Curse of the Starving Class Movie Review 1994

Ineffective adaptation of Sam Shepard's 1977 play exploring family disintegration. Weston (Woods) is the alcoholic, irresponsible patriarch of a decaying farm. His unhappy wife, Ella (Bates), wants to sell out to land speculator Taylor (Quaid) and move to Paris while rebellious teenager Emma (Fiorella) plans to run off to Mexico and sullen older brother Wesley (Thomas) desires to stay and make a go of things. One-dimensional characterizations don't translate well from stage to screen.

Distribution

CinemaNow, 4553 Glencoe Ave., Ste. 200, Marina Del Rey, CA 90292, URL: http://www.cinemanow.com, Remarks: Formerly known as Lions Gate Home Entertainment

Available on VHS
Running time 102 minutes.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Family Ties, Farm Livin', Adapted from a Play, Plays to Film: Sam Shepard

Screenplay

Bruce Beresford

Cast

James Woods, Kathy Bates, Henry Thomas, Kristin Fiorella, Randy Quaid, Louis Gossett

Cinematography

Dick Quinlan

Director

Michael McClary

Producer

William S. Gilmore, Harel Goldstein, David Goldstein, Bruce Beresford, Trimark Pictures