Wade Whitehouse (Nick Nolte) is a small town sheriff in New Hampshire. He's out with his daughter Jill on Halloween. He has a troubled relationship with her and his ex-wife Lillian. He is known as a drinker. Local Jack Hewitt guides a wealthy outsider to hunt for a prize buck. Jack claims that he accidentally shot himself but Wade is suspicious of the death especially since he's suppose to testify in an organized crime case. Wade and his girlfriend Margie Fogg (Sissy Spacek) visit his abusive father Glen (James Coburn) and find his mother dead in the freezing house. Wade's brother Rolfe (Willem Dafoe) and sister Lena return for the funeral.
I don't always like narration and this opening narration really puts me off. It emphasizes to me the novelized nature of the movie which highlights the story's unfocused meandering nature. Nick Nolte is terrific and the cast is full of top notch players. It's nice to see James Coburn still acting with power. I need the movie to be more focus. There's a murder mystery and quickly, it's taken over by a dysfunctional family drama. It seems to be a constant pitfall for all adaptations from novels. The transfer from the page to the screen is not always smooth.
I don't always like narration and this opening narration really puts me off. It emphasizes to me the novelized nature of the movie which highlights the story's unfocused meandering nature. Nick Nolte is terrific and the cast is full of top notch players. It's nice to see James Coburn still acting with power. I need the movie to be more focus. There's a murder mystery and quickly, it's taken over by a dysfunctional family drama. It seems to be a constant pitfall for all adaptations from novels. The transfer from the page to the screen is not always smooth.