Affliction Movie Review 1997

Nolte, Schrader, and Coburn turn in the finest work of their careers in this bleak tale of one man's battle with the demons of his past and the failures of the present. Nolte is small-town, small-time sheriff Wade Whitehouse, who wants to do the right things, but never does. Damaged beyond repair by his abusive alcoholic father (Coburn), he alienates or scares away anyone who might care for him, including his daughter (Tierney) and his girlfriend (Spacek). When a local businessman dies under mysterious circumstances, Wade sees a chance at redemption, but the investigation turns out to be the catalyst for his final degradation. Schrader has studied the beaten-down male psyche before, but never with this much discipline or implicit knowledge. He adapted the screenplay from Russell Banks' 1989 novel.

Distribution

Universal Studios Home Video, 100 Universal City Plz., Universal City, CA 91608-9955, Phone: (818)777-1000, Fax: (818)866-1483, URL: http://www.universalstudios.com, Remarks: Does not handle retail queries from consumers; contact your local video distributor.

Available on VHS, DVD
Running time 113 minutes.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Books to Film: Russell Banks, Bad Dads, Cops, On the Rocks, Sanity Check, Family Drama

Screenplay

Paul Schrader

Cast

Nick Nolte, James Coburn, Sissy Spacek, Willem Dafoe, Mary Beth Hurt, Jim True, Marian Seldes, Brigid Tierney, Sean McCann, Wayne Robson, Holmes Osborne

Cinematography

Paul Sarossy

Director

Paul Schrader

Music

Michael Brook

Producer

Largo Ent.

Awards

Oscars 1998: Support. Actor (Coburn); N.Y. Film Critics 1998: Actor (Nolte); Natl. Soc. Film Critics 1998: Actor (Nolte).