I found this movie on DVD at my public library, I watched it at home.
The Great Depression in the USA lasted from 1929 to 1939. This movie is set in 1938 Albany, New York, near the end of the Depression but with most communities in a depressed economic state.
Jack Nicholson is Francis Phelan, a drifter who has been away from home for some years. He returns right at Halloween, he meekly looks up his wife and two young adult children, but he calmly states that he doesn't plan to stay.
His friend with benefits for some years is Meryl Streep as Helen, former singer and entertainer who now was a shell of her former self.
In a non-glamorous role Carroll Baker is Francis' faithful wife Annie Phelan, she is surprised when he shows up but treats him with compassion.
This is just a slice of life story, bums and drifters doing what they can to sometimes find a little work, maybe get a sandwich here or visit the soup kitchen there, find an abandoned car to sleep in for the night without freezing.
I didn't find the story itself very enjoyable, it is a tragic story, but I found it worthwhile for Nicholson and Streep.
