The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (2008) If, in 1968, director Robert Ellis Miller sensed that Old Hollywood message movies were ceding ground to tales of moral ambiguity, at least he guaranteed…
Movie on DVD Review

The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (2008)

Reviewed by Sean Howe | Jan 18, 2008
EW's GRADE
C+

Details Release Date: Jan 08, 2008; DVD Release Date: Jan 08, 2008; With: Alan Arkin and Sondra Locke

If, in 1968, director Robert Ellis Miller sensed that Old Hollywood message movies were ceding ground to tales of moral ambiguity, at least he guaranteed they'd go out with a bang. The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter is an adaptation of Carson McCullers' novel — about a benevolent deaf-mute (Arkin) in a small Georgia town — reduces the characters to the obstacles they face: poverty, racism, schmaltzy soundtrack music. Arkin and Locke (as a confused teen) are impressive, but they exist in a vacuum; stripped of McCullers' forceful prose, all that remains is bland sanctimony. EXTRAS None. C+

Originally posted Jan 18, 2008 Published in issue #975 Jan 25, 2008 Order article reprints