''Mr. North'' is a 1988 American

comedy-drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

film starring Anthony Edwards and featuring

Robert Mitchum Robert Charles Durman Mitchum (August 6, 1917 – July 1, 1997) was an American actor. He rose to prominence with an Academy Award nomination for the Best Supporting Actor for ''The Story of G.I. Joe'' (1945), followed by his starring in ...

and

Lauren Bacall Lauren Bacall (; born Betty Joan Perske; September 16, 1924 – August 12, 2014) was an American actress. She was named the 20th-greatest female star of classic Hollywood cinema by the American Film Institute and received an Academy Honorary ...

, based on the novel '' Theophilus North'' (1973) by

Thornton Wilder Thornton Niven Wilder (April 17, 1897 – December 7, 1975) was an American playwright and novelist. He won three Pulitzer Prizes — for the novel '' The Bridge of San Luis Rey'' and for the plays ''Our Town'' and '' The Skin of Our Teeth'' — ...

. Directed by

Danny Huston Daniel Sallis Huston (born May 14, 1962) is an Italian-born American actor and film director. A member of the Huston family of filmmakers, he is the son of director John Huston and the half-brother of actress Anjelica Huston. He is known for h ...

, the film became a family project; produced by

John Huston John Marcellus Huston ( ; August 5, 1906 – August 28, 1987) was an American film director, screenwriter, actor and visual artist. He wrote the screenplays for most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered ...

, it also stars

Anjelica Huston Anjelica Huston ( ; born July 8, 1951) is an American actress and director. Known for often portraying eccentric and distinctive characters, she has received multiple accolades, including an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award, as well as nom ...

, Danny Huston's future wife

Virginia Madsen Virginia Gayle Madsen (born September 11, 1961) is an American actress and film producer. She made her film debut in ''Class'' (1983), which was filmed in her native Chicago. After she moved to Los Angeles, director David Lynch cast her as Pr ...

, and Allegra Huston. Released a year after Jack Huston's death, the film marked his final film he wrote.

Plot

In 1920s

Newport, Rhode Island Newport is an American seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, and northeast of New Yor ...

, Theophilus North ( Anthony Edwards) is an engaging, multi-talented, middle-class

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the w ...

graduate who spends the summer catering to the wealthy families of the city. He becomes the confidant of James McHenry Bosworth (

), and a tutor and tennis coach to the families' children. He also befriends many from the city's servant class including Henry Simmons (

Harry Dean Stanton Harry Dean Stanton (July 14, 1926 – September 15, 2017) was an American actor, musician, and singer. In a career that spanned more than six decades, Stanton played supporting roles in films including ''Cool Hand Luke'' (1967), ''Kelly's Heroes ...

), Amelia Cranston (

), and Sally Boffin (

). Complications arise when some residents begin to ascribe healing powers to the static electricity shocks that Mr. North happens to generate frequently. Despite never claiming any healing or medical abilities, he is accused of quackery, and with the help of those he has befriended, must defend himself. In the end, Mr. North accepts a position of leadership at an educational and philosophical academy founded by Mr. Bosworth, and begins a romance with Bosworth's granddaughter Persis.

Cast

* Anthony Edwards as T. Theophilus North *

as James McHenry Bosworth *

as Amelia Cranston *

as Henry Simmons *

as Persis Bosworth-Tennyson *

Mary Stuart Masterson Mary Stuart Masterson (born June 28, 1966) is an American actress and director. She has starred in the films '' At Close Range'' (1986), '' Some Kind of Wonderful'' (1987), '' Chances Are'' (1989), ''Fried Green Tomatoes'' (1991) and '' Benny & ...

as Elspeth Skeel *

as Sally Boffin *

Tammy Grimes Tammy Lee Grimes (January 30, 1934 – October 30, 2016) was an American film and stage actress. Grimes won two Tony Awards in her career, the first for originating the role of Molly Tobin in the musical '' The Unsinkable Molly Brown'' and the ...

as Sarah Baily-Lewis * David Warner as Dr. Angus McPherson *

Hunter Carson Hunter Carson (born December 26, 1975) is an American actor, screenwriter, producer and director. He is the son of actress Karen Black and film director L. M. Kit Carson. In 1986, he was nominated for a Young Artist Award for Best Starring Pe ...

as Galloper Skeel *

Christopher Durang Christopher Ferdinand Durang (born January 2, 1949) is an American playwright known for works of outrageous and often absurd comedy. His work was especially popular in the 1980s, though his career seemed to get a second wind in the late 1990s. ...

as YMCA clerk *

Mark Metcalf Mark Metcalf (born March 11, 1946) is an American television and film actor often playing the role of an antagonistic and aggrieved authority figure. He is best known for his role as sadistic ROTC officer Douglas C. Neidermeyer in the 1978 Ame ...

as George Skeel *

Katharine Houghton Katharine Houghton (born Katharine Houghton Grant; March 10, 1945) is an American actress and playwright. She portrayed Joanna "Joey" Drayton, a white woman who brings home her black fiancé to meet her parents, in the 1967 film '' Guess Who's ...

as Mrs. Skeel * Thomas H. Needham as Judge Nicholas Catwalader * Richard Woods as Willis * Harriet Rogers as Tante Liselotte * Layla Summers as Nadia Denby * Lucas Hall as Joseph Denby * Thomas-Laurence Hand as Luther Denby * Linda Peterson as Mrs. Denby *

Cleveland Amory Cleveland Amory (September 2, 1917 – October 14, 1998) was an American author, reporter, television critic, commentator and animal rights activist. He originally was known for writing a series of popular books poking fun at the pretensions an ...

as Mr. Danforth * Christopher Lawford as Michael Patrick Ennis III * Marietta Tree as Amanda Venable

Production

Director

brought the original script by

James Costigan James Costigan (March 31, 1926 – December 19, 2007) was an American television actor and Emmy Award-winning television screenwriter. His writing credits include the television movies '' Eleanor and Franklin'' and '' Love Among the Ruins''. Ear ...

to his father for feedback, and

rewrote it with his ''

Prizzi's Honor ''Prizzi's Honor'' is a 1985 American black comedy crime film directed by John Huston, starring Jack Nicholson and Kathleen Turner as two highly-skilled mob assassins who, after falling in love, are hired to kill each other. The screenplay co-w ...

'' co-author Janet Roach. Eugene Lee was the

Production Designer In film and television, the production designer is the individual responsible for the overall aesthetic of the story. The production design gives the viewers a sense of the time period, the plot location, and character actions and feelings. Wo ...

. Originally,

was to play James McHenry Bosworth, but just after filming began, the illness that eventually killed him forced his withdrawal. He was quickly replaced by family friend Robert Mitchum.

Home media

When the film was released on VHS video in 1995, it was in its original format. Later, when a DVD version was released, it had undergone an alteration in which the opening credits, visual sequence, and musical score were all edited and juggled around. Portions of the main character’s ride along the Rhode Island coast and countryside where he lives were deleted when the screen fades to a black overlay with newly redone credits for a period of one minute and fifty seconds. The opening score was still used, but stretched to accommodate the altered length. The streaming version of the film seems to be a direct copy of the DVD remaster and not the original theatrical version.

References

External links

* * * * {{rotten-tomatoes, mr_north, Mr. North 1988 films 1980s fantasy comedy-drama films 1988 independent films American fantasy comedy-drama films American independent films Films directed by Danny Huston Films based on American novels Films set in Rhode Island Films set in the 1920s Films shot in Rhode Island Films with screenplays by John Huston The Samuel Goldwyn Company films Films produced by Steven Haft 1980s English-language films 1980s American films