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Wrestling Ernest Hemingway (1993)

tomatometer

50

Average Rating: 5.2/10
Critic Reviews: 8
Fresh: 4 | Rotten: 4

No consensus yet.

audience

61

liked it
Average Rating: 3.5/5
User Ratings: 1,321

My Rating

Movie Info

Richard Harris and Robert Duvall star in this low-key drama concerning a hard-drinking former sea captain (Richard Harris) who befriends a shy retired barber (Robert Duvall). Though their polar-opposite personalities find the relationship slow going at first, roguish Frank (Harris) and gentle Walter (Duvall) soon develop a close friendship as they pass the days with conversation. As death looms near and their pasts seem to evaporate into the air with the passing of each day, the lonely souls

PG-13,

Drama

,

Steve Conrad

Jul 27, 1994

Warner Home Video

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Cast

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All Critics (21) | Top Critics (9) | Fresh (12) | Rotten (8) | DVD (2)

Wrestling Ernest Hemingway aspires to be serious about its subject. Yet in a curious way this sobriety works against it. Frank and Walt turn into schematically contrasting case studies, and the movie's sympathy for them eventually becomes patronizing.

June 14, 2009 Full Review Source: TIME Magazine
TIME Magazine
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Randa Haines' sappy, rather dull melodrama about the friendship between two eccentric old men is mostly a showcase for its stars, Robert Duvall and Richard Harris.

June 27, 2007 Full Review Source: Variety
Variety
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There aren't really any surprises, but it's a delight to see a movie which idles away without anything more pressing on its mind than people.

January 26, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out
Time Out
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Instead of simply assuming that the old have interesting lives, the film never stops congratulating itself for being daring enough to focus on them.

May 20, 2003 Full Review Source: New York Times
New York Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The movie is essentially about the close observation of behavior. Like some of Hemingway's stories, the real action is all implied. The characters trade small talk, and we sense that larger issues are lurking beneath their cheerfulness.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

An endearing buddy movie for the senior crowd.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Washington Post
Washington Post
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Offers little in the way of narrative drive or plot conflict, and what does happen is far from surprising. MacLaine and Piper Laurie are more or less wasted in supporting roles, and pretty Sandra Bullock is given almost nothing to do.

June 14, 2009 Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide
TV Guide's Movie Guide

This is a film of two superlative performances from Richard Harris and Robert Duvall, who play an odd couple drawn together by their common loneliness as they become friends in the winter of their lives

July 19, 2008 Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile
Urban Cinefile

A deeply moving and wonderfully acted film about loneliness and friendship. This is one to treasure.

October 5, 2005
Fantastica Daily

A slow-paced and sentimental film, but still a pleasure to watch as the two brilliant and dignified leads play off each other so well.

July 20, 2004 Full Review Source: Film4
Film4

Funny, touching, understated. Melancholy, bittersweet, lovely.

July 7, 2004

Duvall and Harris are as touching, as they are mezmerising.

September 19, 2002
Moviehole

Portrays the salutary ways in which two very dissimiliar elders enrich each other's lives.

August 20, 2002 Full Review Source: Spirituality and Practice
Spirituality and Practice

Audience Reviews for Wrestling Ernest Hemingway

AWESOME FILM!!! Look at this cast:
Robert Duvall, Richard Harris, Shirley MacLain, Sandra Bullock. . . . this movie is just too good to be true - top notch story, acting, and soundtrack, and you'll never forget these performances.
December 22, 2010
Rather slow paced comedy/drama with 2 super lead roles in Richard Harris(especially,who stands out from the rest) as an Irish immigrant drunk & retired Navy officer sent to a basic retirement appartment in the sweltering heat of Florida and Robert Duvall an retired Cuban tee-total straight laced barber who find friendship.
Absolutely 1 of those movies thats so easy 2 watch. Takes you on a ride with 2 virtually opposite characters at the peak of their lives.
Looks like a movie for the older generation from the cover & write up on dvd case but its far from it,Definately under-rated movie that did not have much publicity but then again Neither does a lot of our favourite films we find from websites like RT.
December 27, 2009
Delboy M.
Delboy Mack
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