Only The Lonely

This weekend, we lost a true legend of cinema Maureen O'Hara. Dubbed the Queen Of Technicolor, O'Hara was a true queen of the golden days of Hollywood. She retired back in 1973, only to return in glorious fashion in 1991's Only The Lonely.

O'Hara plays Rose Muldoon, a fiesty, outspoken senior who lives with her son Danny, John Candy, a Chicago policeman. Constantly worried about the dangers his mother might face living in the big city, Danny gives up his social life to cater to his mom. Even when his best friend, James Belushi, begs him to get out, Danny turns him down to take care of his mom. Danny even tries to set her up with a lovelorn neighbor, Anthony Quinn, but she spurns his advances. Danny's brother Patrick, Kevin Dunn, tries to convinve him and their mother to move to Florida, but Danny doesn't want to give up his life in Chicago. Even though he doesn't have much of one.

That all changes though when he meets Theresa, Ally Sheedy, a shy make up artist at the local funeral home. The two begin to date, much to the disapproval of Rose. Danny proposes to Theresa, but has to face the tough decision between his mom or the love of his life.

This John Hughes production, written and directed by Chris Columbus, is such a sweet and fun little movie. Columbus wrote it with O'Hara in mind and told her that this one was worth come out of retirement and doing. After reading the script she agreed, but she had to meet Candy first before the deal was final. The two met and hit it off instantly.

There are a lot of great stories from the set about the respect and admiration the two had for one another. When O'Hara arrived on set, she was giving a tiny trailer. When the studio told her that the money was going into the movie and not the accomodations of an old movie star, Candy gave up his huge trailer to her and slept on a cot for three days until the studio gave in.

O'Hara was also a bit of a mother figure off set as well for Candy. She asked him why did he clown around so much when he could be considred a serious actor. Candy told her that's what the people wanted. She told him that he was more than that and not to forget it. And I think it really shows in this picture. Candy brings a lot of heart with his humor to this. I think this was the one that truly showed him as more than a comic.

O'Hara also proves that she didn't lose a beat in her long absence from film. Not only are her scenes with Candy terrific, but her one on one's with Quinn are also humorous and touching.

If you want to see this legend at her best, as well as Candy's best, you should see it. It's streaming on Netflix and is available on dvd.