The Cracker Factory

An underrated TV movie.

Though it's a little dated and the variety of psychiatric stereotypes is a little annoying, but really it's a very good TV movie that I wish were available on video. It's one of Natalie Wood's best performances and she captures the Cassie Barrett character right on. The Cleveland setting gives it a great middle America setting and Marian Mercer, Shelley Long (before "Cheers") and the supporting cast are as up for this as is Natalie.

It's about alcoholism and promotes AA but doesn't go overboard in preaching to us. To the contrary, The "Cassie" character, thanks to the writing and to Natalie Wood, kick the wind out of the "typical" therapy people and methods.

Having just finished Suzanne Finstad's biography of Natalie Wood, I was eager to see The Cracker Factory because it was one of Natalie's favorite roles and a performance that she was very proud of. I have seen almost all of Natalie's films, and after watching this one, I can definitely say that it is perhaps her best work as an actress. Don't get me wrong, she was excellent in all of her films, but in The Cracker Factory, her acting was sheer brilliance. She was extremely convincing as Cassie, a depressed alcoholic housewife who drifts in and out of mental treatment. The role not only called for tough dramatic acting, which Wood of course tackles excellently, but also calls for an actress that has great comic timing due to Cassie's acerbic wit, which Natalie displays effortlessly and hilariously.

The supporting cast is also in top form. Peter Haskell is great as the distant husband, Perry King is good as Cassie's psychiatrist, Juliet Mills is excellent as a supportive nurse, and a young Shelley Long is superb as the manic depressive Cara. The film itself is very good overall, although the music and certain parts of the script make it obvious that it is a made for TV movie.

In a great production, however, the highest honors must go to Natalie Wood. In her biography, Finstad writes about how Natalie often felt that her acting was inferior to her peers that had studied Method Acting in New York at the Actor's Studio (like James Dean). Watching The Cracker Factory, it is obvious that she had no reason to feel that way, her acting was brilliant, as good and even better than many of the great Method actors. I only wish that Wood would have received the critical recognition for this performance that she so richly deserved.

Of course, the book is usually better. The author has time to develope the characters, while the film makers do not. That having been said, "The Cracker Factory" is a very good movie. I was pleasantly surprised. Natalie Wood did a remarkably good job of bringing Joyce Burditt's "Cassie" to life. The supporting cast was also good, especially Juliet Mills as Tinkerbell, the night nurse. A good book to read, a good movie to watch, either way, you won't feel let down.

I really like movies with people with mental problems, it's one of my favorite subjects, one of my favorite movies has always been "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" (actor Sydney Lassick has a similar role in both movies). I didn't thought this "The Cracker Factory" would be so good. There are many powerful, extraordinary scenes, Natalie Wood and Shelley Long they outdid themselves. Delia Salvi is great in a supporting role, the scene in the cemetery when she starts hitting the tombstone of her dead husband is very impressive. Absolutely worth seeing and not only once, it's an original drama intertwined with comic moments. From what I read about Natalie Wood, her character in this movie, Cassie Barrett, is very close to her in real life.

Burt Brinckerhoff's exceptional made-for-television movie "The Cracker Factory" based upon the Joyce Rebeta-Burditt book of the same name offers a phenomenal performance by the late, great Natalie Wood. Natalie Wood shines as Cassie Barrett, a suburban alcoholic housewife who's in and out of the local hospital mental ward. She gives a rare look into the turbulent life of a wife and mother who suffers from depression, alcoholism and slight mental difficulty. Wood's Cassie Barrett is a spunky, bright individual looking for answers as to why she can't seem to handle her own life, while others do. Wood is warm, witty, intelligent and adds a special glow to this perceptive film.