Misunderstood (1984 film)

Misunderstood is a 1984 American drama film directed by Jerry Schatzberg, based on the 1869 novel Misunderstood by Florence Montgomery. This film stars Henry Thomas as a young boy who struggles with family, friends, and relationships after his mother's death.

The novel Misunderstood had previously been adapted as the 1966 Italian film Incompreso, which starred Anthony Quayle.

Plot
Ned Rawley is an American shipowner established in Tunisia where his business thrives and monopolizes him. He lives in a beautiful villa with his two sons, Miles and Andrew, who are cared for by a newly arrived housekeeper because their mother has just died in a hospital abroad. The father decides to hide this tragedy from the youngest, inventing an extended trip for his mother.

For the older one, he continues to treat him as a "man", revealing to him the disappearance of his mother but remaining cold with him, being afraid to express his feelings. He does not realize that his son lacks affection and suffers from the absences and the harshness of education imposed on him by his father who transfers all his attentions to the youngest.

Finally, it is only during an accident caused by Andrew that the father and son will get closer.

Box office
Made on a budget of $10 million, the movie was also relying on A-List success of Gene Hackman and Henry Thomas, the latter of which was a successful child star who appeared in several blockbusters during that era. But the film flopped at the box office, opening at #11 with $916,967 in 741 screens, and went on to gross just $1,525,532 in its entire domestic run.

Production
Prior to the casting of Gene Hackman, director Jerry Schatzberg had considered Michael Caine for the role of Ned Rawley. Initially intended to be shot in New Zealand, Tarak Ben Amar convinced Schatzberg to instead film in his home country of Tunisia. Due to creative differences two endings with Schatzberg preferring a tragic conclusion, while Ben Ammar presided over a more “upbeat” version during editing and inserted flashbacks into Schatzberg’s cut. This resulted in Susan Anspach's performance as Lilly Rawley being substantially reduced and only appearing in flashbacks despite being envisioned as a more prominent character. Further revisions to the film were made by MGM/UA without the involvement of Schatzberg or Ben Ammar.