Writer/Director Francis Ford Coppola has an extensive resume, and I know everyone has to start somewhere. Thank goodness Coppola's next two films as a Director were (1972) The Godfather and (1974) The Conversation so he definitely redeemed himself from this low brow family tragedy drama film.
I liked the acting of the three key actors, namely Shirley Knight, James Caan, and Robert Duvall, but the story line was a very weak one. A woman named Natalie (Shirley Knight) who has discovered she is pregnant suddenly develops a seven (7) year itch and she is unsure if she wants to stay married, and/or carry her baby for the full term of her pregnancy. So she decides to take a road trip with the intention of having an extra-marital affair with a stranger she picks up hitchhiking. Natalie asks her hitchhiker his name and he responds "my name is Killer (bad writing eh?) Jimmy Kilgannon (James Caan) so people just call me Killer."
Very quickly Natalie finds the good looking, young and well built Jimmy has been tackled far too many times on the football field and has had his brain jarred loose. He's nice to her, but he is a bit too simple minded to be sharing her bed with. So she continues on her road trip and gets caught for speeding by a police officer named Gordon (James Caan) and as they flirt with one another she agrees to go on a date with Officer Gordon.
Natalie's road trip has opened her eyes to other peoples problems such as Jimmy's brain damage and Officer Gordon's being a recent widower raising a young daughter in a trailer home as his late wife and son died in a house fire, the house they owned was destroyed.
Natalie begins to realize that although her past life and her current marriage may have been boring and uneventful, the lives she has recently been interacting with are much worse off than her own sorry life.
Without wanting to spoil the ending for anyone this is a ho hum road trip film with an expected outcome.
I give it a 4 out of 10 IMDB rating which should take nothing away from the stellar acting of Knight, Caan and Duvall. It is just the story line is dull.
I liked the acting of the three key actors, namely Shirley Knight, James Caan, and Robert Duvall, but the story line was a very weak one. A woman named Natalie (Shirley Knight) who has discovered she is pregnant suddenly develops a seven (7) year itch and she is unsure if she wants to stay married, and/or carry her baby for the full term of her pregnancy. So she decides to take a road trip with the intention of having an extra-marital affair with a stranger she picks up hitchhiking. Natalie asks her hitchhiker his name and he responds "my name is Killer (bad writing eh?) Jimmy Kilgannon (James Caan) so people just call me Killer."
Very quickly Natalie finds the good looking, young and well built Jimmy has been tackled far too many times on the football field and has had his brain jarred loose. He's nice to her, but he is a bit too simple minded to be sharing her bed with. So she continues on her road trip and gets caught for speeding by a police officer named Gordon (James Caan) and as they flirt with one another she agrees to go on a date with Officer Gordon.
Natalie's road trip has opened her eyes to other peoples problems such as Jimmy's brain damage and Officer Gordon's being a recent widower raising a young daughter in a trailer home as his late wife and son died in a house fire, the house they owned was destroyed.
Natalie begins to realize that although her past life and her current marriage may have been boring and uneventful, the lives she has recently been interacting with are much worse off than her own sorry life.
Without wanting to spoil the ending for anyone this is a ho hum road trip film with an expected outcome.
I give it a 4 out of 10 IMDB rating which should take nothing away from the stellar acting of Knight, Caan and Duvall. It is just the story line is dull.