	Aaron Levinsky
Maureen Stapleton	...	Rose Kirk
Karl Malden	...	Arthur Kirk
Eli Wallach	...	Dr. Herbert A. Morrison
Robert Webber	...	Francis MacMillan
James Whitmore	...	Judge Stanley Murdoch
Leslie Nielsen	...	Allen Green
William Prince	...	Clarence Middleton
Dakin Matthews	...	1st Judge
Paul Benjamin	...	Harry Harrison
Warren Manzi	...	Saul Kreiglitz
Elizabeth Hoffman	...	Dr. Johnson
Castulo Guerra	...	Dr. Arantes
Stacy Bergman	...	16 year-old Claudia

Runtime:

116 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:14 | Iceland:16 (video rating) | West Germany:16 (f) | France:Unrated | Canada:14A (TV rating) | Argentina:18 | Australia:M | Chile:18 | Finland:K-16 | Singapore:PG | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R (#28774)

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

This is the final film of both Robert Webber and Karl Malden.

Quotes:

Dr. Hebert A. Morrison: Do you think I'm one of the guys trying to put you away?
Claudia Draper: They don't pay you to turn me loose, do they?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Queer as Folk: (#1.5)" (2001)

Soundtrack:

HERE WE ARE AT LAST

Despite it all, it still stands up

It's hard to appreciate this film if you were raised on a strict diet of, say, Law & Order, The Practice, even Ally McBeal.

The courtroom conduct makes more modern viewers shout out our own relevance objections when Richard Dreyfuss fails to do so. In the light of what we're used to, the trial scenes are almost painfully inept--on both sides of the aisle. And nowadays, network TV has more wrenching depictions of child abuse story lines, but if it hadn't been for this film and others like it, we wouldn't be where we are. They broke ground, and the dramas that followed refined the plot lines and honed the tension.

Yes, Streisand is impressive in this role, mixing the high and low of top-dollar call-girl with the stereotypical hooker's slang and crudity. Dreyfuss' incompetence as an attorney in this mental competence hearing at first suggests he's off his game, but it slowly dawns that the actor is portraying a mediocre lawyer, a creature nigh-extinct in today's movies and programs. This average solicitor doesn't miraculously discover the tongue of William Jennings Bryan, nor does he find himself trampled by opposing counsel. As Dreyfuss' character puts it after Streisand has "excused" her first, high-priced attorney, "You had good. Now you've got me." That is precisely the character Dreyfuss portrays.

The film forces comparison with another Dreyfuss-courtroom drama, "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" also based on a play. "Nuts" falls short in that competition, even though the sophistication of the characters' understandings of mental states is almost equally dated and thus incredulous to latter-day viewers. In "Horses," it's easier to imagine that the good guys might just lose, and for a courtroom drama, that's a crucial uncertainty. Further, Dreyfuss' quadruple amputee character in "Horses" puts forth a more apparent and accessible frame of mind than Streisand's in "Nuts." She is more animalistic, less eloquent, more bitterly insulting, less achingly sardonic. We can relate more to him, because we're given more to work with.

If you want to rediscover some of the roots of commonplace legal story lines we see in primetime, both films are worth the time.