Regarding Henry is a 1991 American film drama starring
Harrison FordHarrison Ford is an American film actor and producer. He is famous for his performances as Han Solo in the original Star Wars trilogy and as the title character of the Indiana Jones film series. Ford is also known for his roles as Rick Deckard in Blade Runner, John Book in Witness and Jack Ryan in...
and
Annette BeningAnnette Carol Bening is an American actress. Bening is a four-time Oscar nominee for her roles in The Grifters, American Beauty, Being Julia and The Kids Are All Right, winning Golden Globe Awards for the latter two films...
, directed by
Mike NicholsMike Nichols is a German-born American television, stage and film director, writer, producer and comedian. He began his career in the 1950s as one half of the comedy duo Nichols and May, along with Elaine May. In 1968 he won the Academy Award for Best Director for the film The Graduate...
.
The screenplay by
J. J. AbramsJeffrey Jacob "J. J." Abrams is an American film and television producer, screenwriter, director, actor, and composer. He wrote and produced feature films before co-creating the television series Felicity...
focuses on a
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
lawyer who struggles to regain his memory and recover his speech and mobility after he survives a shooting.
Plot
Ambitious, callous,
narcissisticNarcissism is a term with a wide range of meanings, depending on whether it is used to describe a central concept of psychoanalytic theory, a mental illness, a social or cultural problem, or simply a personality trait...
, and at times unethical, Henry Turner is a highly successful
ManhattanManhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
attorney whose obsession with his work leaves him little time for his prim socialite wife Sarah and troubled preteen daughter Rachel. He has just won a
malpracticeIn law, malpractice is a type of negligence in, which the professional under a duty to act, fails to follow generally accepted professional standards, and that breach of duty is the proximate cause of injury to a plaintiff who suffers harm...
suit in which he defended a hospital against a plaintiff who claims, but is unable to prove, that he warned the hospital of a problem.
Running out to buy cigarettes one night, he is shot when he interrupts a
convenience storeA convenience store, corner store, corner shop, commonly called a bodega in Spanish-speaking areas of the United States, is a small store or shop in a built up area that stocks a range of everyday items such as groceries, toiletries, alcoholic and soft drinks, and may also offer money order and...
robbery in progress. One bullet hits his right
frontal lobeThe frontal lobe is an area in the brain of humans and other mammals, located at the front of each cerebral hemisphere and positioned anterior to the parietal lobe and superior and anterior to the temporal lobes...
, which controls some behavior and restraint, while the other pierces his chest and hits his left
subclavian veinThe subclavian veins are two large veins, one on either side of the body. Their diameter is approximately that of the smallest finger.-Path:Each subclavian vein is a continuation of the axillary vein and runs from the outer border of the first rib to the medial border of anterior scalene muscle...
, causing excessive internal bleeding and
cardiac arrestCardiac arrest, is the cessation of normal circulation of the blood due to failure of the heart to contract effectively...
. He experiences
anoxiaHypoxia, or hypoxiation, is a pathological condition in which the body as a whole or a region of the body is deprived of adequate oxygen supply. Variations in arterial oxygen concentrations can be part of the normal physiology, for example, during strenuous physical exercise...
, a lack of
oxygenOxygen is the element with atomic number 8 and represented by the symbol O. Its name derives from the Greek roots ὀξύς and -γενής , because at the time of naming, it was mistakenly thought that all acids required oxygen in their composition...
to the brain, resulting in
brain damage"Brain damage" or "brain injury" is the destruction or degeneration of brain cells. Brain injuries occur due to a wide range of internal and external factors...
.
Henry survives, but initially he can neither move nor talk, and he suffers
retrograde amnesiaRetrograde amnesia is a loss of access to events that occurred, or information that was learned, before an injury or the onset of a disease....
. He regains movement and speech with the help of a
physical therapistPhysical therapy , often abbreviated PT, is a health care profession. Physical therapy is concerned with identifying and maximizing quality of life and movement potential within the spheres of promotion, prevention, diagnosis, treatment/intervention,and rehabilitation...
named Bradley. Upon returning to his luxurious apartment, the almost childlike Henry is impressed by the surroundings he once barely noticed. As he forges a new relationship with Sarah and Rachel, he slowly realizes he does not like the person he was before the attack.
His firm allows him to return to work out of deference to his previous contributions to the firm's success. As his firm takes away his old assignments and large office and essentially assigns him only busy work, Henry finds it difficult to remain a lawyer. After he resigns the family decides to relocate to a less expensive, suburban residence.
He finds letters from a former colleague disclosing an affair he had with Sarah, becomes angry and upset, and leaves home. He is confronted by Linda, a fellow attorney at his firm, who reveals that they were also having an affair and that he had said he would leave Sarah. Henry, realizing that (as Sarah had said) everything had been wrong before, returns to her and is reconciled. Also, he gives documents from his last case that were suppressed by his firm to the plaintiff whom he now realizes was in the right. He also goes to take Rachel out of the elite school where she is unhappy.
Cast
- Harrison Ford
Harrison Ford is an American film actor and producer. He is famous for his performances as Han Solo in the original Star Wars trilogy and as the title character of the Indiana Jones film series. Ford is also known for his roles as Rick Deckard in Blade Runner, John Book in Witness and Jack Ryan in...
as Henry Turner
- Annette Bening
Annette Carol Bening is an American actress. Bening is a four-time Oscar nominee for her roles in The Grifters, American Beauty, Being Julia and The Kids Are All Right, winning Golden Globe Awards for the latter two films...
as Sarah Turner
- Bill Nunn
-Early life:Nunn was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the son of William G. Nunn, Jr., a well-known journalist and editor at the Pittsburgh Courier, as well as an NFL scout. Nunn's paternal grandfather was the first African American football player at George Westinghouse High School.Nunn was a...
as Bradley
- Rebecca Miller
Rebecca Augusta Miller is an American film director, screenwriter and actress, most known for her films Personal Velocity: Three Portraits , The Ballad of Jack and Rose, and Angela,and The Private Lives of Pippa Lee all of which she wrote and directed.-Life and career:Born in Roxbury,...
as Linda
- Bruce Altman
Bruce Altman is an American film and television actor. He is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama.-Film:*Regarding Henry - Bruce*My New Gun - Irwin Bloom*Glengarry Glen Ross - Larry Spannel...
as Bruce
- Elizabeth Wilson
Elizabeth Welter Wilson is an American actress. She was elected to the Theatre Hall of Fame in 2007.-Life and career:Wilson was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the daughter of Marie Ethel and Henry Dunning Wilson, who was an insurance agent...
as Jessica
- Donald Moffat
Donald Moffat is an English-born actor, now a naturalized American citizen.-Early life:Moffat was born in Plymouth, Devon, the only child of Kathleen Mary and Walter George Moffat, who was an insurance agent. His parents ran a boarding house in Totnes...
as Charlie Cameron
- Mikki Allen as Rachel Turner
- John Leguizamo
Jonathan Alberto "John" Leguizamo is an Colombian-American actor, producer, voice artist, and comedian.-Early life:...
as Liquor Store Gunman
- Robin Bartlett
Robin Bartlett is an American actress who grew up in Switzerland.She was formerly married to the actor Alan Rosenberg....
as Phyllis
- James Rebhorn
James Robert Rebhorn is an American character actor who has appeared in over 100 television shows, feature films and plays.-Personal life:...
as Dr. Sultan
- J.J. Abrams as Delivery Boy (as Jeffrey Abrams)
Production
The film was shot on location in New York City,
White PlainsWhite Plains is a city and the county seat of Westchester County, New York, United States. It is located in south-central Westchester, about east of the Hudson River and northwest of Long Island Sound...
, and
MillbrookMillbrook is a village in Dutchess County, New York, United States. It is often said to be a "low-key version of the Hamptons" and one of the wealthiest towns in New York State. Millbrook's estimated town population was 1,551 in 2008. Millbrook is located in the Hudson Valley, an hour and thirty...
.
The
soundtrackA soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
includes the song "
Walking on the Moon"Walking on the Moon" is a 1979 song by The Police, from their second album, Reggatta de Blanc. The song was The Police's second number-one hit single in the United Kingdom. It reached number nine in Australia but did not chart in the United States...
," written by Sting and performed by
The PoliceThe Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. For the vast majority of their history, the band consisted of Sting , Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland...
.
Critical reception
Initial critical reception was mainly lukewarm to negative.
Vincent CanbyVincent Canby was an American film critic who became the chief film critic for The New York Times in 1969 and reviewed more than 1000 films during his tenure there.-Life and career:...
of
The New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
described it as "a sentimental urban fairy tale" that "succeeds neither as an all-out inspirational drama nor as a send-up of American manners."
Roger EbertRoger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
of the
Chicago Sun-TimesThe Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
rated the film two out of four stars and commented, "There is possibly a good movie to be found somewhere within this story, but Mike Nichols has not found it in
Regarding Henry. This is a film of obvious and shallow contrivance, which aims without apology for easy emotional payoffs, and tries to manipulate the audience with plot twists that belong in a
sitcomA situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...
." The reviewer also described the way the movie makes a connection between
Ritz CrackersRitz Crackers are a brand of snack cracker introduced by Nabisco in 1934. Outside of the United States, the Ritz Cracker brand is made by a subsidiary of Kraft Foods. They are circular in shape, salted lightly on one side, and have a small scalloped edge...
and the
Ritz-CarltonThe Ritz-Carlton is a brand of luxury hotels and resorts with 75 properties located in major cities and resorts in 24 countries worldwide...
hotel (which reveals that Henry's affair had in fact been deeply embedded in his apparently lost memories) as "especially annoying", apparently regarding it as comic.
Rita Kempley of
The Washington PostThe Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
called the film "a tidy parable of '90s sanctimony" while
Peter TraversPeter Travers is an American film critic, who has written for, in turn, People and Rolling Stone. Travers also hosts a celebrity interview show called Popcorn on ABC News Now and ABCNews.com.-Career:...
of
Rolling StoneRolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
described the film as a "slick tearjerker" that "has a knack for trivializing the big issues it strenuously raises." However he praised Ford's performance.
VarietyVariety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
however called the film "a subtle emotional journey impeccably orchestrated by director Mike Nichols and acutely well acted."
Box office
The film opened in 800 theaters in the United States on July 12, 1991 and grossed $6,146,782 on its opening weekend, ranking #7 at the box office. It eventually earned $43,001,500 in domestic markets.
Home media
The film was released on Region 1 DVD on September 9, 2003. It is in
anamorphic widescreenAnamorphic widescreen, when applied to DVD manufacture, is a video process that horizontally squeezes a widescreen image so that it can be stored in a standard 4:3 aspect ratio DVD image frame. Compatible playback equipment can then re-expand the horizontal dimension to show the original widescreen...
format with audio tracks in English and French and subtitles in English.
Accolades
Annete Bening was named Newcomer of the Year for her work in this as well as
Guilty by SuspicionGuilty by Suspicion is a 1991 film about the Hollywood blacklist and associated activities stemming from McCarthyism and the House Un-American Activities Committee...
,
The GriftersThe Grifters is a 1990 neo-noir film directed by Stephen Frears and produced by Martin Scorsese. It stars John Cusack, Anjelica Huston and Annette Bening and is based upon The Grifters, a pulp novel by Jim Thompson.-Plot:...
,
ValmontValmont is a 1989 drama film directed by Miloš Forman, based on the French novel Les Liaisons Dangereuses by Choderlos de Laclos. It was adapted for the screen with a screenplay by Jean-Claude Carrière...
, and
Postcards from the EdgePostcards from the Edge is a 1990 American comedy-drama film directed by Mike Nichols. The screenplay by Carrie Fisher is based on her 1987 semi-autobiographical novel of the same title.-Plot:...
by the London Film Critics' Circle.
The film was nominated for the
Young Artist AwardThe Young Artist Award is an accolade bestowed by the Young Artist Foundation, a non-profit organization founded in 1978 to recognize and award excellence of youth performers, and to provide scholarships for young artists who may be physically and/or financially challenged.The Young Artist...
for Best Family Motion Picture - Drama, and Mikki Allen was nominated Best Young Actress Starring in a Motion Picture.