Ironweed (1987)

Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep both deliver tour-de-force performances as drunken Depression-era drifters plagued by their pasts.

Francis (Nicholson) is haunted by memories of the events that led to his current state of degradation – most tragically the accidental death of his baby son.

Bag-lady Helen (Meryl Streep) sees hope in his survival, but Hector Babenco’s film (based on William Kennedy’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel) is a grim odyssey with only the strong performances of Oscar-nominees Nicholson and Streep to sustain it.

Francis Phelan
Jack Nicholson
Helen Archer
Meryl Streep
Annie Phelan
Carroll Baker
Billy Phelan
Michael O’Keefe
Peg Phelan
Diane Venora
Oscar Reo
Fred Gwynne
Rudy
Tom Waits
Harold Allen
Nathan Lane
Katrina
Margaret Whitton
Pee Wee
Jake Dengel

Director
Hector Babenco