Combining two John Steinbeck novels (Cannery Row, Sweet Thursday) into one movie worked surprisingly well for David S. Ward, who wrote the screenplay and directed Cannery Row (1982).  1982 was another great year for movies, and Cannery Row is one of my favorites from that year even though it received mixed reviews at the time and has not found much of an audience since then.

The film is very episodic, following Steinbeck’s writing style, but the plot centers around marine biologist Doc (Nick Nolte) conducting an important octopus study very quietly in a rundown California fishing town now occupied by a colorful gallery of less fortunate characters.  Chief among them is the new floozie Suzy (Debra Winger), to whom Doc is reluctantly attracted, and well-meaning bums whose philosophy of taking life easy is put to the test by several crises.

As much as I love Nolte and Winger, who are great together — especially during the jitterbug rehearsal scene — it is the supporting cast of painfully helpful friends of Doc’s who steal the show.  M. Emmet Walsh, Frank McRae, Tom Mahoney and James Keane are hilarious and, yes, touching as the down-and-out denizens of Cannery Row whose helpfulness to Doc usually ends in disaster.  Comic highlights include the frog hunt — a veritable cinematic classic of a sequence — Hazel’s agony over his presidential future, and the climactic party for Doc that gets a little bit out of control.

As in John Steinbeck’s stories there is a lot of love tempered by doses of sadness and human frailty.  It’s bittersweet, in the best possible definition of the word.  And it’s all brought to life with fabulous Sven Nykvist cinematography, a terrific score by Jack Nitzsche and superb narration by John Huston, whose fluffy voice is perfect to relate Steinbeck’s tales to an audience.  My rating:  ☆ ☆ ☆ 1/2.  (9:4).