Men Don't Leave

Widowed by a sudden accident, Beth moves with her two sons from their small town to Baltimore. There is no money, work is hard to find, and the boys start finding their own way without her. The elder drifts away from home, the younger attaches himself to an odd neighbour, and at some point Beth simply stops: the days when she cannot get out of bed begin. Paul Brickman keeps grief and comedy in the same scene and consoles nobody. It is adapted from a French film. Jessica Lange plays the mother with no heroism attached, with Joan Cusack and Kathy Bates alongside her. Chris O'Donnell appeared on screen here for the first time. It lost money and was later recognised as one of the overlooked American films of the period.