Nickel Mountain

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.

John Gardner's 1973 bestseller was tough to adapt to the screen, given it didn't have much plot and was mostly a rumination on life in upstate New York. The studios kicked it around for a while (Shelley Duvall and Peter Boyle at one point were set to star) and finally tossed it to one-time writer-director Drew Denbaum, who valiantly but fruitlessly tried to shape the material. Henry is too young, considering much of the story rides on the point that he's old enough to be Callie's father. At one point there's an absurd "Rocky" like montage in which he gets in shape for his bride, then Willard is turned into a villain just to create some drama. It's worth seeing for Heather Langenkamp, making you wonder why she got so little work outside the "Nightmare on Elm Street" films.

Inept adaptation of the John Gardner novel and a tremendous disappointment for John Gardner's fans. The film captures none of the beauty of the story and descends into the very cheapest of melodramas. The completely sympathetic character of Willard becomes a mouth-breathing villain and the gentle, pensive, shy Henry Soames is portrayed as something of a jealous lunatic and rather prone to violence in the bargain. Heather Lagenkampf is fine, however, though the script gives her very little to work with. The movie is adequately shot but is never inventive. In short, the movie is a long hard slog to watch and at no point repays the viewer's efforts.

What feels like a 3 hour movie, this under 90 minute hard to find gem keeps you watching because of its strong characters. Among this talented cast is Heather Langenkamp, whom, showcases her talents as a leading lady and a rising star. Her sexial innocese along with her naive beauty drives the audience's attention. The view from the mountain top is different from the valley below. Nickel Mountain is your typical story about boy meets girl, the loss of youth, the failures at life and the struggle to stay alive with the choices e make. Simply filmed but hard to watch, this is a movie worth examining and critiquing. It has gained great value in time.