The Whales of August Movie Review

Lindsay Anderson's The Whales of August features one luminous piece of work by Miss Lillian Gish, then in her 95th year, and four excellent performances by Bette Davis, then 79, Harry Carey Jr., 66, and Vincent Price and Ann Sothern, both 78. The script by playwright David Berry is not so hot, with a confusing timeline and a fuzzy psychological grasp of its elderly characters. Berry offers a younger person's view of how older people see life. As two sisters bound by blood, finances, and circumstances, Davis’ blind character might well wind up a crabby whiner, but Miss Lillian would not be blamed for giving Sis a good shaking instead of serenely waiting on her hand and foot. Price is so irresistible as a charming scrounge who tries to horn in on this pair that when he makes his graceful exit from the plot with resignation, he takes much of the film's lightness of tone with him. Ann Sothern, too, is seen to good effect as a well-meaning Maine friend. But Miss Lillian, defying every assumption about what a woman in her tenth decade should be, acts rings around all these outstanding pros, drawing every bit of emotion from each line, gesture, and expression, in a subtle yet richly textured portrayal that's as powerful as anything she did on film since her 1912 debut.

1987 91m/C Lillian Gish, Bette Davis, Vincent Price, Ann Sothern, Mary Steenburgen, Harry Carey Jr., Tisha Sterling, Margaret Ladd; D: Lindsay Anderson; W: David Berry; C: Mike Fash. National Board of Review Awards ‘87: Best Actress (Gish); Nominations: Academy Awards ‘87: Best Supporting Actress (Sothern). VHS, LV, 8mm