First of all, we all agree that everyone loves Paul Newman but I don't get why everyone seems to love this movie. It is depressing and and much of it makes no sense at least to me. Even the title makes no sense. Is Sully (Newman) nobody's fool because he lives by his own rules? Is it that he seems to have a life free of responsibility? Or is it because he is grudgingly respected in his own little world? Probably all of the above but wait a minute. He apparently couldn't take married life so he long ago walked away from his wife and small son and never took any interest in them again...until the long lost grown up son (Walsh) and his own family show up. Are we supposed to admire him now for attempting to be the father he never was? And having no responsibility also means that he has next to nothing save that long lost family he abandoned to show for his life. He is a laborer living in a dreary upstate NY town with a broken down truck and a best friend who is borderline retarded. He has nothing but his self respect (I guess) so he is nobody's fool. This has to be it but I didn't take that way. He is of course accepted and you might say that he is the king of his own little world which includes some very interesting characters. There is his aged landlady (Tandy) who he looks out for and who respects him more than her own crooked businessman son. There is the shady small time construction company operator (Willis) who he works for and is always trying to get the best of. And there is the Griffith character who Sully lusts after (sort of) but when she offers herself to him he backs away. You don't know if he is being honorable or just avoiding commitment. There is a haunting quality to all this and nobody doesn't love and respect Newman but so much of what happens just doesn't ring true. Even the thing with the dog doesn't make sense. He drugs the dog so we are supposed to accept that the dog (a Doeberman) is afraid of him for that?
Review of Nobody's Fool
