ManiakJiggy This is How Movies Should Be Made

Pluskylang Great Film overall

Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Phillipa Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

PimpinAinttEasy To all the bums of the world,this is your film. The ones who cannot be bothered to play all the games and have accepted that the race is unequal. This film is about your mates in the prohibition era.I liked the film's structure - the daily life of a bum and his fellow bums and his recollections about the people he murdered by accident. It is scary how a man could end up as a bum. And while the film does not lay out all the reasons why the protagonist (Nicholson) ended up the way he did, it gives us glimpses of his past which might offer some clues.The film does not glorify the bum life in anyway. Though as a square, their antics which include hard drinking seemed quite charming to me. I mean, it must be terrible if you are a bum and you fall sick on the road. But somehow I do feel like it is better than the relentless boredom of the ordinary life.Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep's performances were more than adequate. Someone like John Cassavetes or Elaine May would have been able to do full justice to this film. Not that there is anything wrong with it. I guess it is sort of a lost classic when you consider the star cast. I would love to watch this film on Blu Ray.Best Regards, Pimpin.(8/10)

George Aar I, like many others I assume, was drawn to this film by it's list of actors. With a cast like that it's gotta be great, right? As it turns out, not so much.The story here is simply not THAT interesting to warrant a run time of almost two and a half hours. A baseball player accidentally kills his child and then, in his grief, abandons his family and becomes a bum. Years later he goes back to see his wife and is welcomed home with (mostly) open arms. And things really don't develop much more than that. So A-listers, Jack Nicholson and Merrill Streep flounder around a gloomy set and try to act their way to an epic film, but they just don't have the material to work with. So you end up with a very drawn out, dreary, and unavoidably BORING movie. It's certainly not worth the time investment when there's no payoff.

SnoopyStyle It's 1938 Albany, NY. Francis Phelan (Jack Nicholson) is a former baseball player and a drunken drifter. His friend Rudy (Tom Waits) is dying of cancer. He visits his son's grave lamenting accidentally killing him after four beers. He abandoned his family many years ago. He finds his drinking buddy Helen Archer (Meryl Streep) at the mission. He is haunted by three ghosts including a scab (Nathan Lane) he killed as a striking trolley worker and a hobo who tried to chop off his feet. He visits his wife Annie Phelan (Carroll Baker).Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep get to do some good acting. The story meanders quite a lot. It's not a plot where there is a place to go. I guess Francis does have a destination and possibly salvation. The main problem for me is that Nicholson and Streep separate midway through the movie. Streep is late to the movie to begin with. This needs both great actors together for the whole movie.

TruthXSeeker Unlike most mainstream films, "Ironwood" is a movie that has the courage to tell a story true to the heart. Without giving away any spoilers, this film is about a homeless man returning to his hometown after a 22 year hiatus. Upon his return, he regains contact with his unfortunate friends whom are also living on the streets in post-depression America while also reconnecting with the family he abandoned. Granted, this film is not for viewers anticipating a happy ending. However, if you are an individual who thrills at being provoked to think, to feel, and to sympathize about characters, then watch this film.Considering the topic, tone, and reality of "Ironwood", I would recommend viewers to watch "The Saint of Fort Washington."