''Staying Together'' is a 1989 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 directed by

Lee Grant Lee Grant (born Lyova Haskell Rosenthal; October 31, during the mid-1920s) is an American actress, documentarian, and director. She made her film debut in 1951 as a young shoplifter in William Wyler's '' Detective Story'', co-starring Kirk Doug ...

and produced by Joseph Feury (Grant's husband) and Milton Justice. The film stars

Sean Astin Sean Patrick Astin (né Duke; February 25, 1971) is an American actor. His acting roles include Samwise Gamgee in ''The Lord of the Rings'' trilogy (2001–2003), Mikey Walsh in ''The Goonies'' (1985), Daniel Ruettiger in '' Rudy'' (1993), Dou ...

Stockard Channing Stockard Channing (born Susan Antonia Williams Stockard; February 13, 1944) is an American actress. She is known for playing Betty Rizzo in the film '' Grease'' (1978) and First Lady Abbey Bartlet in the NBC television series '' The West Wing'' ...

, Melinda Dillon,

Levon Helm Mark Lavon "Levon" Helm (May 26, 1940 – April 19, 2012) was an American musician who achieved fame as the drummer and one of the three lead vocalists for the Band, for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. H ...

(of The Band),

Dermot Mulroney Dermot Mulroney (born October 31, 1963) is an American actor. He is known for his roles in romantic comedy, western, and drama films. Appearing on screen since 1986, he is known for his work in various films such as '' Young Guns'' (1988), '' Stay ...

Tim Quill Tim Quill (October 18, 1962 - September 25, 2017) Born and raised in Wilmington, Delaware, Quill relocated to New York City in the 1980s to pursue acting, and was trained at the William Esper Acting Studio. Quill made his debut in the Vietna ...

, and

Daphne Zuniga Daphne Eurydice Zuniga (; born October 28, 1962) is an American actress. She made her film debut in the 1982 slasher film '' The Dorm That Dripped Blood'' (1982) at the age of 19, followed by a lead role in another slasher film '' The Initiation ...

. Grant's daughter,

Dinah Manoff Dinah Beth Manoff (born January 25, 1956) is an American stage, film, and television actress and television director. She is best known for her roles as Elaine Lefkowitz on ''Soap'', Marty Maraschino in the film '' Grease'', Libby Tucker in both ...

makes a brief appearance. Channing and Manoff previously appeared together in '' Grease'', released 11 years earlier. This is the last film directed by Lee Grant. Staying Together was released in the United States on November 10, 1989, and released in Japan on October 1, 1990.

Plot

Three brothers live at home with their parents and work at the family restaurant that has been managed by their father for the past 25 years. The brothers expect one day to take over the restaurant themselves, but one morning their father comes to the realization that he hates working there and he sells the restaurant without consulting the rest of the family. This begins to break apart the family, and one of the brothers, angry with the father's decision, leaves to find another job. The father subsequently dies from a heart attack.

Cast

as Brian McDermott *

as Duncan McDermott *

as Kit McDermott * Melinda Dillon as Eileen McDermott, the mother *Jim Haynie as Jake McDermott, the father and owner of McDermott's Fried Chicken *

as Beverly Young *

as Nancy Trainer *

as Denny Stockton *

Keith Szarabajka Keith Szarabajka (; ; born December 2, 1952) is an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his roles as Mickey Kostmayer on '' The Equalizer'', Daniel Holtz on ''Angel'', Gerard Stephens in ''The Dark Knight'' and Adam Engell in ''Argo''. I ...

as Kevin Burley * Sheila Kelley as Beth Harper *

as Lois Cook, a waitress at the restaurant *Ryan Hill as Demetri Harper *Rick Marshall as Charlie

Reception

''Staying Together'' was released on November 10, 1989 and made $4,348,025 at the U.S. box office in its opening ten days. It was released on VHS in the 1990s and on DVD in 2005. In a retrospective score by review aggregate website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

, it has an 80% score, with a weighted average of 5.8/10, based on only 5 reviews indicating "no consensus yet".

Awards

* Lee Grant was nominated for a Critics Award at the

Deauville Film Festival The Deauville American Film Festival (french: Festival du cinéma américain de Deauville, link=no) is a yearly film festival devoted to American cinema, which has taken place since 1975 in Deauville, France. It was established by Lionel Ch ...

in 1990. * Sean Astin won Best Young Actor Starring in a Motion Picture at the 11th Youth in Film Awards (now Young Artist Awards) in 1990.

References

External links

* *
New York Times review
{{DEFAULTSORT:Staying Together (Film) 1989 films American comedy-drama films 1980s English-language films 1980s sex comedy films American sex comedy films Films set in South Carolina Films shot in South Carolina Films directed by Lee Grant American coming-of-age films American independent films 1989 comedy films Films scored by Miles Goodman Films about brothers 1980s American films