Noutions Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

Contentar Best movie of this year hands down!

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Nicole I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

wes-connors When his intellectually-challenged companion is committed to the state mental hospital, deaf mute silver engraver Alan Arkin (as John Singer) decides to move to a nearby Southern town. He rents a room, for $20 per week, from a family trying to make ends meet after an accident puts breadwinner Biff McGuire (as Robert Kelly) in a wheelchair. The room given to Mr. Arkin belonged to pretty blonde teenager Sondra Locke (as Margaret "Mick" Kelly). At first she resents Arkin renting her room, but Ms. Locke gets to know, and like, Arkin. His host family continues to struggle financially, and it appears Locke may have to quit school and help support the family...Arkin gets to know others in the small town, most notably physician Percy Rodrigues (as Benedict Copeland) and his daughter Cicely Tyson (as Portia). Arkin is able to convince Mr. Rodrigues to treat alcoholic Stacy Keach (as Jake Blount), although the black doctor usually refuses to treat white people. Rodrigues tells Akin the tragic secret he is concealing from his daughter...The combination of small screen (TV) director Robert Ellis Miller and veteran motion picture photographer James Wong Howe works magic on this story, based the best-selling novel by Carson McCullers and adapted by Thomas C. Ryan. The film should have been considered for one of those "ensemble" acting awards given in more recent years, which honor minor cast members...Arkin and Locke were considered for several 1968 awards. He won the lead "New York Film Critics" award and she was noted in as one of the year's best supporting actress. It should be noted, however, Locke is the lead actress in this film; arguably, Ms. Tyson should be considered the main supporting actress. In her first role, Locke impersonates a younger woman very well...Like real life, "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter" shows everyone as afflicted, or challenged, in some way. The characters in the story face physical, financial and mental challenges. Some are successfully managed. Some are not. There are lessons about drawing and giving strengths to each other. While the story is outstanding, one serious weakness stands out. This is the film's never showing us Arkin's companion Chuck McCann (as Spiros Antonapoulos) in a positive light. He is revealed as trouble-maker in each appearance. Some scenes showing the mentally challenged man's positive traits would have made Arkin's final decision even more powerful.********* The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (7/31/68) Robert Ellis Miller ~ Alan Arkin, Sondra Locke, Percy Rodrigues, Cicely Tyson

edwagreen Outstanding 1968 film, a year of historical turbulence and drastic changes in the social mainstream are captured by this captivating film which shows how difficult life can be and that at many times there are no solutions to the problem one must experience.Alan Arkin is awesome as the deaf mute whose kindness is appreciated by those he befriends, but at the same time, they don't realize what he is going through. Sondra Locke is terrific as the young girl he befriends when he moves into her home as a border.Cicely Tyson is marvelous as the black woman representing repression and social outrage. Equally fine is Percy Rodrigues, as her black doctor father, whose anti-white feelings are weakened when he meets up with the Arkin character.We experience a group of people whose lives are in utter turmoil. For them there are no easy solutions, as life seems to have come upon them by spitting in their very faces.A wonderful movie.

mark.waltz Alan Arkin is John Singer, a deaf mute who takes an interest in practically everything and everyone around him. He wants to be the legal guardian for the mentally disabled Chuck McMann, who is first seen breaking the window of a pastry shop so he can eat the displays. To be near McMann (who is committed for observation), Arkin rents a room from physically disabled Biff McGuire and his tired wife, Laurinda Barrett, and slowly becomes friends with their lonely teen-aged daughter (Sondra Locke). He also befriends drifter Stacy Keach, whom he first meets while Keach is causing a drunken disturbance in a greasy spoon. When black doctor Percy Rodriguez refuses to take care of the injured drunken Keach, Arkin begins to work on him. Rodriguez, who is angry both at white people, as well as blacks who don't try to rise above their station in life, at first resists Arkin's intrusion in his life. His daughter (the brilliant Cicely Tyson) has married a man he refers to as an "Uncle Tom". Later, she tells him basically that he acts more white than white people do after he refuses to help her husband out of a disastrous situation that results in catastrophe. It is only through compassionate Arkin that the two are able to come to an eventual understanding. At his boarding house, Arkin wins Locke's trust by using her love of classical music to win her trust. It is through his upbeat look at life that seems to bring the people around him (including the surprisingly wise and kind drifter Keach) any sense of hope.It appears that Arkin's disability is a metaphor for the emotional disabilities that all these people are hiding from the world. Locke is initially hateful towards Arkin, but grows to trust him as her parents become more distant because of their own growing bitterness's. McGuire (in the type of role that Arkin might have later played) is quietly understated as the injured father whose inability to work has caused the family financial hardship. Barrett's fall from tired, hard working wife to slightly embittered mother who wants her daughter to drop out of school and work full time (while taking night classes), is also nicely subtle. Their characters reminded me a bit of the parents in "Breaking Away". Rodriguez is outstanding as the embittered black doctor who only treats Keach because of his pity towards deaf Arkin. The scene where he admits how ironic it is that at this point in his life, it is a white man to whom he can confide his deepest feelings, is so quietly powerful. Ms. Tyson, of course, is excellent; Already a stage veteran, she makes her character quite believable and the love for her husband most admirable.Stacy Keach is only in the film briefly in the first half, but makes a nice impression as the multi-layered drifter who has become a social outcast that only Arkin understands. As for Chuck McCann, as Arkin's child-like friend, he seems to really become this character. It is apparent that Arkin would never be able to take care of him, revealed in a powerful scene where Arkin uses a box of Whitman's chocolates to lure the sweets loving McMann away from a cake to get him to a court hearing. Arkin's good intentions are more than admirable, but ultimately leads to a tragic conclusion that will rip your heart out.Sondra Locke, best known in the 70's as Clint Eastwood's on and off screen partner in movies like "The Gauntlet" and "Every Which Way But Loose", has her best role as the teen-aged Mick. As I looked more closely at her, I was stunned by her resemblance to Allison Arngrim ("Little House on the Prairie's" Nellie Olsen) in both looks and facial expressions. She greatly deserved the Oscar Nomination she received, because she makes what could have been an annoying character really quite likable. She's not movie star beautiful, but there is something very unique in her that makes her quite special here.Without a doubt, there is no other word to describe Alan Arkin's performance than amazing. He really studied this character inside and out to get every niche of him down. There is no moment of unbelievability in his portrayal. While he lost the Oscar to Cliff Robertson's equally brilliant performance in "Charly", it must have been a really close race. "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" is a much better film that unlike "Charly" and many other films of the 60's doesn't add a strange "mod" feeling into it that makes no sense.There are some terrific moral lessons to be learned from films like "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter". The biggest for me, based upon the tragic ending, is that in life, it is not only what people do in their lifetime that makes them special, but what they add to the lives of others around them (particularly strangers) that matters. We can give all the kindness in the world to our family, friends and partners, but if we ignore the opportunity to help someone we haven't brought into our lives, it takes away from our importance while here on this earth. The ending may have been tragic, but what lessons that other characters learned from Arkin's John Singer would change their lives eternally. Something tells me that Mick (Locke) would end up in social services helping disabled people, and that the black doctor (Rodriguez) would never again distrust all white people and be open to helping everybody who came to him.

George Wright This movie shows the hurt that a number of characters suffer as a result of disability, race, or personal circumstances. Into their lives comes an intelligent, caring person who happens to be deaf. He helps each through the tough times and yet at the end of the day, he too had to deal with own hurts and rejections. The leading character is a young man named Singer, performed by Allan Arkin, who is still going strong forty years on.The movie presents the viewer with a number of sub-plots that become slightly unwieldy. Yet all the characters feel the ray of light and hope that their friend brings into their lives. The ending is puzzling at first but we can see that the problems of some people are often easier to handle than those who are their strength and support.A fine movie with a great performance by Allan Arkin. Cicely Tyson, Steacy Keach, Chuck McCann and Sondra Locke give great performances as well.This unassuming movie has a lot heart and maybe that's why it works so well.