Sometimes a Great Notion [Never Give an Inch] ** (1970, Paul Newman, Henry Fonda, Lee Remick, Michael Sarrazin, Richard Jaeckel) – Classic Movie Review 6096

Paul Newman’s 1970 movie is his second determined effort at direction, after Rachel, Rachel (1968), which starred his real-life wife Joanne Woodward.

Henry Fonda stars as Henry Stamper, a family patriarch whose sons Hank (Paul Newman) and Joe Ben (Richard Jaeckel) encounter trouble at their Oregon lumber mill. It happens when they break a local loggers’ strike because Fonda feels he needs to fulfill a commitment, causing a conflagration in the community.

And there is trouble with John Gay’s screenplay too, taken from Ken Kesey’s novel Sometimes a Great Notion, which simply refuses to catch fire. But there is often something serious and interesting going on, and the cast (particularly Newman and Richard Jaeckel) are worthy of your undivided attention.

Also in the cast are Lee Remick, Michael Sarrazin, Linda Lawson, Cliff Potts, Sam Gilman, Lee de Broux, Jim Burk, Roy Jenson, Joe Maross, Roy Poolem Charles Tyner and Hal Needham.

Richard Moore’s cinematography and the Oregon scenery look high, wide and handsome.

Paul Newman: ‘The embarrassing thing is that my salad dressing is out-grossing my films.’

Kesey of course wrote One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 6096

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