Susan Granger’s review of “The Golden Boys” (Roadside Attractions)
Set in 1905 on Cape Cod, this charming romantic comedy revolves around the travails of three crusty, retired sea captains who have been trying keep house together with disastrous results. Not only is their place filthy but their meals have become abominable.
After a particularly foul clam-fritter dinner, Captain Jerry (Rip Torn), Captain Perez (Bruce Dern) and Captain Zeb (David Carradine) reluctantly decide they need someone to take over the house-keeping chores: “This craft needs a steward…or a woman.”
That means one of them will have to marry so the other two can remain as boarders. Unfortunate Jerry loses the coin toss when they place an advertisement in the Boston newspaper to find prospective bride. After sifting through 27 replies, the three grubby seafarers settle on a no-nonsense widow from Nantucket named Martha Snow (Mariel Hemingway), who duly arrives by train. But, due to confusion at the Chatham station, Jerry takes one look at the ugly old crone he believes to be his betrothed and flees, hiding in a fish shanty, leaving Zeb to greet the real Mrs. Snow.
In the meantime, there’s a subplot involving a bitter feud between Web Saunders (John Savage), the billiard-hall proprietor who wants to sell liquor, and blustery, Bible-thumping Captain John Bartlett (Charles Durning). Eventually, Mrs. Snow’s care and cooking wins the hearts of all the men but not before more complications arise with the town gossip (Angelica Torn) and a visiting granddaughter (Christy Scott Cashman) who falls for the off-shore, intercontinental cable-station electrician (Jason Alan Smith).
Working from a novel called “Cap’n Eri” by Joseph C. Lincoln, writer/director Daniel Adams has created a romp, a vintage gem, that’s also a touching reminiscence of a more innocent time. Filled with magical moments, it’s obviously filmed entirely on-location in Cape Cod. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Golden Boys” is a quaint, high-spirited 7. Imagine! It’s an amusing, romantic picture about senior citizens. What will they think of next?
