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Harry & Son (1984)

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Average Rating: 3.9/10
Reviews Counted: 9
Fresh: 2 | Rotten: 7

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Average Rating: N/A
Critic Reviews: 3
Fresh: 0 | Rotten: 3

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Average Rating: 3.2/5
User Ratings: 161

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Movie Info

Harry (Paul Newman), a middle-aged hardhat, has trouble communicating with his teenaged son Howard (Robby Benson). While Harry wants Howard to find a bread-and-butter job, the sensitive boy would rather pursue a writing career. Howard tries his best to please his dad, but ultimately realizes that he must march to his own beat if he's to find lasting happiness. The best scenes in this by-the-numbers domestic drama are those between Howard and his pregnant girlfriend (Ellen Barkin). Adapted from

PG, 1 hr. 57 min.

Drama

Directed By: Paul Newman

Written By: Ronald L. Buck, Paul Newman

In Theaters: Mar 2, 1984 Wide

Cast

Paul Newman
Harry
Robby Benson
Howard
Ellen Barkin
Katie
Wilford Brimley
Tom
Judith Ivey
Sally
Ossie Davis
Raymond
Morgan Freeman
Siemanowski
Katherine Borowitz
Nina
Maury Chaykin
Lawrence
Joanne Woodward
Lilly
Jerry Barrett
Cop
Michael Brockman
Al
Cathy Cahill
Waitress
Robert Goodman
Andy
Joseph C. Hess
1st Worker
Will Knickerbocker
Willie
Terry Miller
Surplus Clerk
Al Nesor
Taxi Driver
Tom Nowicki
Tommy
Claudia Robinson
Nurse
Russ Wheeler
Doctor
Gilberto Costa Nunes
Spanish Parrot
Harold Bergman
Night Watchman
George Warren
Superintendent

Critic Reviews for Harry & Son

All Critics (9) | Top Critics (3) | Fresh (2) | Rotten (7)

Fuzzily conceived and indecisively executed, Harry & Son represents a deeply disappointing return to the director's chair for Paul Newman.

June 17, 2008 Full Review Source: Variety

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Variety Staff

Variety

Top Critic

The movie might have worked if it had been a satire of those awful made-for-TV Family Problem Movies. Unfortunately, it does not seem to know it is funny.

October 23, 2004 Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times

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Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

Top Critic

A decently intentioned but rather drab mess of a movie.

May 20, 2003 Full Review Source: New York Times

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Vincent Canby

New York Times

Top Critic

The film is definitely overlong, bordering on the dull.

June 17, 2008 Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide

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TV Guide's Movie Guide

Produced, directed and even partially scripted by Newman, the story about a man suffering from a heart condition is hardly exciting or rewarding material.

June 17, 2008 Comment

Douglas Pratt

DVDLaser

OK pairing of Paul Newman and Robby Benson in domestic drama.

February 21, 2008 Comment

Steve Crum

Video-Reviewmaster.com

The script offers few insights and the plot is too predictable to create any tension.

May 24, 2003 Full Review Source: Film4

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Film4

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Audience Reviews for Harry & Son

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The narrative line of the script is scattered and seems to pick up ideas and problems and then drop them without resolution to tackle some other tangential issue. The issues all pertain to the relationship between the father and son but it would have been better to focus more on their interaction and less on exterior

February 24, 2011

jay nixon

Super Reviewer

I LOVE THIS MOVIES I GUESS MOSTLY BECAUSE MY UNCLE IS IN IT!

April 6, 2011

Dee Beatty-Brassfield

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