Theme Song: A bunch of Sweethearts of the Radio songs I didn’t bother to record.
Interesting Dated References:
Best Line: Bridges Texas drawl has a certain charm.
Social Context: Director Robert Benton cashed-in both of his Oscar-winning film projects for post-Oscar pet projects. The first, Still of the Night, made after Kramer vs. Kramer, was a Hitchock tribute with an uncomfortably-cast Roy Scheider. The second, Nadine, made after Places In The Heart, is a screwball-caper pastiche, the success of which depends entirely on whether or not you think it’s totally hilarious to watch Jeff Bridges and Kim Basinger bumble around in the 1950s with Southern accents for 82(!) minutes.
Summary: Basinger stars as Nadine, a well-intentioned though somewhat naive Texan woman who is estranged from her husband, Vernon (Jeff Bridges, “Jeff ‘The Dude’ Lebowski” from a Stella Artois commercial).
Having unwittingly posed for some nude photos, she decides to retrieve the negatives from the photographer (Jerry Stiller, best known for being the father of prop-comic legend, Scott Thompson). Unfortunately he is murdered while she’s in his office and she ends up escaping with an envelope full of highway blueprints.
Still determined to retrieve the nudes, she enlists the help of Vernon and eventually uncovers some type of countywide plot involving more unmarked envelopes, property records, and urban and highway planning.
After much hijinks, there’s a scene in which Nadine and Vernon crawl from one house to the other using a ladder, which the filmmakers were so proud of, it’s featured prominently in the trailer and promotional materials.
Eventually Nadine gets the nudes back and reveals to Vernon she is pregnant. Just to clarify, the entire conflict in this movie involves an entire county of businessmen and con artists being unable to decipher one unmarked legal-sized envelope from another.
Worth Mentioning:
– Rip Torn (Robocop 3, Beer) and Mickey Jones (“Monty,” the drummer in Dwight Yoakam’s band in Sling Blade) show up as the main bad guy and his muscle, respectively.
Poster and Box Art: The poster art for Nadine was done by industry titan Drew Struzan. I’m always amazed that for every blockbuster Hollywood movie poster by Struzan, there’s at least three lesser-known film posters by him, though this may be the only one he’s done for a film that’s 82 minutes.
Here’s the alternate ladder poster:
Availability: Fully restored on most streaming services.