Themes: Haunted By the Past, Journey of Self-Discovery, Infidelity
Main Cast: Nick Nolte, Barbra Streisand, Blythe Danner, Kate Nelligan, Jeroen Krabbé
Release Year: 1991
Country: US
Run Time: 132 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Barbra Streisand directed and stars in this love story about two people of dissimilar backgrounds who form a connection based on their unhappy experiences. Adapted from the novel by Pat Conroy, the story concerns Tom Wingo (Nick Nolte), a rudderless, unemployed football coach. Stuck in a loveless marriage with a wife (Blythe Danner) who feels nothing for him, and unable to move forward with his life, he is suddenly jarred out of his lethargy when he travels to New York because his twin sister (Melinda Dillon) has just tried to kill herself. In New York, he meets her psychiatrist, Susan Lowenstein (Barbra Streisand), who is married to a snobbish husband (Jeroen Krabbe). Susan and Tom become attracted to each other out of their loneliness. As his relationship with Susan blossoms, Tom learns to deal with his mother Lila (Kate Nelligan), who is the sole emotional center of his life. In the past, Lila was married to an abusive alcoholic. When she left her first husband, she married a rich man whose abuse was mental rather than physical. Tom hates Lila, but he can't free himself of his attachment to her. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
Melinda Dillon - Savannah Wingo; George Carlin - Eddie Detreville; Jason Gould - Bernard Woodruff; Brad Sullivan - Henry Wingo; Maggie Collier - Lucy Wingo; Lindsay Wray - Jennifer Wingo; Bradlyn Whitaker - Chandler Wingo; Justen Woods - Tom Wingo-Age 6; Bobby Fain - Tom Wingo-Age 10; Trey Yearwood - Tom Wingo-Age 13; Nancy Moore Atchison - Savannah Wingo--Age 10; Grayson Fricke - Luke Wingo--Age 9; Chris Stacy - Luke Wingo-Age 16; John Arceri - Vendor; Yvonne Brisendine - Christine Kingsley; Marilyn Carter - Anna Richardson; Milton Clark, Jr. - Doctor; Bonnie Cook - Nurse #1; Francis Dumaurier - Waiter; Rebecca Fleming - Megan Daniels; Bob Hannah - Reese Newbury; Warren Kremin - Fisherman; Lee Lively - Ed Rosenberg; Max Maxwell - 1st Rapist; Frederick Neumann - Madison Kingsley; R.D. Oprea - 2nd Rapist; Ann Pierce - Riva Rosenberg; Sandy Rowe - Monique; Alan Sader - Spencer Richardson; Nick Searcy - Man at Party; Dottie Soracco - Nurse #2; Kirk Whalum - Saxophonist
Credit
W. Steven Graham - Art Director, Sheldon Schrager - Co-producer, Ruth Morley - Costume Designer, Barbra Streisand - Director, Don Zimmerman - Editor, James Newton Howard - Composer (Music Score), Paul Sylbert - Production Designer, Richard Sylbert - Production Designer, Stephen Goldblatt - Cinematographer, Sheldon Schrager - Production Manager, Cis Corman - Producer, Andrew S. Karsch - Producer, James T. Roe III - Producer, Barbra Streisand - Producer, Caryl Heller - Set Designer, Arthur Howe, Jr. - Set Designer, Leslie Pope - Set Designer, Chris Shriver - Set Designer, Peter Knowlton - Special Effects, Dennis L. Maitland - Sound/Sound Designer, Kay Rose - Sound Editor, Jay Presson Allen - Screenwriter, Pat Conroy - Screenwriter, Becky Johnston - Screenwriter, Stanley Brossette - Unit Publicist, Pat Conroy - Book Author
James Newton Howard's score for Barbra Streisand's The Prince of Tides is a delicate, pretty set of repetitive orchestral themes. Indeed, for a soundtrack, it is amazingly consistent in terms of tone, continually employing swelling strings and slowly played piano figures in what sounds more like music for an air freshener commercial than a drama. Streisand sings two songs at the end, neither of them heard as a vocal selection in the actual film. One is the old J. Fred Coots and Sam M. Lewis standard "For All We Know," and the other is the newly written "Places That Belong to You," with music by Howard and lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman in their "The Way Were" mode. Both songs are typically well sung, but the oldie is the better tune. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
Barbra Streisand (Vocals), Barbra Streisand (Producer), Barbra Streisand (Performer), James Newton Howard (Producer), James Newton Howard (Performer), Bobby Lyle (Piano), John Arrias (Mixing), Tom Barney (Bass), Lionel Cordew (Drums), James Getzoff (Concert Master), Leroy Hyter (Keyboards), Johnny Mandel (Conductor), Johnny Mandel (Orchestration), Hummie Mann (Arranger), Hummie Mann (Orchestration), Marty Paich (Arranger), Marty Paich (Conductor), Marty Paich (Orchestration), Sue McLean (Assistant Engineer), Gil Morales (Assistant Engineer), Shawn Murphy (Mixing), Charles Paakkari (Assistant Engineer), Sharon Rice (Assistant Engineer), Bill Schnee (Mixing), Bill Talbott (Engineer), Kirk Whalum (Saxophone), Sandy DeCrescent (Scoring Contractor), Marnie Riley (Assistant Engineer), Nancy Donald (Art Direction), Brad Dechter (Arranger), Brad Dechter (Orchestration), Koji Egawa (Assistant Engineer), JoAnn Kane (Music Preparation), Chris Rich (Assistant Engineer), Francesco Scavullo (Photography), Jurgen Vollmer (Photography), Ari Sloane (?)
The Prince of Tides is a 1991 film based on the 1986 novel of the same name by Pat Conroy. It tells the story of the narrator's struggle to overcome the psychological damage inflicted by his dysfunctional childhood in South Carolina. The film was created by producer/director Barbra Streisand from a screenplay by Conroy and Becky Johnston.
The Prince of Tides tells the story of Tom Wingo, a teacher and football coach who is reluctant to help his twin sister's psychiatrist unlock their dysfunctional family's secrets. When the sister, famous New York poet Savannah Wingo, attempts suicide again, Tom is torn from his safe and dull world and travels to New York to help her. Savannah, though, is in such a dissociated state that she is unable to help her psychiatrist, Susan Lowenstein, understand the extent of her problems. Susan asks Tom to act as his twin's memory and help her uncover the subconscious painful events that contributed to her emotional collapse and loss of identity. Tom and Susan fall in love as they work together to help Savannah, and Tom is healed from his emotional numbness as he realizes it results from the severe traumas that he endured with his mother and siblings.
Reception
While the film was a box office hit and raised Streisand's reputation as a director, its numerous changes from the original novel upset some Conroy purists. Streisand jettisoned most of the novel's flashback scenes. The character she plays in the film, a psychiatrist, appears only in the present, not in any of these flashbacks. They describe Tom Wingo's (Nick Nolte) relationship with his siblings in great detail. In the novel, these flashbacks form the main plot and take up more of the novel than the romance between Streisand's character, Dr. Lowenstein, and Tom Wingo. The jettisoning of the flashbacks makes the relationship between Wingo and Lowenstein the central story in the film, whereas in the novel, it is not.
Another character in the novel - the second Wingo brother, Luke, who appears only in flashbacks - is vitally important to the novel, and his death is a major plot point. Luke barely appears at all in the film, and his death is only alluded to.
In 2006, NBC's The Office released a webisode entitled, "The Accountants" (episode 104 1:39). In the webisode, Oscar tells Kevin and Angela that his mom picks the worst time to visit because he already had plans to watch The Prince of Tides with friends. When asked why, Oscar says, "Well, we don't like it, we make fun of it. It's like our Rocky Horror picture thing we do."
In the now legendary 1992 Saturday Night Live skit "Coffee Talk", guests Roseanne and Madonna, playing a stereotypical Jewish mother and daughter, go through a cathartic conversation, resulting in Streisand-obsessed hostess Linda Richman gushing "This is so Prince of Tides!" Moments later, Streisand herself surprises them with an unexpected appearance.
