The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (film)
| The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Robert Ellis Miller |
| Produced by | Thomas C. Ryan and Marc Merson |
| Screenplay by | Thomas C. Ryan |
| Based on | The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers |
| Starring |
Alan Arkin Sondra Locke |
| Music by | Dave Grusin |
| Cinematography | James Wong Howe |
| Edited by | John F. Burnett |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros.-Seven Arts |
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Release date
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Running time
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123 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $1.1 million (US/ Canada) |
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter is a 1968 American film adaptation of the Carson McCullers novel of the same name. It was directed by Robert Ellis Miller. It stars Alan Arkin and introduced Sondra Locke, both earned Academy Award nominations. The film updates the novel's small-town Southern setting from the Depression era to the then-contemporary 1960s.
John Singer (Alan Arkin) is a deaf-mute who works as a silver engraver in a small southern town. His only friend is a mentally disabled mute, Spiros Antonapoulos (Chuck McCann), who continually gets into trouble with the law since he doesn't know any better. When Antonapoulos is committed to a mental institution by his family, Singer decides to move to a town near the institution in order to be near his friend. Singer finds work there and rents a room in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Kelly (Biff McGuire and Laurinda Barrett), who are having financial difficulties as a result of Mr. Kelly's recent hip injury. Because the Kellys' teenage daughter, Mick (Sondra Locke), resents having to give up her room to him, Singer makes a few tentative efforts to win her friendship. Singer also tries to become friends with Blount (Stacy Keach), a semi-alcoholic drifter, and Dr. Copeland (Percy Rodriguez), an embittered segregationist African American who is secretly dying of lung cancer. Copeland's deepest disappointment is that his educated daughter, Portia (Cicely Tyson), works as a domestic and is married to a field hand.
Following a successful attempt to win Mick's friendship by encouraging her love for classical music, Singer visits Antonapoulos, and although he takes his friend out for the day, Singer is lonelier than ever when he returns home. Meanwhile, Portia and her husband are attacked and he is jailed for defending himself. Portia gets upset at Copeland for not perjuring himself to help bring out the truth about what happened in the fight. Copeland and Portia's relationship gets even more strained after her husband has his leg amputated after being placed in irons for trying to escape jail. Singer gets the two to reconcile after Portia learns from Singer of Copeland's illness.
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