Lula Carson Smith McCullers, known as Carson McCullers (1917-1967) had an awful life. At 15 years of age, she was afflicted with rheumatic fever, which ruined her heart and some other organs, leaving her condemned to die at an early age (Bobby Darin died even younger).
McCullers didn’t waste what time she had. This was her first novel, about an awkward, young, working-class girl, “Mick” (Sandra Locke) in a Southern town, and the deaf-mute, Mr. Singer (Alan Arkin), who comes into her life.
Singer initially lives in a different city, where he works for a jeweler, doing engravings on items. But his best friend, a fellow deaf-mute, (Chuck McCann), has gone crazy one time too many, and his cousin/boss has him committed to a mental hospital in another city. A lawyer-friend suggests to Singer that he move to the city where the mental hospital is, so he can visit his friend more often. There are other jewelers there, and he might be able to find work there.
John Singer is the kind of person who takes in stray dogs—the crazy friend; a drunken, homeless veteran (Stacy Keach Jr.); an angry, middle-aged, black doctor (Percy Rodriguez); the girl. Unfortunately, he too is a stray dog, but nobody takes him in.
The title is not as metaphysical as it sounds; all of the main characters and some of the subsidiary ones are sick, or otherwise in terrible pain.
I had to stop watching halfway through, because I could foresee some of the disasters, like a train wreck you see about to happen, but can’t stop. I proved to be wrong about the specifics, but the train wrecks happened, all the same.
Alan Arkin and Sandra Locke were both up for Oscars, he for Best Actor, and she for Best Supporting Actress. Neither won.
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter is one of the two saddest pictures I’ve ever seen, the other being Pather Panchali (1955), by the late Satyajit Ray, may he rest in peace. They’re both so sad that I couldn’t even cry. In each picture, you see a character endure heartbreak upon heartbreak.
Part I of IV
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