Cannery Row (1982)

Actors: Ruth Myers (costume designer), M. Emmet Walsh (actor), Anne Lockhart (actress), Art LaFleur (actor), Nick Nolte (actor), Frank McRae (actor), James Keane (actor), Carl Ciarfalio (actor), Debra Winger (actress), Santos Morales (actor), John Huston (actor), David Bretherton (editor), Kevin King (miscellaneous crew), Audra Lindley (actress), Christopher Doyle (actor),

Plot: Monterey, California in the 1940's. Cannery Row - the section of town where the now closed fish canneries are located - is inhabited primarily by the down and out, although many would not move away even if they could. Probably the most upstanding citizen in the area is Doc, a marine biologist who earns a living primarily by collecting and selling marine specimens for research. He is a lost soul who is looking for his place in life. He is running away from his past, one where he is trying to make amends for what he considers a past wrong. But his current life isn't totally satisfying either. He believes that his recent collection of eight baby octopi will help him define that future in conducting research on their behavior. However, he is finding that research is not as easy as he had hoped, and that he is still feeling restless. Into the area comes drifter Suzy DeSoto. She too is a lost soul. With few job skills, she gets a job as what she calls a floozy in the local whorehouse, despite her openly headstrong demeanor not making her well suited to the work. Doc and Suzy are immediately attracted to each other, but theirs is a clash of personalities, despite each truly liking the other. The other residents of Cannery Row do their part for a Doc/Suzy coupling, not always with successful results. Doc and Suzy will first have to find their own lot in life before they can commit to someone else, be it the other or anyone else.

Keywords: baseball-bat, based-on-novel, brothel, loneliness, octopus, snake
Genres: Comedy, Drama,
Taglines: You don't have to be crazy to live here...but it helps.

Quotes:

Doc: The only thing we have in common is that we're both wrong for each other.

Hazel: I love Doc! He was a character witness for me, and I ain't got no character.

Mack: Hazel! Hazel! I just came from the hospital. Doc's got a broke arm. You know somethin' about it, don't ya?::Hazel: You gonna be mad at me, Mack?::Mack: Naw, Hazel. I promise.::Hazel: I didn't have no choice, Mack. Suzy said she wouldn't go see him unless he got sick or had a broke arm. I tried, but I couldn't figure out how to get him sick. There was no other way! You sure you ain't mad, Mack?::Mack: Hell, no! 'course, we don't know how she'll all work out, but it's a step in the right direction.::Hazel: Mack, I can't do it. Fauna's gotta get somebody else for President of the United States. I tried, I practiced - but I just ain't got the poop! I'll mess up the whole country!::Mack: Hazel, ya sweet little bastard! We'll get ya off, don't you worry! You done noble stuff. Wasn't nobody with the guts, but you. You just sit there and take it easy. You got the ball to the one-yard-line. Ol' Mack's gonna carry it in, for ya!

Suzy DeSoto: Look, every time I talk to you, I get more confused. I like you just fine when you're not around.

Fauna: The stars say that you are gonna be - oh... that you are gonna be President of the United States!::Mack: I don't believe it.::Hazel: I don't wanna be no President!::Fauna: You got no choice; the stars have spoke. You'll just have to go to Washington.::Hazel: But I don't want to! I don't know nobody there!::Fauna: I'm sorry, Hazel.::Hazel: Ain't there any way I can tell 'em I won't do it?::Fauna: No.::Hazel: [sobbing] A thing like this could ruin my whole life!

[last lines]::Narrator: [voice over] The party didn't slow down 'till dawn. The crew of a San Pedro tuna boat showed up about One, and was routed. The police came by at Two, and stayed to join the party. Mack used their squad car to go get more wine. A woman called the police to complain about the noise, and couldn't get anybody. The crew of the tuna boat came back about Three, and was welcomed with open arms. The police reported their own car stolen, and found it later on the beach. Things were finally back to normal on Cannery Row. Once more, the world was spinning in greased grooves.

[first lines]::Narrator: [voice over] Cannery Row has never been like anywhere else. For one thing, its people are different. When the town died off, most of them failed to notice. Some say nobody would live here if they didn't have to, but there are some, like The Seer, who wouldn't live anywhere else, even if they could. Of all the people on Cannery Row, Doc is probably the best known. He makes as good a living as he needs by collecting marine animals and selling them to colleges and museums. Over the years, Doc became a pillar of the community, and its fountain of science and philosophy. He had friends he didn't even know about, and some he would never forget - friends like Mack and the boys. Mack is the elder and leader of a small group of men who have in common no families, no money and no ambition, beyond the time to discuss matters of interest but little importance. The youngest and by far the strongest of the group is Hazel. A childhood illness is said to have left him with a slightly diminished mental capacity. As a result, he had the mind of a small boy grafted to the body of a bull.

Suzy: [Talking about Doc] So he's just hiding out.::Fauna: He ain't hiding out. He just ain't putting his self forward for comment, that's all.

The Seer: [Talking to Doc] It's time I go watch the sunset now. I wouldn't be much of a seer if I didn't do that. I've even come to think that it wouldn't go down without me.

Narrator: [voice over] After an hour or so, Doc was tired of driving. Something more was needed to combat his restlessness, with an element of danger maybe. Because he could find no one to get into a fight with, he did the next best thing.::Waitress: What'll it be.::Doc: A beer milkshake.