Head Over Heels [Chilly Scenes of Winter] **** (1979, John Heard, Mary Beth Hurt, Peter Riegert, Gloria Grahame, Kenneth McMillan, Nora Heflin, Griffin Dunne) – Classic Movie Review 5801

Writer-director Joan Micklin Silver’s bitter-sweet 1979 romantic comedy movie is a little gem of a winner about John Heard’s character Charles’s passion for his old girlfriend Laura (Mary Beth Hurt). Simple and offbeat, told in flashback, it creeps up and gets hold of you. It is Silver’s and Heard’s follow-up to Between the Lines (1977).

Heard plays Salt Lake City civil servant Charles, who is Head Over Heels for Laura, a lovely housewife with a lovely step-daughter and an ex-quarterback husband named Ox (Mark Metcalf). Charles dreams of getting Laura back.

Just look at the quality of this cast: Gloria Grahame as Charles’s batty mother Clara, Kenneth McMillan as his stepfather Pete, Peter Riegert as his untidy flatmate Sam, Nora Heflin as Betty and Griffin Dunne as Dr Mark.

Based on Ann Beattie’s novel Chilly Scenes of Winter, it was later reissued with that title minus seven of its original 99 minutes.

Also in the cast are Jerry Hardin, Tarah Nutter, Frances Bay, Allen Joseph, Alex Johnson and Ann Beattie.

RIP John Heard, who died on 21 July 2017, aged 72.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5801

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