Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube
    Nostalgia Central
    • Home
    • Blog
      • Lists
      • Playlists
    • Television
      • Shows by Decade
        • 1950s Television
        • 1960s Television
        • 1970s Television
        • 1980s Television
        • 1990s Television
      • Shows by Genre
        • Comedy
        • Drama
        • Kids TV
        • Variety
        • News & Sport
        • Advertisements
      • Shows by Country
        • UK TV
        • USA TV
        • Australia & NZ TV
        • Canada TV
        • Europe TV
        • Japan TV
      • Shows A to K
        • Shows A
        • Shows B
        • Shows C
        • Shows D
        • Shows E
        • Shows F
        • Shows G
        • Shows H
        • Shows I
        • Shows J
        • Shows K
      • Shows L to Z
        • Shows L
        • Shows M
        • Shows N
        • Shows O
        • Shows P
        • Shows Q
        • Shows R
        • Shows S
        • Shows T
        • Shows U
        • Shows V
        • Shows W
        • Shows X
        • Shows Y
        • Shows Z
      • Shows 0 to 9
    • Music
      • Music by Decade
        • 1950s Music
        • 1960s Music
        • 1970s Music
        • 1980s Music
        • 1990s Music
      • Music A to K
        • Music A
        • Music B
        • Music C
        • Music D
        • Music E
        • Music F
        • Music G
        • Music H
        • Music I
        • Music J
        • Music K
      • Music L to Z
        • Music L
        • Music M
        • Music N
        • Music O
        • Music P
        • Music Q
        • Music R
        • Music S
        • Music T
        • Music U
        • Music V
        • Music W
        • Music X
        • Music Y
        • Music Z
      • Music 0 to 9
      • Genres
      • Music on Film & TV
      • One-Hit Wonders
      • Online Radio
    • Movies
      • Movies by Decade
        • 1950s Movies
        • 1960s Movies
        • 1970s Movies
        • 1980s Movies
        • 1990s Movies
      • Movies by Country
        • UK Movies
        • USA Movies
        • Australia & NZ Movies
        • Canada Movies
        • Europe Movies
        • Japan Movies
      • Movies A to K
        • Movies A
        • Movies B
        • Movies C
        • Movies D
        • Movies E
        • Movies F
        • Movies G
        • Movies H
        • Movies I
        • Movies J
        • Movies K
      • Movies L to Z
        • Movies L
        • Movies M
        • Movies N
        • Movies O
        • Movies P
        • Movies Q
        • Movies R
        • Movies S
        • Movies T
        • Movies U
        • Movies V
        • Movies W
        • Movies X
        • Movies Y
        • Movies Z
      • Movies 0 to 9
    • Pop Culture
      • Fads
      • Toys & Games
      • Fashion
      • Decor
      • Food & Drink
      • People
      • Radio
      • Technology
      • Transport
    • Social History
      • 1950s Year by Year
      • 1960s Year by Year
      • 1970s Year by Year
      • 1980s Year by Year
      • 1990s Year by Year
      • Events
    Nostalgia Central
    Home»Movies»Movies by Decade»1980s Movies»Movies 1987
    Movies 1987 Movies W 3 Mins Read

    Weeds (1987)

    Share
    Facebook Twitter Pinterest WhatsApp Reddit Email

    Weeds is the story of an armed robber, Lee Umstetter (Nick Nolte), sentenced to life without the possibility of parole in San Quentin.

    After two suicide attempts, Umstetter accidentally stumbles on Genet and Tolstoy in the prison library and, inspired by Beckett’s Waiting For Godot, writes a prison play that is performed by him and his fellow inmates.

    The play receives good notices from a San Francisco critic, Lillian Bingington (Rita Taggart in a performance that is all tremulous smiles and brimming eyes) and the group are on their way.

    The critic mounts a campaign to have Lee released, he gets out of prison, moves in with her and reassembles the group of by now ex-crims to take the play on a college tour.

    The film traces Lee’s inevitable progress from ex-con to Broadway star, through all the tears, reversals, joys and struggles that are obligatory in this genre, familiar, in an admittedly cruder and less intellectual form, from the Rocky cycle.

    The theatre troupe itself provides a rich source of humour but often over-the-top character acting; there is the black Muslim murderer Bagdad; the pimp, Navarro; Claude, the timid embezzler, and Dave the flasher, who uses an improvisatory moment in the play to practise his particular enthusiasm to a surprisingly mild reaction from the audience.

    The most interesting of these and the most subtle characterisation is Burt, the dumb shoplifter, played by Bill Forsythe (familiar to viewers in Once Upon A Time In America and Raising Arizona).

    Weeds advertises itself as conveying what it “feels like to be on the inside”, but this is precisely what it doesn’t do.

    The representations of the play itself are largely confined to the musical numbers and, apart from cringingly obvious lyrics straight out of Andrew Lloyd-Webber musicals like “I want to be free, I want to be a man”, we get little sense of the real content of the play.

    As the fictional New York critic in the film acerbically observes after its NY opening, it is “an unsuccessful mixture of musical spectacle and social realism”.

    The film often relies for its emotional effect on fairly horrible electronic pastiches of Mahler and Wagner in the climactic or tender moments and hackneyed visual devices like extensive use of rack focus and telephoto lens to produce cute effects of spatial disorientation.

    And Nick Nolte’s physicality and presence, usually so compelling, turn merely lumpish here.

    All in all, apart from the early section set in the prison, which is rather good, this is a potentially interesting and important story overwhelmed by sentimentality, its intellectual and political bite swamped in schmaltz.

    Lee Umstetter
    Nick Nolte
    Bagdad
    Ernie Hudson
    Lillian Bingington
    Rita Taggart
    Dave
    Mark Rolston
    Claude
    Lane Smith
    Navarro
    John Toles-Bey
    Carmine
    Joe Mantegna
    Lazarus
    J.J. Johnston
    Burt the Booster
    William Forsythe
    Mom Umstetter
    Anne Ramsey
    Pop Umstetter
    Ray Reinhardt

    Director
    John Hancock

    Related Posts

    • World Gone Wild (1987)
      World Gone Wild (1987)
      It's 2087 and Ethan (Bruce Dern) is the stoner hippie leader of the peaceful post-nuke desert community of Lost Wells.…
    • What's New, Pussycat? (1965)
      What's New, Pussycat? (1965)
      Troubled Paris fashion magazine editor Michael James (Peter O'Toole) is obsessed with women, whom he calls "pussycats" and keeps reiterating…
    • What's Up Tiger Lily? (1966)
      What's Up Tiger Lily? (1966)
      One of Toho Studios' International Secret Police series, the already tongue-in-cheek Bond-spoof Kagi No Kag ("Key of Keys"), becomes an…
    • Woman In A Dressing Gown (1957)
      Woman In A Dressing Gown (1957)
      After 20 years of marriage and running around after her husband Jim (Anthony Quayle) and son Brian (Andrew Ray), warm-hearted…
    • Where's Jack? (1969)
      Where's Jack? (1969)
      In his first straight acting performance, old rocker Tommy Steele stars as Jack Sheppard, the notorious highwayman and jail-breaker who…
    • Roxanne (1987)
      Roxanne (1987)
      A sensitive fireman believes he has no chance of ever winning the heart of a lovely astronomer owing to his…
    • Amazon Women On The Moon (1987)
      Amazon Women On The Moon (1987)
      Five directors contributed to this scattershot collection of bawdy sketches satirising everything from dating to late-night TV via B-grade sci-fi…
    • War and Peace (1956)
      War and Peace (1956)
      Produced by Dino De Laurentiis and shot on location in Italy at a cost of $6 million, War and Peace weighs in…

    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest WhatsApp Reddit Email
    Previous ArticleMade (1972)
    Next Article Nice Day at the Office, A

    Comments are closed.

    A Labour of Love

    Nostalgia Central has been a labour of love for me since 1998.

    If you find the site informative or enjoyable, please consider a donation – no matter how small – to help me with the running costs of the site and ensure I can keep Nostalgia Central running for your entertainment and education.

    Thank you so much, and please enjoy your trip in the time machine!
    Follow us
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • YouTube
    You May Also Like
    • Ricky and The Magic Trolley
      1 9 5 2 (USA) 15 minute episodes This early Californian […]
    • Coral Island, The
      1 9 8 3 (UK/Australia) 9 x 30 minute episodes Debuting on […]
    • Revolution (1985)
      The story of the American Revolution against the British crown […]
    • Animals, The
      Alan Price started out as a northern British bluesman, playing […]
    • Tuff Turf (1985)
      After a long music video credit sequence, Tuff Turf opens with a […]
    • Pete Kelly’s Blues
      1 9 5 9 (USA) 13 x 22 minute episodes Pete Kelly (William […]
    Comments Box SVG iconsUsed for the like, share, comment, and reaction icons

    OUR LATEST FACEBOOK POSTS

    60 years of Billy Liar: how the Bradford locations have changed today ... See MoreSee Less

    Link thumbnail

    60 years of Billy Liar: how the Bradford locations have changed today

    theb.fi

    Not everything is at it seems about the shooting locations for this classic story of a Yorkshire daydreamer.
    3 days ago
    View on Facebook
    · Share
    Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email
    View Comments
    • Likes: 7
    • Shares: 2
    • Comments: 1

    Comment on Facebook

    “I’ll tell you what Charlie, there’s always been a Holroyd at Holroyd’s mill and by god there always will be” Love this film.

    www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-65006801 ... See MoreSee Less

    Link thumbnail

    Terry Hall: Coventry scooter ride-out pays tribute to singer

    www.bbc.co.uk

    Hundreds of people ride through Coventry on what would have been the singer's 64th birthday.
    1 week ago
    View on Facebook
    · Share
    Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email
    View Comments
    • Likes: 12
    • Shares: 2
    • Comments: 0

    Comment on Facebook

    metro.co.uk/2023/03/13/the-whos-roger-daltrey-thinks-theres-no-point-releasing-an-album-18434779/ ... See MoreSee Less

    Link thumbnail

    The Who's Roger Daltrey thinks there's 'no point' releasing another album

    metro.co.uk

    Bad luck.
    1 week ago
    View on Facebook
    · Share
    Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email
    View Comments
    • Likes: 1
    • Shares: 0
    • Comments: 0

    Comment on Facebook

    www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-64963359 ... See MoreSee Less

    Link thumbnail

    Sir Michael Caine's first Rolls Royce sells at Duxford for £120K

    www.bbc.co.uk

    The Italian Job actor hired a chauffeur to drive the 1968 Silver Shadow, with its doors still intact.
    2 weeks ago
    View on Facebook
    · Share
    Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email
    View Comments
    • Likes: 3
    • Shares: 0
    • Comments: 0

    Comment on Facebook

    www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-64900348 ... See MoreSee Less

    Link thumbnail

    Mystic Meg: Astrologer dies aged 80

    www.bbc.co.uk

    The TV star, whose real name was Margaret Lake, was a well-known TV figure in the 1990s.
    2 weeks ago
    View on Facebook
    · Share
    Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email
    View Comments
    • Likes: 1
    • Shares: 0
    • Comments: 1

    Comment on Facebook

    Do you think she know it eas going to happen

    PlayTalk Teletext (1976) | BFI Replay

    Talk Teletext (1976) | BFI Replay ... See MoreSee Less

    3 weeks ago
    View on Facebook
    · Share
    Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email
    View Comments
    • Likes: 8
    • Shares: 2
    • Comments: 0

    Comment on Facebook

    Gary Rossington: Lynyrd Skynyrd's last founding member dies aged 71.
    ... See MoreSee Less

    Link thumbnail

    Gary Rossington: Lynyrd Skynyrd's last founding member dies aged 71

    www.bbc.co.uk

    Guitarist Gary Rossington had survived a 1977 air crash that killed several of his bandmates.
    3 weeks ago
    View on Facebook
    · Share
    Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email
    View Comments
    • Likes: 2
    • Shares: 0
    • Comments: 1

    Comment on Facebook

    What a talented man. Lucky enough to see original band in concert. BRILLIANT.

    Rest in peace Dickie Davies. An absolute giant of British sports broadcasting.

    ... See MoreSee Less

    Link thumbnail

    Dickie Davies, World of Sport presenter, dies at 94

    www.theguardian.com

    The broadcaster became something of a cult figure after fronting the ITV show for 20 years
    1 month ago
    View on Facebook
    · Share
    Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email
    View Comments
    • Likes: 4
    • Shares: 1
    • Comments: 1

    Comment on Facebook

    Yes, one of the great presenters. R.I.P.

    For fans of the radio series Round The Horne (1965 - 1968) - starring the inimitable Kenneth Williams - there are several full episodes on Spotify. Some of the humour is still pretty close to the edge, even by modern standards. Bona! 

https://open.spotify.com/show/7DIM1wfGKwDis0uzsjHeP7?si=pG0_U0TjRKGzVDvrePs4vA

    For fans of the radio series "Round The Horne" (1965 - 1968) - starring the inimitable Kenneth Williams - there are several full episodes on Spotify. Some of the humour is still pretty "close to the edge", even by modern standards. Bona!

    open.spotify.com/show/7DIM1wfGKwDis0uzsjHeP7?si=pG0_U0TjRKGzVDvrePs4vA
    ... See MoreSee Less

    1 month ago
    View on Facebook
    · Share
    Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email
    View Comments
    • Likes: 12
    • Shares: 1
    • Comments: 2

    Comment on Facebook

    For those interested, the complete “Jules and Sandy” is available on Audible…

    Bona to vada your jolly old eek. Lovely riah....

    RIP the beautiful Stella Stevens, who has died at the age of 84.

    ... See MoreSee Less

    Link thumbnail

    Stella Stevens: Nutty Professor and Poseidon Adventure star dies at 84

    www.bbc.co.uk

    The co-star of Elvis Presley also worked in TV on series such as Murder She Wrote and Magnum, P.I.
    1 month ago
    View on Facebook
    · Share
    Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email
    View Comments
    • Likes: 0
    • Shares: 0
    • Comments: 0

    Comment on Facebook

    Load more
    Please note


    Nostalgia Central covers the period 1950 to 1999 and contains some words and references which reflect the attitudes of those times and which may be considered culturally sensitive, offensive or inappropriate today.
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • YouTube
    Search Nostalgia Central
    Tag Cloud
    Action Figures Amicus Arcade games Australia Beach movies Beatles Blaxploitation Board games British Invasion Britpop Bubblegum music Canada Civil rights Cold War Computer games Crime Disc Jockeys Disco Disney Doo-Wop Elvis Presley Folk rock Girl groups Glam Goth Hammer Heavy Metal Irwin Allen James Bond JFK Kraütrock Labels Madchester Merseybeat Mod revival Motown New Romantic New Wave New Zealand Nixon Northern Soul NWOBHM Oi! One-hit wonders Politics Power Pop Prog rock Pub rock Punk Radio Reggae Rolling Stones Scotland Ska Ska revival Skiffle Soul music Space Race Sport Surf music Video games Vietnam war
    Copyright © 1998, 2023 Nostalgia Central. Run by volunteers. Funded by donations.
    • About Nostalgia Central
    • Contact
    • FAQ

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.