The Movie Was "Like Buttuh!!!!!!!!!!!" But The Book Is Even Bettuh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                         I can't get too Linda Richman about "The Prince Of Tides," but this much I can tell you.  BARBRA only scratched the surface in the movie.  If all you know about "The Prince Of Tides" is the movie, then you need to read Pat Conroy's novel, which was even better on my third reading, than the last two.

                                          Let's start with the title.  Now, for those who recall the movie, the film tries to make out that Tom Wingo, played by Nick Nolte, is the titular character, but, in fact, it is older brother Luke.  Whose presence in the film is downplayed after the convicts' attack.

                                          The identity of Savannah Wingo and Renata Halpern is clarified more, and, best of all, Savannah's book, "The Southern Way," a thinly disguised criticism of the family and the South she hated, the reader gets to read in all its disturbing glory.  When "The Prince Of Tides is read, it is clearly the story of Luke Wingo, his sister Savannah, and their mother, Lila.  They have the largest through lines.  In the movie, Tom and Susan Lowenstein, who in the novel should have been given Greek chorus status, are the major figures in the movie.  Hey, it was BARBRA, so I get it.  But in wanting to film a story she was so enthusiastic about, she actually undercut its impact and intention.

                                         The excursion Conroy takes the reader on here into the mind of Savannah is the most frightening and penetrating examination of mental illness I have read since Sylvia Plath wrote "The Bell Jar."  Savannah turns out to be the real hero of the piece, because she is able to do what Tom cannot--confront her past.  No wonder, in the novel, Tom kind of fades into the background.

                                         And, darlings, if you cried at "Old Yeller," get out the hankies at the climactic end of the story of Luke and Caesar, the tiger, which sort of parallels the relationship I have with all the animals in the neighborhood.  I put the book down, right there, and cried.

                                         I understand why Caesar could not have been in the movie.  But how much better things would have been, if he had?  He is such a strong presence?

                                          Conroy's novel and these characters are so compelling that Tom, Susan, Sallie, even the whole Bernard thing, fade into the background.  As good a film as BARBRA made, the movie is not all it could have been.

                                          For that, darlings, you have to go back to the book.

                                          One last thing.  In the movie, everyone talks about the fingernails.  Those are never mentioned in the novel, but you know what is, and surprised me?

                                            The novel really ends, with Tom driving over the bridge, musing, to himself, "Lowenstein.....Lowenstein....Lowenstein!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"