Nobody's Fool (1994 film)

Nobody's Fool is a 1994 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Robert Benton, based on the 1993 novel of the same name by Richard Russo. It stars Paul Newman, Jessica Tandy, Melanie Griffith, Dylan Walsh, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Gene Saks, Josef Sommer, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Philip Bosco and Bruce Willis.

It was Paramount's final production under its Paramount Communications ownership (being sold to the original Viacom in July 1994) as well as Tandy's final film performance before her death on September 11, 1994. For his performance, Newman received nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actor and Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role as well as for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama, in addition to a nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay for Benton at the 67th Academy Awards.

Plot
Donald "Sully" Sullivan is a stubborn old reprobate living in the peaceful, snowy northern New York state village of North Bath. He freelances in the construction business, usually with his dim-witted friend Rub by his side. He is often at odds with Carl Roebuck, a local contractor, suing him at every opportunity for unpaid wages and disability. Sully's one-legged lawyer Wirf is inept, and his lawsuits are repeatedly dismissed. As a way to irritate him, Sully openly flirts with Carl's wife Toby at every opportunity (which she enjoys). He is a regular at the Iron Horse Saloon, where he often has drinks and plays cards with Wirf, Carl, Rub, Jocko the town pharmacist, and Ollie Quinn, the town's Chief of Police.

A running joke is the repeated theft of Carl's snowblower. Sully steals it to get back at Carl for his latest failed lawsuit. Carl steals it back, placing it in the yard at his construction business guarded by his doberman pinscher guard dog. Sully, after drugging the dog, steals it a second time. Carl takes it back a final time, and leaves the dog, who is now skittish due to his drugging, at Sully's childhood home for him to find.

Sully is a tenant in the home of the elderly Miss Beryl, his 8th grade teacher, whose banker son Clive strongly urges her to kick him out and sell the house. Family complications of his own develop for Sully with a visit from Peter, his estranged son who is a jobless professor at odds with his wife. While he and Sully reconstruct their relationship, Sully begins a new one with young grandson Will. Peter's sudden everyday presence does not sit well with Rub, but Sully tells him that although Peter is his son, Rub is still his best friend. Meanwhile, Clive is on the verge of a lucrative deal to build an amusement park in North Bath. However, the deal unexpectedly falls through when the promoter turns out to be a con man, and Clive quietly skips town in shame since he used his bank's resources to help finance the amusement park.

After being jailed for punching a police officer named Raymer who has been persecuting him, Sully's luck seems to be all bad. But his son and grandson start to warm up to him, and his fortune takes a turn for the better when his horse racing trifecta ticket wins. Even the lovely Toby expresses a willingness to leave Carl, mostly due to his constant womanizing, and run away with Sully to Hawaii. Sully realizes he can't leave his grandson and thanks Toby for considering him, just before she leaves for the airport. In the end, Sully is pretty much back where he began, boarding at Miss Beryl's. But now he is a little richer, both financially and in his soul, he's a new dog owner, and he has become the picture of contentment.

Production
The setting for both the book and movie, the fictional North Bath, New York, is based on the city of Ballston Spa, New York, in Saratoga County, New York, just east of Gloversville, where Russo grew up. The real Ballston Spa was overshadowed by neighboring Saratoga Springs, just as North Bath was eclipsed by the fictional Schuyler Springs. Nobody's Fool was filmed in the Hudson Valley city of Beacon, which was paid a $40,000 location fee for services and inconveniences. Production began in November 1993 and concluded in February 1994. The Iron Horse Bar, located on N. 7th Street in Hudson, NY, is now the Governor's Tavern; and the Diner is now The Grazin' Diner on Warren Street, just around the corner in Hudson.

Bruce Willis reportedly agreed to a substantial pay cut to appear in the film, accepting the SAG-AFTRA scale of $1,400 per week at a time when the actor was earning roughly $15 million for his action movies. His name appears only in the closing credits.

Box office
Nobody's Fool was given a limited release on December 23, 1994, earning $92,838 in six theaters. The film was given a wide release on January 13, 1995, earning $7,142,691 over its opening weekend in 792 theaters. The film ultimately grossed $39,491,975 in the US and Canada.

Critical response
Nobody's Fool was well received by film critics. The film maintains a 91% rating on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes based on reviews from 55 critics. The site's consensus states: "It's solidly directed by Robert Benton and stacked with fine performances from an impressive cast, but above all, Nobody's Fool is a showcase for some of Paul Newman's best late-period work." On Metacritic the film has a score of 86 out of 100 based on reviews from 28 critics.

Todd McCarthy of Variety wrote: "Nobody's Fool is a gentle, flavorsome story of a loose-knit, dysfunctional family whose members essentially include every glimpsed citizen of a small New York town. Fronted by a splendid performance from Paul Newman as a spirited man who has made nothing of his life, Robert Benton's character-driven film is sprinkled with small pleasures; the dramatic developments here don't take place in the noisy, calamitous manner that is customary these days. Desson Howe of The Washington Post similarly remarked: "Nobody's Fool is so eloquently straightforward, it practically sings to the soul. A story about very real people caught in the everyday woes and worries of a small Upstate New York town, it shows the kind of character traits, tics and from-the-heart chatter you wish there was more of in the movies. Jonathan Rosenbaum of The Chicago Reader also wrote: "This is the first Robert Benton movie I've really liked — and possibly my favorite Paul Newman performance since The Hustler. Conceived somewhat in the spirit of Chekhov's stories, Nobody's Fool ambles along semiplotlessly, focusing on the petty love-hatreds that link people together in small towns and the everyday orneriness that keeps them alive...it has both the poetry and the authenticity of failure."

Paul Newman was particularly praised by critics. Caryn James of The New York Times described the star's performance as "the single best of this year and among the finest he has ever given". Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote: "I have been watching Paul Newman in movies all of my life. He is so much a part of the landscape of modern American film that sometimes he is almost invisible: He does what he does with simplicity, grace and a minimum of fuss, and so I wonder if people even realize what a fine actor he is.

Year-end lists

 * 3rd – John Hurley, Staten Island Advance
 * 5th – Michael MacCambridge, Austin American-Statesman
 * 7th – National Board of Review
 * 10th – Janet Maslin, The New York Times
 * Top 10 (listed alphabetically, not ranked) – Jimmy Fowler, Dallas Observer
 * Top 10 (listed alphabetically, not ranked) – Bob Ross, The Tampa Tribune
 * "The second 10" (not ranked) – Sean P. Means, The Salt Lake Tribune
 * Honorable mention – Glenn Lovell, San Jose Mercury News
 * Honorable mention – Jeff Simon, The Buffalo News