Based on the chilling bestseller by Stephen
King, Misery was brought to the screen by
director Rob Reiner as one of the most effective
thrillers of the 1990s. From a brilliant
adaptation by screenwriter William Goldman,
Reiner turned King's cautionary tale of fame and
idolatry into a mainstream masterpiece of
escalating suspense, translating King's own
experience with obsessive fans into a
frightening tale of entrapment and psychotic
behavior.
Kathy Bates deservedly won an Academy Award for
her performance as Annie Wilkes, an unbalanced
devotee of romance novels written by Paul
Sheldon (James Caan), whose books provide Annie
with a much-needed escape from her pathetic life
and her secret, violent past. After Annie
rescues the injured Sheldon from a car accident,
she seizes the opportunity to nurse her favorite
writer back to health, but her tender loving
care soon turns to terrorism as she demands that
Sheldon write his latest novel according to her
wish-fulfillment fantasies.
From this point forward, Misery percolates to a
boil as equal parts mystery, thriller, and
cleverly dark comedy, with the helpless author
pitched in deadly warfare against his number one
fan. While Bates carefully modulates her role
from doting kindness to sympathetic loneliness
and finally to horrifying ferocity, Caan is
equally superb as the celebrated author who must
literally write for his life. It's essentially a
two-actor film, but Richard Farnsworth and
Lauren Bacall are excellent in supporting roles
as they investigate the writer's mysterious
disappearance. Frightening, funny, and totally
irresistible, Misery was such a hit that some of
Bates's dialogue entered the popular lexicon
(particularly her nagging reference to Caan as
"Mister Man"), and its nail-biting thrills
remain timelessly intense.
Directed by: Rob
Reiner
Written by: William
Goldman
Produced by: Steve
Nicolaides, Rob Reiner, Andrew Scheinman,
Jeffrey Stott
Original music by:
Marc Shaiman
Cast:
James Caan .... Paul
Sheldon
Kathy Bates .... Annie Wilkes
Richard Farnsworth .... Buster
Frances Sternhagen .... Virginia
Lauren Bacall .... Marcia Sindell
Graham Jarvis .... Libby
Jerry Potter .... Pete
Thomas Brunelle .... Anchorman (as Tom Brunelle)
June Christopher .... Anchorwoman
Julie Payne .... Reporter #1
Archie Hahn III .... Reporter #2
Gregory Snegoff .... Reporter #3
Wendy Bowers .... Waitress
Rob Reiner .... Helicopter Pilot (uncredited)
J.T. Walsh .... State Trooper (uncredited)
