Nobody's Fool

Nobody's Fool centres on Donald "Sully" Sullivan, a construction worker in his sixties in the small town of North Bath, New York. Set around Thanksgiving, it follows a man who has spent decades avoiding responsibility: he lives in a rented room in the house of his elderly landlady, has long been estranged from his ex-wife and his son, and is pursuing a workers' compensation claim against his employer while quietly taking cash work from the same man. He is also drawn to Toby, the much younger wife of that employer. When his son Peter arrives in town with his marriage in trouble and children of his own, Sully is pushed toward a family role he never took on, even as a local banker moves to take his home.

Robert Benton directed and wrote the screenplay, his sixth film as director following Kramer vs. Kramer, Still of the Night, Places in the Heart, Nadine and Billy Bathgate. Paul Newman leads as Sully, with Bruce Willis and Melanie Griffith as Carl and Toby Roebuck, Jessica Tandy as Beryl Peoples, Dylan Walsh as Peter and Pruitt Taylor Vince as Rub Squeers among a credited cast of 34. Scott Rudin and Arlene Donovan produced.

Made for about 20 million dollars, the film took roughly 39 million worldwide. On IMDb it holds 7.3 from about 25,000 votes and on TMDB 6.9 from 358, while its critics' rating stands at 8 out of 10 from 57 reviews, a stronger showing than the audience scores suggest.