The Prince of Tides

Infobox_Film
name = The Prince of Tides


imdb_id = 0102713
producer = Andrew S. Karsch & Barbra Streisand
director = Barbra Streisand
writer = Pat Conroy (book)
Becky Johnston & Pat Conroy (screenplay)
starring = Barbra Streisand
Nick Nolte
Kate Nelligan
music = James Newton Howard
cinematography = Stephen Goldblatt
editing = Don Zimmerman
distributor = Columbia Pictures
released = December 25, 1991
runtime = 132 min.
language = English

"The Prince of Tides" is a 1986 novel by Pat Conroy. It tells the story of the narrator's struggle to overcome the psychological damage inflicted by his dysfunctional childhood in South Carolina. In 1991, it was adapted to film by producer/director Barbra Streisand from a screenplay by Conroy and Becky Johnston.

While the film was a box office smash and put Streisand on the map as a director, its numerous changes to the story upset some Conroy purists.

tory

"The Prince of Tides" tells the story of Tom Wingo, a teacher and football coach who is reluctant to help his twin sister's psychiatrist unlock their dysfunctional family's secrets. When the sister, famous New York poet Savannah Wingo, attempts suicide again, Tom is torn from his safe and dull world and travels to New York to help her. Savannah, though, is in such a dissociated state that she is unable to help her psychiatrist, Susan Lowenstein, understand the extent of her problems. Susan asks Tom to act as his twin's memory and help her uncover the subconscious painful events that contributed to her emotional collapse and loss of identity. Tom and Susan fall in love as they work together to help Savannah, and Tom is healed from his emotional numbness as he realizes it results from the severe traumas that he endured with his mother and siblings.

Primary cast

*Barbra Streisand: Dr. Susan Lowenstein
*Nick Nolte: Tom Wingo
*Blythe Danner: Sallie Wingo
*Kate Nelligan: Lila Wingo Newbury, Tom and Savannah's mother
*Jeroen Krabbé: Herbert Woodruff, Lowenstein's husband
*Melinda Dillon: Savannah Wingo
*George Carlin: Eddie Detreville, Savannah's gay neighbor
*Jason Gould: Bernard Woodruff, Lowenstein's son

Awards

Wins

*Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama (Nick Nolte)

Nominations

*Academy Award for Best Picture
*Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture - Drama
*Academy Award for Best Actor (Nick Nolte)
*Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress (Kate Nelligan)
*Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay (Becky Johnston & Pat Conroy)
*WGA Award for Best Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium (Becky Johnston & Pat Conroy)
*Academy Award for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration (Paul Sylbert & Caryl Heller)
*Academy Award for Best Cinematography (Stephen Goldblatt)
*Academy Award for Original Music Score (James Newton Howard)
*Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures (Barbra Streisand)
*Golden Globe Award for Best Director (Barbra Streisand)

Trivia

*The actress Kate Nelligan, who plays Tom and Savannah's mother, Lila, was born on March 16, 1950, and is younger than her twins in the movie, Tom (played by Nick Nolte, born on February 8, 1941) and Savannah (Melinda Dillon, October 13, 1939).
* Barbra Streisand and Blythe Danner both appeared onscreen together once more in the Meet the Parents sequel Meet the Fockers. They did not share a scene together in the Prince of Tides but did so in "Meet the Fockers".
* The movie can be seen during the episode Two Tonys of "The Sopranos".
* The original story inspired Jimmy Buffett to write a song by the same name on 1988's Hot Water
* In the fourth season episode of "The Simpsons", "Selma's Choice", Marge recalls a memory of herself, Patty, Selma, and their Aunt Gladys jumping off a wharf, before remembering that's actually a scene from The Prince of Tides. Later, in the sixth season episode "Fear of Flying", while thanking her psychiatrist Marge says "When ever the wind blows, I will hear the name Lowenstein...Lowenstein..." despite the psychiatrist's name being Zweig.
*George Carlin said on numerous occasions that Eddie Detreville was his favorite character of anyone he played in a movie.

External links

* [http://www.barbra-archives.com/Films/streisand_princeoftides.html Barbra Archives Prince of Tides page with cut scenes, and laser disc details]