Other Titles • The World According to Garp • Garp und wie er die Welt sah (1987)
Synopses for The World According to Garp (1982)
1.
Aside from being a warmly enjoyable movie, and the best screen adaptation of any John Irving novel, The World According to Garp features several young actors who went on to be among the best in the business. Oscar nominee John Lithgow is the sweetest transsexual ex-pro football player you'd ever hope to meet; Oscar nominee Glenn Close is a sensible, utterly sexless nurse and mother; Amanda Plummer is a mute crime victim; Mary Beth Hurt is a schoolgirl turned wife and mother, the love of T.S. Garp's life and the personification of the idea of Home. And Robin Williams, in his first starring role, has never been better cast--in the role of a human being, that is. This most unusual life story--written by Steve Tesich (Breaking Away) and directed by George Roy Hill (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid)--perfectly captures the tragi-comic, absurdist/humanist worldview of Irving's novel. The opening credits, with a wide-eyed baby floating about the screen to the tune of the Beatles' "When I'm Sixty-Four," sums up the movie's scope and tone. After watching The World According to Garp, you may find yourself marveling anew at the world around you, a strange and wonderful place indeed. --Jim Emerson
2.
George Roy Hill's intermittently faithful adaptation of John Irving's best-selling novel lightens the tone of the book's black comedy while retaining at least part of its effect. It stars Robin Williams as T.S. Garp--the fatherless son of well-known eccentric feminist activist Jenny Fields (Glenn Close) who spends much of his life trying to escape the influence of his unusual upbringing and the ever-expanding shadow of his mother's fame. Intent on becoming a writer, living a normal life, and raising a family, Garp marries college sweetheart Helen Holm (Mary Beth Hurt) and starts a family, but he is plagued by the feeling he must wage war against all that is violent in the world that can possibly bring harm to them. When he finally publishes his first book, his mother simultaneously publishes a feminist manifesto that makes her a lightning rod for all manner of victimized women. Among her followers is the transsexual ex-football player Roberta Muldoon (John Lithgow), a model of sanity, who becomes a friend of Garp's and leads him toward a reconciliation with his mother and her cause. The briskly paced film captures much of the spirit of Irving's quirky, neopicaresque novel and is well served by its stellar cast, with exceptional work by Close and Lithgow.
3.
This is a splendid film adaptation of John Irving's bestseller. Robin Williams plays the role of T.S. Garp, a complex and unpredictabale young man at odds with a violent and cruel world. The World According To Garp earned two Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actor – John Lithgow and Best Supporting Actress – Glenn close.
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