ianlouisiana Review of The Prince of Tides

The Prince of Tides (1991)

"That's what I like about the South"..................................

[6/10 · 16 February 2010]

Mr J.Crabbe has every right to be put out at Mr Nick Nolte for sequestering his wife's affections and the dinner - party scene where he plays "Dixie" on his Stradivarius whilst looking Mr Nolte right in the eye gives the lie to the musicians' myth that classical instrumentalists are unable to "fake" even tunes as simple as "Happy Birthday to you".Finishing with a flourish,Mr Crabbe then says in Al Jolson style "That's what I like about the South". Instead of challenging him to a duel as any Southern Gentleman might,Mr Nolte merely holds Mr Crabbe's fiddle out over the balcony in a fit of pique. There is a little of a "Hick from the sticks" quality about Mr Nolte as he arrives in the Big Apple to see his twin sister who is recovering from a suicide attempt.He appears never to have met gay people before,nor rude cab drivers and is a long way from the "New York State of Mind" that the city's denizens are so proud of. Then he meets his sister's shrink (Miss B. Streisand)whom he later refers to as a "Manhattan Jew".We never actually see the shrink and her patient in the same scene,but gradually Miss Streisand sets her on the long path to recovery (at 150 bucks an hour one would hope not too long) and at the same time persuades a reluctant Mr Nolte to reveal some horrifying secrets from their family's past. I'm fairly sure the A.M.A. has rules about the conduct of medical professionals towards patients and their relatives but does Miss Streisand give a fig?Clearly not as she seduces an obviously confused and vulnerable Mr Nolte.(Although not as confused and vulnerable as Mr Redford had been in "The Way We Were"). Eventually he is stricken by conscience and returns to his wife and daughters - oh,didn't I mention them?How remiss of me - but,obviously,never gets over Miss Streisand,muttering her name as he drives home every night from work.Get over it Nick - it would never have worked. "The Prince of Tides" is the sort of movie Taylor and Burton could have made 40 years ago and we would have laughed uproariously at the silliness of it all,but Mr Nolte and Miss Streisand go for "serious" and ,apart from the soft - focus love scenes,achieve it more often than not.Mr Nolte in particular excels as the jock with well - hidden secrets.He conveys brilliantly the ostensibly bluff and tough Southern male who has spent thirty years in denial. Miss Blythe Danner is equally good in the small and rather thankless part of his wife. Miss Streisand,actor,producer,director,singer,writer and all - round Rennaissance Woman may well have a big ego,but my goodness she's entitled. She was unlikely to have pleased devotees of Mr Conroy's novel but she has made a film that should be judged on its own merits.