Sweet Hearts Dance

Last updated
Sweet Hearts Dance
Sweet Hearts Dance.jpg
Movie Poster
Directed by Robert Greenwald
Written by Ernest Thompson
Produced by Jeffrey Lurie
Starring
Cinematography Tak Fujimoto
Edited by
  • Robert Florio
  • Janet Bartels-Vandagriff
Music by Richard Gibbs
Production
company
ML Delphi Premier Productions
Distributed by Tri-Star Pictures
Release date
  • September 23, 1988 (1988-09-23)
Running time
101 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$9 million
Box office$3,790,493 [1]

Sweet Hearts Dance is a 1988 American comedy drama film directed by Robert Greenwald. The screenplay by Ernest Thompson centers on two small town couples, one married for several years and the other at the beginning of their relationship.

Contents

The film was shot on location in Hyde Park, Vermont at Paul and Martha Mullins' house. The school gym built as a film set remained in use as Hyde Park Elementary School's gym until 2017. [2]

Plot

It's Halloween, and New England contractor Wiley Boon, married to his high school sweetheart Sandra and the father of three children, feels smothered after fifteen years of the same routine and is facing a midlife crisis. His best friend, local high school principal Sam Manners, is on the verge of starting a relationship with Adie Nims, a recent transplant from Florida and the new teacher at the grade school. During Thanksgiving dinner, Wiley and Sandra have a minor disagreement that prompts him to leave his family and move into a mobile home to sort through his feelings of emotional unrest. Using subsequent holidays as a background, the film focuses on both their efforts to recapture the magic of their early years together.

Cast

Reception

Critical response

Janet Maslin of The New York Times thought "the rapport between the film's four principals is so well established that its romantic quadrille about the various ups and downs of two humorously contrasting couples really does come to life." She added, "Sweet Hearts Dance . . . approaches love as a series of fits and starts. It approaches narrative in much the same way, which would be more of a problem if the film were not so enjoyably loose-jointed anyhow . . . [It] tends to drift, but it has good humor and an easygoing appeal, not to mention a thoroughly attractive cast." [3]

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times rated the film two out of four stars. He felt the screenplay "seems to meander in whatever direction the filmmakers thought they could find an inspiration" but added, "And yet the film is not without merit. All of the performances are interesting, and although I was not surprised that three of the four leads were good, I was surprised at how effective Don Johnson was in his role. It's the best thing he's done, and shows he can do good things." He concluded, "There were times when I thought I'd seen this movie before – maybe in The Four Seasons by Alan Alda or, for that matter, in any film by Alda. Made by sensitive, sophisticated middle-age men about sensitive middle-age men who are a little less sophisticated, the movie drips with nostalgia, but sometimes what everybody seems to want isn't love, but a gift certificate at L.L. Bean. The lifestyle itself threatens to upstage the drama, and as the wholesome New Englanders go about their wholesome New England pastimes, even suffering begins to look picturesque." [4]

Rita Kempley of The Washington Post described the film as " thirtysomething in needlepoint" and commented, "With its comfortable characters and small-town setting, it's as homey as hash – almost as if the director just threw it together like a housewife with unexpected company. It's not a grand movie, but an enjoyable midlife comedy that features Don Johnson in a breakthrough performance." [5]

Box office

The film was not a box office success. [6]

Related Research Articles

<i>Weird Science</i> (film) 1985 film by John Hughes

Weird Science is a 1985 American teen science fantasy comedy film written and directed by John Hughes and starring Anthony Michael Hall, Ilan Mitchell-Smith, and Kelly LeBrock. It is based on the 1951 pre-Comics Code comic "Made of the Future" by Al Feldstein, which appeared in the magazine of the same name. The title song was written and performed by American new wave band Oingo Boingo.

<i>Beethoven</i> (film) 1992 American film

Beethoven is a 1992 American family comedy film, directed by Brian Levant and written by John Hughes and Amy Holden Jones. The film's story centers on a St. Bernard dog named after a German composer who finds a home with a suburban family. The film received mixed reviews from critics but was a surprise hit at the box office, earning $147.2 million worldwide. The film spawned a franchise, including a short-lived animated TV series. A direct sequel, Beethoven's 2nd, was released the following year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Melanie Griffith</span> American actress (born 1957)

Melanie Richards Griffith is an American actress. Born in Manhattan to future actress Tippi Hedren, she was raised mainly in Los Angeles, where she graduated from the Hollywood Professional School at age 16. In 1975, 17-year-old Griffith appeared opposite Gene Hackman in Arthur Penn's neo-noir film Night Moves. She later rose to prominence as an actor in films such as Brian De Palma's Body Double (1984), which earned her a National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress. Griffith's subsequent performance in the comedy Something Wild (1986) attracted critical acclaim before she was cast in 1988's Working Girl, which earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress and won her a Golden Globe.

<i>Rob Roy</i> (1995 film) 1995 film by Michael Caton-Jones

Rob Roy is a 1995 historical biographical drama film directed by Michael Caton-Jones. It stars Liam Neeson as Rob Roy MacGregor, an 18th-century Scottish highlander who becomes engaged in a dispute with a nobleman in the Scottish Highlands, played by John Hurt. Tim Roth won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Archibald Cunningham, one of Rob Roy's chief antagonists. Jessica Lange portrays Roy's wife, and Eric Stoltz, Brian Cox, and Jason Flemyng play supporting parts.

<i>Square Dance</i> (film) 1987 film by Daniel Petrie

Square Dance is a 1987 American coming-of-age drama film directed by Daniel Petrie from a screenplay by Alan Hines, based on his novel of the same name. The film stars Jason Robards, Jane Alexander, Winona Ryder, and Rob Lowe, and was released on February 20, 1987, by Island Pictures. It earned Lowe his only Golden Globe Award nomination for a film role.

<i>Lambada</i> (film) 1990 American film

Lambada is a 1990 drama film starring J. Eddie Peck, Melora Hardin, Adolfo "Shabba-doo" Quiñones, Ricky Paull Goldin, Dennis Burkley, and Keene Curtis. Lambada was written and directed by Joel Silberg and choreographed by Shabba-Doo.

<i>Angus</i> (film) 1995 American film

Angus is a 1995 coming-of-age comedy film directed by Patrick Read Johnson. The cast includes Charlie Talbert and James Van Der Beek in their first film roles, along with Chris Owen, Ariana Richards, George C. Scott, Kathy Bates, and Rita Moreno. Angus is based on the short story "A Brief Moment in the Life of Angus Bethune" by Chris Crutcher, from his collection Athletic Shorts: Six Short Stories.

<i>K-9</i> (film) 1989 film by Rod Daniel

K-9 is a 1989 American buddy cop action comedy film starring Jim Belushi and Mel Harris. It was directed by Rod Daniel, written by Steven Siegel and Scott Myers, produced by Lawrence Gordon and Charles Gordon, and released by Universal Pictures.

<i>Mighty Aphrodite</i> 1995 film by Woody Allen

Mighty Aphrodite is a 1995 American comedy film written, directed by, and co-starring Woody Allen, alongside Mira Sorvino, Helena Bonham Carter, Michael Rapaport, and F. Murray Abraham. The screenplay was vaguely inspired by the story of Pygmalion and is about Lenny Weinrib's (Allen) search for his genius adopted son's biological mother, ultimately finding that she is a dim-witted prostitute named Linda Ash (Sorvino).

Justin Henry is an American actor and businessman, known for playing Billy Kramer in the 1979 film Kramer vs. Kramer, a debut role for which earned him an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor nomination at just eight years old. To date, he remains the youngest Oscar nominee in any category. The performance later earned him a spot on VH1's list of 100 Greatest Kid Stars. Most of his film and television credits came as a child or teenager, although he has continued acting as an adult.

<i>The Generals Daughter</i> (film) 1999 film by Simon West

The General's Daughter is a 1999 American mystery thriller film directed by Simon West from a screenplay co-written by Christopher Bertolini and William Goldman, based on the novel of the same name by Nelson DeMille. It stars John Travolta, Madeleine Stowe, James Cromwell, Timothy Hutton, Clarence Williams III, and James Woods. The plot concerns the mysterious death of the daughter of a prominent Army general. The General's Daughter received negative reviews from critics, but was a box-office success, grossing $149.7 million worldwide against an estimated budget of $60 to $95 million.

<i>One Fine Day</i> (1996 film) 1996 film by Michael Hoffman

One Fine Day is a 1996 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Michael Hoffman, starring Michelle Pfeiffer and George Clooney as two single working parents, with Alex D. Linz and Mae Whitman as their children. The title comes from the 1963 song "One Fine Day" by the Chiffons, which is heard in the film.

<i>Grand Canyon</i> (1991 film) Film by Lawrence Kasdan

Grand Canyon is a 1991 American drama film directed and produced by Lawrence Kasdan, and written by Kasdan with his wife Meg. Featuring an ensemble cast, the film is about random events affecting a diverse group of people, exploring the race- and class-imposed chasms which separate members of the same community.

<i>Last Dance</i> (1996 film) 1996 American film

Last Dance is a 1996 crime drama thriller film directed by Bruce Beresford and starring Sharon Stone, Rob Morrow, Randy Quaid and Peter Gallagher.

<i>Once Bitten</i> (1985 film) 1985 film by Howard Storm

Once Bitten is a 1985 American teen horror comedy film, starring Lauren Hutton, Jim Carrey, and Karen Kopins. Carrey has his first major lead role playing Mark Kendall, an innocent and naive high school student who is seduced in a Hollywood nightclub by a sultry blonde countess (Hutton), who unknown to him is a centuries-old vampire. While the film underperformed at the box office, it has since become a cult classic.

<i>Matinee</i> (1993 film) 1993 film by Joe Dante

Matinee is a 1993 American comedy film directed by Joe Dante. It is about a William Castle-type independent filmmaker, with the American home front during the Cuban Missile Crisis as a backdrop. The film stars John Goodman, Cathy Moriarty, Simon Fenton, Omri Katz, Lisa Jakub, Robert Picardo, Kellie Martin, and Jesse White. It was written by Jerico Stone and Charles S. Haas, the latter portraying Mr. Elroy, a schoolteacher. Despite critical acclaim, the film was a box office failure.

<i>Heartbreak Hotel</i> (film) 1988 film by Chris Columbus

Heartbreak Hotel is a 1988 American comedy film written and directed by Chris Columbus, and stars David Keith and Tuesday Weld. Set in 1972, the story deals with one of the many "legends" involving Elvis Presley (Keith) about his fictional kidnapping, and his subsequent redemption from decadence.

<i>Sweet Liberty</i> 1986 film by Alan Alda

Sweet Liberty is a 1986 American comedy film written and directed by Alan Alda, and starring Alda in the lead role, alongside Michael Caine and Michelle Pfeiffer, with support from Bob Hoskins, Lois Chiles, Lise Hilboldt, Lillian Gish, and Larry Shue.

<i>And You Thought Your Parents Were Weird</i> 1991 film by Tony Cookson

And You Thought Your Parents Were Weird is a 1991 American comedy film written and directed by Tony Cookson in his feature directorial debut. The film stars Marcia Strassman, Joshua Miller, Edan Gross, John Quade, Sam Behrens, and Alan Thicke. It follows two inventor brothers creating a working robot that is also inhabited by the spirit of their dead father.

<i>A New Life</i> (film) 1988 film by Alan Alda

A New Life is a 1988 American romantic comedy film written, directed by and starring Alan Alda, also featuring Ann-Margret, John Shea, Hal Linden and Veronica Hamel.

References

  1. "Sweet Hearts Dance (1988) - Box Office Mojo". www.boxofficemojo.com.
  2. Noyes, Amy Kolb. "Learning Without Reservations: Hyde Park Students Check Into School At A Former Hotel". vpr.net.
  3. Maslin, Janet. "Review/Film; Love and Unhappiness in 'Sweet Hearts Dance'". nytimes.com.
  4. Ebert, Roger. "Sweet Hearts Dance Movie Review (1988) - Roger Ebert". www.rogerebert.com.
  5. Kempley, Rita. "'Sweet Hearts Dance' (R)". www.washingtonpost.com.
  6. Klady, Leonard (1989-01-08). "Box Office Champs, Chumps: The hero of the bottom line was the 46-year-old 'Bambi'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2012-07-05.