Nuts … Durchgedreht (1987)
10KNuts … Durchgedreht: Directed by Martin Ritt. With Barbra Streisand, Richard Dreyfuss, Maureen Stapleton, Karl Malden. A high-class call girl accused of murder fights for the right to stand trial rather than be declared mentally incompetent.
“Nuts is an adaptation of a stage play. Aaron Levinsky (Richard Dreyfuss) a public defendant is forced to take on a defendant being tried for competency.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe District Attorney (Robert Webber) sees this as a simple case of mental incompetency. The accused in question is playful, spirited and hard to handle. Claudia Draper (Barbra Streisand) is the high class call girl who is determined to prove that she is not nuts. Her parents are bemused but as we see from flashbacks there is a terrible family secret and Levinsky will need to discredit (Eli Wallach) the psychiatrist who is convinced that Draper is nuts.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIts hard to escape the filmu0026#39;s stage-bound origins as a lot of the film consists of interior shots. In some ways this a courtroom play. 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.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eStreisand 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. Its not the filmu0026#39;s fault that the murder victim turns out to be Leslie Nielsen (soon to be in the hit spoof Naked Gun films) as his scenes that we see in flashback go a little bit too near to Frank Drebin and I am sure no want wanted too see Nielsen in just his black underpants.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAs a courtroom thriller in a busy New York court setting the film is enjoyable but dare I suggest that Miss Streisand was miscast.”
