Nuts
Tags: insanity, murder

Plot synopsis:
Nuts!, narrated by Gene Tognicci, documents the life and career of John R. Brinkley (1885-1942), a Milford, Kansas druggist-turned physician who, purportedly, discovered a cure for male impotence by implanting goat testicles into the scrotums of his human patients. Largely through the testimonials of his "satisfied" customers, Brinkley enjoyed a period of fame and fortune before drawing the attention of Morris Fishbein, editor of the Journal of American Medicine, and the American Medical Association, which revoked his license.
"It's because people want to believe that something as magical and as weird as this could be true. So I was less interested in telling Brinkley's story and more interested in investigating that aspect."
Brinkley is credited for building the world's most powerful radio station for the time, KFKB (Kansas Folk Know Better), popularizing country or "hillbilly" music, and inventing the infomercial with his own diatribes about public health. Brinkley ran into trouble with the Federal Radio Commission (now the Federal Communications Commission), which shut down his radio station. In response, Brinkley build the "million-watt-regulation-skirting border-blaster", XERA, in Mexico and continued broadcasting.
Brinkley ran for governor of Kansas in 1930 as a write-in candidate. It was reported he might have won had thousands of votes not been disqualified, possibly illegally, by his opponents.
Brinkley's fame and fortune deteriorated when Fishbein sued him for libel. It is revealed late in the movie that Brinkley also faced numerous wrongful death suits, had dubious academic credentials, and had an arrest record.

Review: Based on Tom Toplor's 1981 courtroom play, NUTS is definitely a dialogue-based film with little Hollywood flashiness.
Though extremely well-written (by Toplor, adapting his own work with Darryl Ponicsan and Alvin Sargent) and sharply staged and directed by veteran Martin Ritt, it is the cast whom is really responsible bringing NUTS to life.
The supporting cast is a top-notch ensemble of professional character actors (Maureen Stapleton, Eli Wallach, Robert Webber, James Whitmore, and Karl Malden), all of whom work their craft flawlessly.
NUTS' screenplay does indulge in the predictability of some of the typical courtroom-plot conventions a little too often, but Toplor's absorbing script still deserves high praise for it's fascinating exploration of what constitutes as normality and whether or not the insane should be required to receive treatment.
NUTS isn't going to win over any fans of 3-cuts-per-second action films, but it will leave lovers of thought-provoking, expertly-acted dramas fascinated..
Women were generally terrible victims of much psychiatry in the 20th century, this film, "Francis" (1982)and "Suddenly, Last Summer" (1959) are the only three movies that really demonstrate that.The cast is full of great actors and actresses in small rolls: Eli Wallach, James Whitmore, Maureen Stapleton, and Karl Malden know that less is more and underplay their roles smoothly.
Questions like, "What is normal?" and "Does the law have the right to force help upon those who don't want it?"What really makes this film worth watching though, is Barbra Strisand's bravura performance in the lead.
Director Martin Ritt keep the film going at a perfect pace and also gets strong supporting performances from Richard Dreyfss and Maureen Stapleton.This is a film that deserves more attention then it originally received, it is honest, though-provoking, and features a brilliant performance from Streisand.My score for this excellent film:  9/10!.
In New York, the public defender Aaron Levinsky (Richard Dreyfuss) witnesses the high-class call girl Claudia Draper (Barbra Streisand) beating her attorney while waiting for his hearing in the courtroom.
Judge Stanley Murdoch (James Whitmore) assigns him to defend Claudia and soon he learns that she killed her client Allen Green (Leslie Nielsen) in self-defense.
However, her mother Rose Kirk (Maureen Stapleton) and her wealthy stepfather Arthur Kirk (Karl Malden) want her declared mentally incompetent to go on trial.
Morrison (Eli Wallach) prepares a medical report stating that she is mentally unstable to support the trial, but Claudia wants to prove that she is sane; otherwise she would spend the rest of her life in a mental institution.
Along the hearing, the District Attorney Francis MacMillan (Robert Webber) and Levinsky question the defendant, her mother, her stepfather and Dr. Morring and the painful truth about Claudia's childhood is disclosed."Nuts" is one of the best courtroom dramas ever made.
Unfortunately for him the woman in question is spirited, independent Claudia Draper, (Barbra Streisand) who is desperate to have her day in court.
Barbara Streisand played Claudia Draper, and her home life was relegated to a precariously comfortable arrangement..
The only unrealistic aspect to this movie is that no public defense attorney is going to engage in complex guessing games to vindicate his client in the manner that Richard Dreyfuss' character did!!!
If everything were just a case of black or white, whereby a professional psychiatric evaluation becomes the final decree, Claudia Draper would have been dead in the water from the offset!!This movie has an amazing amount of top notch acting talent!!
It stars, Barbara Streisand, Richard Dreyfuss, James Whitmore, Eli Wallach, Lesile Nielson, Karl Malden and Maureen Stapleton!!
Other noteworthy performances are given by Richard Dreyfuss, Maureen Stapleton, and Arthur Kirk, as her lawyer, mother, and step-father respectively.
Dreyfuss plays this intersection between Perry Mason and Sigmund Freud, Aaron Levinsky, court-appointed to represent Claudia Draper, a call girl who killed a john.
Sally Field's Norma Rae, Patricia Neal in Hud.Supported by a dignified cast, Streisand and Dreyfuss pair for the first time, but they work together like practiced dancers.
Manhattan call-girl has to prove her sanity in a courtroom hearing after she has killed a client; she says it was in self-defense, but now her mental state and her lifestyle--as well as her tumultuous childhood--are on trial.
"Nuts" presents a dilemma for director Martin Ritt and his screenwriters, Tom Topor, Darryl Ponicsan and Alvin Sargent, working from Topor's play: how do you get an audience to sympathize with the heroine of your story, one who has a short fuse, a nasty disposition, and who rubs everybody else the wrong way?
Barbra Streisand obviously saw in the material a meaty dramatic role for herself as an actress and, although perhaps a bit too old for the part of Claudia Draper, she tackles the project with relish.
Once the introductions are out of the way, the film settles into a talky, stagy formula, one complete with showboating solo moments for Streisand and most of her co-stars (with the exception of Richard Dreyfuss as her legal representative, who makes a bigger impact simply by keeping a lower profile).
Still, a piece like this needs an electric personality in the lead if it's going to work at all, and Streisand does more for the role than a less-dynamic actress might have.
Barbra Streisand finally found a plum role, hired a talented director, surrounded herself with a superb supporting cast, and handed in the best performance of her career in NUTS, an intense and riveting drama definitely not for all tastes but a bold viewing choice for fans of the performer and not-quite-sold film goers who are willing to have an open mind and give her a chance.
Streisand wisely put a portion of her ego in check and had the sense to hire the gifted Martin Ritt (HUD; NORMA RAE)to guide her in this intense drama about a prostitute named Claudia Draper, whose explosive temper and outrageous personality are misinterpreted as mental illness and finds herself committed and deemed incapable of standing trial when she is arrested for murdering one of her johns (Leslie Nielsen).
As the details of Claudia's life unfold before us, evidence definitely supports mental defect, but Claudia says she is perfectly sane and wants her day in court because she killed the john in self-defense.
Streisand is backed up by a first rate cast including Richard Dreyfuss as her defense attorney, Maureen Stapleton as her mother, and Karl Malden as her stepfather, but this Streisand's show all the way, a searing and extraordinary performance that permeates the screen and scratches at your heart.
If you want to wear my panties, that's another hundred" and "Don't judge my blow jobs, they were sane." All makes for a rather unintentionally campy movie and this camp factor is only ratcheted up by the serious way the film was made.Streisand, admittedly, is entertaining in the role, even if the constant muttering to herself gets a little old after 30 minutes and becomes a little too theatrical in a look at me "I'm acting" kind of way.
Nuts was based on a play originally produced in the 1970s and this film version, directed by the great Martin Ritt, is unable to overcome its original theatrical limitations.
Moreover, the premise is awfully limited and despite Streisand's star power and the over the top concept of a nutty hooker killing one of her clients this film at its core is just a standard TV courtroom drama..
I guess because it needed a title and every other court room title was taken.Anyways, it's a decent movie - nothing too exuberant and nothing award winning, but the roles for most actors were pretty darn good and because of Richard's screen charisma, it get's a 7..
And while the movie fails to deliver the goods on how the trial is all played out, we will never see the real court case, the movie just simply demands the "yes" or "no" question.
This isn't a typical court room movie where we find out if she's guilty or innocent, Nuts just simply asks the question...can a woman deemed crazy be qualified to be her own lawyer at trial.
Barbra Streisand herself must have seen the potential of the play Nuts for a big screen drama.
In fact a whole bunch of players got their turn to strut their stuff in Nuts.The play by Tom Topor only ran 96 performances on Broadway, but the producers were wise enough to retain Topor to expand his work so it is not just confined to a courtroom in the same way A Few Good Men was adapted to the big screen.
The issue is whether the lawyer hired by Streisand's parents is acting in her best interests in getting her declared not mentally competent enough to stand trial.
To some degree Whitmore, prosecutor Robert Webber, court psychiatrist Eli Wallach, and Dreyfuss is defending "the system" and their role in it.Barbra's a high class hooker who gets $500.00 a night and she is accused of killing client Leslie Nielsen who's a brutish sort of lout and we see what really went down in flashback.
But speaking of vested interests it's clear that Streisand's wealthy parents Maureen Stapleton and Karl Malden have clear vested interests in getting her confined to a mental institution instead of a public trial.Like A Few Good Men a great ensemble cast brings this story to life and it's riveting.
In fact one of the things you'll question is whether Streisand herself is acting in her own best interests.Nuts is a great drama asking questions with deep implications about our mental health system as it applies to criminal justice.
Dreyfuss' incompetence as an attorney in this mental competence hearing at first suggests he's off his game, but it slowly dawns that the actor is portraying a mediocre lawyer, a creature nigh-extinct in today's movies and programs.
As Dreyfuss' character puts it after Streisand has "excused" her first, high-priced attorney, "You had good.
Now you've got me."  That is precisely the character Dreyfuss portrays.The film forces comparison with another Dreyfuss-courtroom drama, "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" also based on a play.
In `Nuts,' Barbra Streisand throws her weight around while pretending to play a prostitute who has lost control of her life.
In her commentary on the newly released DVD, Barbra smugly remarks that she has often gotten into trouble by bluntly speaking the `truth' just like her character in `Nuts.'  Of course, when her character, `Claudia Draper,' screams `listen to me, listen to me' as she often does in the film, who's going to argue?
That's right, we're expected to believe that an older man in his 50's or 60's would pay $500 an hour for a woman in her mid-40's who looks like Barbra Streisand!
Based on Tom Topor's 1979 play by the same name, 'Nuts' is an affecting & slightly heavy courtroom drama, that is compelling & also offers strong performances to empower the show.'Nuts' Synopsis: A high-class call girl (Barbra Streisand) accused of murder fights for the right to stand trial rather than be declared mentally incompetent.Much of 'Nuts' benefits from its strong cast who bring in their A-Game.
The direction is solid and its fast-paced editing combined with first-rate performances from such established talents as Richard Dreyfuss, Maureen Stapleton, Karl Malden, Eli Wallach...
On the contrary, he has the intelligence of putting emotions and entertainment first, making meaning derive from the action instead of inducing it the way they do in heavily demonstrative 'thesis films'.A lot of reviewers keep complaining about Barbra Streisand being hammy as Claudia Draper, a woman accountable to no-one whose parents want to pass off as insane.
Honestly I feel Streisand was wise to make this movie during this era, but she should have produced and directed with either Jessica Lange or Glenn Close playing Claudia..
The movie's only saving graces are a taut script and terrific acting by the rest of the cast, particularly Richard Dreyfuss, Maureen Stapleton, and Malden, who despite his age, 75, could have passed for a man many years younger.
This film is one of those old-fashioned, court room dramas that unfolds a mystery about the protagonist (Claudia Draper), played by Streisand.
Unfortunately, it is almost impossible, no matter how good the role or how well acted, we just cannot forget that we are watching Barbra Streisand PLAYING a role, much less a high priced call girl accused of murdering one of her clients.
The movie he is thinking about is Richard Dreyfus' 1981 film "Whose Life Is It Anyway?".
Aaron Levinsky (Richard Dreyfuss) a public defendant is forced to take on a defendant being tried for competency.The District Attorney (Robert Webber) sees this as a simple case of mental incompetency.
Claudia Draper (Barbra Streisand) is the high class call girl who is determined to prove that she is not nuts.
Dreyfuss is actually enjoying himself as defendant lawyer Levinsky trying to get a handle of his rich girl client and then seeing his face when he twigs what the real tragedy might be.Streisand on the other hand never convinces me that she is a high class hooker who has been roughing it on the seamy side of life.
This could have been a great film were it not for Streisand's performance.
It's interesting, in looking through the "official" reviews of this film that such questionable illuminaries of film criticism as Roger Ebert seemed to miss the point:  the desire to mark Claudia as insane seems to run strongly through reviewers, much as it does through the courtroom that the film portrays.Streisand plays an abrasive, uncooperative, deeply rebellious person.
It's passe to suggest that sexism plays a role in how we view movies, but this one points it out on two levels:  Claudia's trap, in the film, bears an uncanny resemblance to the trap the film's been placed in by reviewers:  the fact that she isn't a nice housewife seems to suggest to many that she's unstable.Sure, the movie (like the play) uses the facile psychological excuse of childhood molestation to explain her refusal to play the good-girl game.
And Nuts is a film which definitely dives beneath the surface, and brings up some intriguing issues.Nuts is based on the true story of Claudia Draper (Barbra Streisand), a high priced call girl who killed a john (Leslie Nielsen) in self defense.
However, with Claudia as a client, Levinsky has his work cut out for him as they try to convince Judge Stanley Murdoch (James Whitmore) that Claudia shouldn't be institutionalized for the rest of her life.This is a fascinating story, told with a great deal of skill.
POSSIBLE SPOILERSA top notch cast: Barbara Streisand, Richard Dreyfuss, Eli Wallach, James Whitmore, Maureen Stapleton, and Karl Malden star in this excellent courtroom drama about a high priced prostitute who is declared mentally ill and unfit to stand trial for manslaughter.Claudia Draper (Streisand) lives in a plush condo on 66th Ave. in NYC.
"Nuts" is one of those set-piece courtroom dramas that feel too slick, too pat, too contrived to really work, despite some excellent work by Richard Dreyfuss, Eli Wallach, and especially Maureen Stapleton.
Even Barbra Streisand (definitely NOT one of my favorites) isn't too bad when she's not too busy chewing the scenery to pieces.However, this movie drones out like a late-80s morality play, or even an acting-class extemporaneous psychodrama.
I read that Barbra Streisand considers "Nuts" her most personal movie, due to how her stepfather verbally abused her.
It may be hard to determine how that affected the movie itself, but the movie certainly did come out pretty good.Streisand plays mentally unstable Claudia Draper, charged with murder.
Martin Ritt directed another really good movie, and Karl Malden, Maureen Stapleton, James Whitmore, and Leslie Nielsen (yes, THAT Leslie Nielsen) all play excellent supporting roles..
NUTS was a play that was turned into this film that has a first rate cast headed by Barbara Streisand, including Richard Dreyfus, Maureen Stapleton, Karl Malden, Eli Wallach, Robert Webber, James Whitmore, and Leslie Nielson and a top director (Martin Ritt).
In this movie, Barbra Streisand is victimized by everyone -- her parents, the justice system, the johns she entertains -- and therefore the movie qualifies for entry into the genre of fantasy.Streisand, a hooker, has a court hearing before a judge, the always admirable James Whitmore, to decide if she's too crazy to stand trial for manslaughter one, after killing a client who was apparently about to kill her.It's her intent to be judged sane enough to stand trial and what she wants, she gets.
Her parents, Maureen Stapleton and Karl Malden, attend the two-day hearing.Streisand's character was raised in a rather well-off middle-class family, but her life has been chaotic, misbehavior in high school, the collapse of a ten-year marriage, smoking (gulp) marijuana, and finally becoming a high-end prostitute.
This movie just serves as a star vehicle for Barbra Streisand.
When the movie starts Barbra's lawyer is trying to prove to a judge that she is mentally ill, so that her parents are saved the embarrassment of a public trial, which will surely reveal that their daughter is a hooker.She punches her lawyer who abandons the case and the judge appoints a new lawyer for her.
l watched this picture for the first time in early 1991 on television and more twice after that,now a first time on DVD this could be a good movie if Streisand didn't spoiler the movie with a bad behavior and every time leading on trial and disrespecting everyone on the picture..that's impossible to happen on courtroom...mainly the subject is wrong...in a court didn't have defense attorney and prosecutor in the same side,besides that the story is good,telling a high class prostitute accused by a murder in self defense take on trial your defense attorney declare insanity to escape of prison so your past is discovered she was molested by stepfather since 9 years old and you mom knew everything...by the way the casting are fantastic in special way Richard Dreyfuss as always!!.
A weak film by the underrated Martin Ritt, "Nuts" stars Barbra Streisand as a prostitute who is arrested on a manslaughter charge.