My review was written in October 1985 after watching the movie on HBO.
Adapted from the late John Gardner's massive novel, "Nickel Mountain" is a well-acted bit of Americana, lacking the freshness and dramatic bite to make it as a theatrical entry. Filmed in 1983, title went unreleased until its current exposure on pay-cable and as a video cassette.
The romantic story is set in rural, upstate New York (though exact locale is not mentioned in the film), where 16-year-old Callie (Heather Langenkamp) becomes pregnant after dallying with Willard (Patrick Cassidy). After Willard goes away to work for the summer and then on to agricultural college, his dad (Ed Lauter) opposes any marriage, offering Callie $300 to get an abortion. He has become a bigtime farmer and doesn't want his son to marry a relatively poor girl.
Coming to Callie's escue is Henry Soames (Michael Cole), a friendly, overweight neighbor who dated Callie's mom (Grace Zabriskie) when they were teens. Callie works as a waitress at Henry's diner and takes care of him when he's ill. Henry marries Callie and the baby is born, but a violent confrontation ensues when a jealous Willard comes home to ask Carrrie to run off with him. An unconvincing finale contriveds a happy ending for everybody.
Ranging from "Where the Lilies Bloom" to "Coal Miner's Daughter", the rural drama is an enduring genre, but as "The River Red" and "Sylvester" have shown recently, its box office impact is lessening. Writer-director Drew Denbaum fails to bring the necessary contemporary relevance to "Nickel Mountain" to attract an audience.
Michael Cole (well-remembered as star of "The Mod Squad" series) has an effective change-of-pace, fitted here with a bloated body suit and handling heartfelt monologs as the selfless hero.
Pic "introduces" (per screen credit) Heather Langenkamp, a lovely young actress from Tulsa who previously had small roles in Francis Coppola's "The Outsiders" and "Rumble Fish" and received her main exposure as the lead player in "A Nightmare on Elm Street" in 1984. Her winning smile and sympathetic thesping are "Mountain"'s chief assets. Supporting cast is okay.
