Harry & Son

Most people will set aside time to watch this because Paul Newman stars. They would be pretty much on the money as there is little else of note to recommend it. Newman gives a fine performance in what is comfortable territory for him – the single working class male. He plays Harry Keach, a widowed construction worker who lives with his teenage son, an aspiring writer. When Harry gets laid off and is unable to find a new job he becomes increasingly irritable and takes it out on his son. As the song goes" "we always hurt the one we love".

Harry & Son does have a good deal of sincerity as a family drama but the problem with it is its overly neat, televisual style of execution, something which is typical enough of 80s film but which is incongruous for what is essentially realist subject matter. Thus, one wonders where Harry gets his endless array of freshly pressed clothes whilst the medical condition which instigates the narrative is largely forgotten about once it has served its purpose to the plot.

The most insistent aspect of the sanitizing approach is Bobby Benson who plays Harry’s son, Howie. As character he is so improbably chirpy and mature beyond his years (as Harry is immature) whilst Benson who is good-looking compounds the problem by his over-enthusiasm, something once again typical enough of 80s teens (Michael J. Fox was the exemplar of this peppy style). Newman’s wife Joanne Woodward appears as Lillie and a chubby Ellen Barkin as her daughter. Newman who is credited as co-writer, lost his only son to a drug overdose in 1978, so no doubt this was a project that meant much to him but why he made it so toothless is a mystery.

DVD Extras: None

Available from: Shock Entertainment

 

Want something different?