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Epicurus.com - Sometimes a Great Notion
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List Price: $9.98
Our Price: $64.95
Availability: N/A
Manufacturer: Universal Studios
Starring: Jim Burk, Bennie E. Dobbins, Henry Fonda, Alan Gibbs, Mickey Gilbert
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9781558800854
Format: Color
ISBN: 630018188X
Label: Universal Studios
Manufacturer: Universal Studios
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Universal Studios
Release Date: 1998-01-01
Running Time: 114
Studio: Universal Studios
Theatrical Release Date: 1971
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Editorial Reviews:
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Paul Newman, an American original, would seem to be the perfect choice to direct a film adaptation of the second novel by another American original--Ken Kesey. But Kesey's novel, written under the influence of both LSD and growing fame, was a mishmash, and Newman's film can't rescue it. It also seems strange to see the ultraliberal Newman starring as a strike-busting logger who honors a contract on principle, rather than observe union concerns, bringing all sorts of misery down on his family. Henry Fonda is interesting as Newman's father, but the film never finds its footing. One killer sequence, however: Richard Jaeckel, as Newman's brother, trapped under a log in a river, slowly drowning despite Newman's best efforts to save him. --Marshall Fine
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Release it on DVD
Comment: Excellent movie. Great message. Newman on the tug's roof at the end sipping a beer is priceless. Excellent message: Honor your word no matter the price. Strange that Newman, an arch liberal, would be in a movie that paints unions in a very bad light. Release it on DVD and I'll purchase.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Never Give an Inch
Comment: Another movie hard to find was once billed with two different names.The title here and also "Never Give an Inch" With Paul Newman's first directorial debut it hits on all cylinders. With Henry Fonda as the patriarch, this film purveys strength in carrying on with true work ethic beliefs. The wayward son returning home and digging in to share the family values shows faith and belief that a lot of famlies today should adhere. It's always a great notion to never give an inch.
R Garceau
Customer Rating:
Summary: DVD PLEASE!!!
Comment: This is a fantastic movie, who do we have to petition to get it on DVD???
Customer Rating:
Summary: great movie
Comment: if you like Paul and Henry you will love this movie...you can't go wrong !!!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great movie, greatest book
Comment: First, why this isn't on DVD is a big mystery.
Secondly, let's stop dancing around it, Joe Ben's demise is the best death scene in cinema. Would be Hamlets are quitting the business everytime they see it, knowing they will never have one that good.
The story, about a logging family's struggle to remain independent in the face of collectivization by unions and capitalization by business, is compelling on its own, even without the subplots of family discord and redemption. The only viewpoint it takes politically is to be stridently anti-political. It is also a realistic and detailed exposition of the actual work of logging, at least as it was carried out in the late fifties and early sixties.
I remember when this movie hit the theaters, it didn't make that big a splash, especially considering that the actors involved were among the most popular of the day. It really wasn't promoted all that much by the studio, and when it was rereleased and first came out on video, they had renamed it "Never Give an Inch". It was as if the powers that were didn't quite know how to package it.
It stands on its own as a movie, even though fans of the book could conceivably be disappointed if they looked for all the wonder of the literary effort in the cinematic. The book is the Huckleberry Finn of the 20th Century, and would be remembered as such if it were not for the fact that the 21st is so lamentably non-literary and possessed of a cultural attention deficit disorder no Ritalin can cure.
Its genius for interwoven characters and plot and innovative and metaphysically truthful timelines were unique in American literature, and remain so to this day. It is coherently presented from at least five points of view simultaneously, giving the reader the pleasure of reading a new book every time one picks it up throughout their life. It is an amazing feat.
As for the movie, the acting is consistant with the abilities of the ensemble, a collection of some of the most craftsmanlike actors of the era. The cinematography is beautiful, with effective use of light, a difficult thing to do in the Oregon coastal forest with the technology of the day. The music and the sets are as true to the timeframe as any I've ever seen. The people are real, and anyone who grew up in a hardworking rural environment in the early sixties will be able to smell the barn and the forest and the grease on the hot machinery. When I left the theater I felt like I should go shine a deer, but I couldn't quite talk the taxi driver into it.
Both book and movie are apogees of characterization, and the fact that cinema and acting are more restrictive mediums for characterization than literature is the only criticism one can make of the movie. See and enjoy the movie, read and love the book.
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