Nuts (1987)

Synopsis: Martin Ritt directed NUTS, a courtroom thriller which is an example of the director working clearly at the top of his form; he has always been an actor's director and here gets tremendous... Martin Ritt directed NUTS, a courtroom thriller which is an example of the director working clearly at the top of his form; he has always been an actor's director and here gets tremendous performances from his entire cast. Taken from a stage play that was changed extensively for the big screen, NUTS is set mostly in a courtroom, where the apparently mentally ill Claudia Draper (Barbra Streisand), a prostitute who has killed one of her johns, is standing trial for manslaughter. However, as the trial progresses and Claudia strains to prove her sanity, startling new evidence is revealed about her parents--who are trying to have her committed, her psychiatrist, and the public defender assigned to her. Streisand produced and starred in this film, and it is evident from her volatile performance how much she wanted to play Claudia; her intensity gives the film's courtroom scenes their push. Contributing to the intensity, Ritt bathes the courtroom in luminescent light during Streisand's most intense scenes, highlighting Claudia's urgency and lending an eerie feeling to the usually antiseptic courtroom. Fueled by uniformly excellent performances, Ritt's film eclipses the scope of the usual courtroom drama as it works toward a surprising and revealing conclusion. [More]

Starring: Barbra Streisand, Richard Dreyfuss, Maureen Stapleton, Eli Wallach

Starring: Barbra Streisand, Richard Dreyfuss, Maureen Stapleton, Eli Wallach, Robert Webber, James Whitmore, Karl Malden, Leslie Nielsen

Director: Martin Ritt

Director: Martin Ritt

[See More Credits]