The Grass Harp Movie Review 1995

Rather dull retelling (with an excellent cast) of the Truman Capote novella covering the eccentricities of small town Southern life in the '30s and '40s. Teenaged Collin Fenwick (Furlong) is sent to live with his maiden aunts, artistic, impractical Dolly (Laurie) and shrewd, hard businesswoman Verena (Spacek). Charlie Cool's (Matthau) the retired judge who's sweet on Dolly, Morris Ritz (Lemmon) is a shady Chicago entrepreneur with plans for Verena's money, and there are various opinionated townspeople with stories to tell as well. Screen nostalgia directed by Matthau's son Charles.

Distribution

New Line Home Video, 116 N. Robertson Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90048, Phone: (310)854-5811, Fax: (310)854-1824, URL: http://www.newline.com, Remarks: Does not handle retail queries from consumers; contact your local video distributor.

Available on VHS
Running time 107 minutes.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Aunts & Uncles, Nieces & Nephews, Coming of Age, American South, Books to Film: Truman Capote, Period Piece: 1930s, Period Piece: 1940s, Screen Teams: Lemmon & Matthau

Screenplay

Stirling Silliphant

Cast

Sissy Spacek, Piper Laurie, Edward Furlong, Walter Matthau, Nell Carter, Jack Lemmon, Mary Steenburgen, Roddy McDowall, Joe Don Baker, Charles Durning, Sean Patrick Flanery, Mia Kirshner

Cinematography

John A. Alonzo

Director

Charles Matthau

Music

Patrick Williams

Producer

Jerry Tokofsky, Fine Line Features