ClassyWas Excellent, smart action film.

Catangro After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

Micah Lloyd Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

George Wright Prince of Tides shows how one man suffers in his adulthood from the consequences of a deeply troubled childhood. Nick Nolte is the male lead who reaches a point in life where he becomes withdrawn from his wife. An attempted suicide by his sister triggers a series of events that forces him to face up to his past. Nolte is urged by his mother, played by Kate Nellgan, to go to New York from South Carolina to help his sister recover. He becomes the voice of his sister's past to her psychiatrist, Barbra Streisand as Dr. Susan Lowenstein. In trying to piece together the reasons for his sister's suicide attempt, he discovers his own ghosts and demons and in the process, falls in love with Dr. Lowenstein. Nolte shows his evolution from a rebellious and uncooperative bystander to a man who is softened by revisiting the life he and his siblings were forced to endure at the hands of their father and another incident where he, his sister and mother are physically molested. An older brother is lost in another tragedy. He returns to his mother to remind her of his tortured upbringing and to relive her own troubled past. There is a resolution at the end but like life, there is a price to be paid.

edwagreen Superb 1991 under Barbra Streisand's direction depicts Nick Nolte, a southern guy who comes up to New York following the attempted suicide of his sister. There he meets her therapist played by Streisand. It turns up that each of the characters have their own hangups and inter- relate so as to improve the very existence of their lives.Nolte's outbursts and emotion as he recounts his very dysfunctional family and one tragedy after another is memorable. Streisand does an admirable job in the role of the therapist.Kate Nelligan was perfect as the mother with her own agenda. It is amazing that the family survived at all given all the problems in their daily lives. They really didn't miss anything.The backdrops of Charleston, South Carolina and our New York City serve to promote the cultural differences and yet the human relations that ultimately endure.

sddavis63 I've had mixed reactions to Nick Nolte's work over the years. Some of his movies I've quite enjoyed; others I think have been disasters. As far as his performances go, I've usually found him good but never quite reaching the heights of greatness. But then there's "The Prince Of Tides." Barbra Streisand might have produced, directed and co-starred, but this is Nick Nolte's movie from beginning to end, and his performance is absolutely brilliant. He captures his character's complexities perfectly - his repressed emotions, his unwillingness to face conflict or trouble and eventually his underlying pain in a powerful scene in which the family secret is finally revealed. Streisand as director does a good job of building up to that revelation; Streisand as co-star is just that - a good partner for Nolte who's wise enough and confident enough in herself to let him carry the movie.The story - revolving around Tom Wingo (Nolte) travelling to New York from his beloved southern home to be with his sister who's just attempted suicide - is rather heavy at times. With the sister's suicide attempt and the general dysfunction all the lead characters deal with, it had something of an "Ordinary People" feel to it, although the conclusion is more hopeful than that film was. The viewer is drawn into the story right away with a surprisingly effective opening narration by Nolte that intrigues us, the movie ends on the perfect note of reconciliation within Tom's family and a powerful closing narration by Nolte. Music doesn't usually make or break a movie for me, but kudos to James Newton Howard, who was responsible for the original music. It was absolutely perfect - it suited the movie superbly and was itself very moving. The movie weakens a little bit after the revelation of the secret, mainly because it turns a bit "sappy" as Tom and Lowenstein (Streisand) become romantically involved. You could see that coming from the start, but I found it unnecessary - in fact, the whole angle of Tom's growing relationship with Lowenstein (and her son, and her husband) was perhaps an unnecessary diversion. Still, one can't deny the basic power of the story or the strength of the performances. 9/10

strainj1 I know it is a cliché, but as someone who read and loved the book, I find the movie to be an utter failure. Nolte does a fine job, but the 650 pg. novel is condensed down to 2 hours. This causes a lack of the subtlety and forshadowing which make the novel truly great. The focus is all wrong. Instead of focusing on the Wingo family and the telling of it's history, which in turn nurtures both Tom and Savannah back to peace and health, the focus is on the short relationship between Susan and Tom. This is not what the book had in mind at all. Thus key important figures in the novel, Savannah, Luke, Henry, and Lila, are glanced over. With Luke, perhaps the major protagonist of the novel barely being mentioned. Other important figures, like Amos and Tolitha are not mentioned at all. Instead of beautiful well crafted novel, in which nature, family, and the southern way of life are explored, and admired. We are left with a cliché romantic drama, with only two real characters. I know Pat Conroy received credit as the screen-writer, but I have to believe that this wonderful story was either butchered by Streisand in the director's chair or in the editing room. I really expected great things from this movie after reading the book, but it hits all of the high points with none of resonance of it's source. 3 out of 10 stars.