Tropic of Cancer

NC-17

Released Feb 27, 1970

1h 27m

Comedy

List

75%

8 Reviews

Tomatometer

25%

50+ Ratings

Audience Score

In this adaptation of Henry Miller's controversial 1934 novel, the film's backdrop is 1960s Paris. Expatriate American novelist Henry Miller (Rip Torn) spends his life womanizing and cavorting aimlessly around the city, while his forbearing wife, Mona (Ellen Burstyn), poses no deterrent to his hedonistic lifestyle. Miller and his friends romp through the streets searching for pleasure, one conquest after another, without regard for the consequences.

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Pamela Bruce

Austin Chronicle

Rated: 3.5/5

Jan 1, 2000

Full Review

Richard Schickel

LIFE

In this pretty film an important essence is lost, and it is ironic that the spoken Miller prose keeps reminding us of what we are missing.

Oct 22, 2019

Full Review

Film Threat

Rated: 3/5

Jan 9, 2006

Full Review

Oz

eFilmCritic.com

Exploitation runs all the way down the line.

Rated: 4/5

Jan 24, 2005

Full Review

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

Rated: 2/5

Dec 18, 2004

Full Review

Philip Martin

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Rated: 2/5

Jul 30, 2002

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Audience Member

This was worth watching

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/15/23

Full Review

Audience Member

An uneventful film with Torn portraying infamous writer Henry Miller, who was a consultant for this adaptation, as he philanders and scrounges his way around the streets of Paris in the 70's. Miller's characterization as a debauched libertine is detestable and because he doesn't have any real motive, there's not much conflict to carry the story making the audience ask, 'why bother?'. An insignificant movie based off of a significant novel.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/17/23

Full Review

Audience Member

This wasn't a total blind rent, since I'm more or less familiar with the book. That said, I expected the movie to be dated and tame by today's standards, NC-17 notwithstanding. (I mean, come on, this was shot in 1970.) The former was certainly true, but not the latter -- maybe I'm a prude, but I was picking my jaw up off of the floor during some of Rip Torn's vile voiceovers of the women he had laid, wanted to lay, and was in the midst of laying in the middle of Paris. I can only imagine how far Henry Miller's book goes. Despite how much the portrayal of the sex disgusted me, this is still a breezy and beautifully shot film. So why the 3 out of 5? The movie suffers from having no likable characters at all, and there's not really much of a plot aside from Rip Torn saying things I never, ever want to hear him utter again.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/14/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Strick is a bit intoxicated with cinema's newfound freedoms to make filthy pictures, but he's also pretty intoxicated with the French New Wave and there are some great passages of Miller voice-overs in the poetic mode alongside Parisian establishing shots. Still, the film lingers on the lupine Miller, licking his chops and taking all the tail thrusting themselves at him. It rides on the coattails of the obscenity trials, rather than arguing for the justice of the verdict. It's a reductive Miller, but if it gets anyone to read the books, it is doing a good thing.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/04/23

Full Review

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Joseph Strick

Director

Rip Torn

Henry Miller

James Callahan

Fillmore

Ellen Burstyn

Mona

David Baur

Carl

Laurence Lignères

Ginette

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Synopsis

In this adaptation of Henry Miller's controversial 1934 novel, the film's backdrop is 1960s Paris. Expatriate American novelist Henry Miller (Rip Torn) spends his life womanizing and cavorting aimlessly around the city, while his forbearing wife, Mona (Ellen Burstyn), poses no deterrent to his hedonistic lifestyle. Miller and his friends romp through the streets searching for pleasure, one conquest after another, without regard for the consequences.

Director: Joseph Strick
Screenwriter: Joseph Strick, Betty Botley, Henry Miller
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Production Co: Paramount Pictures, Tropic Productions
Rating: NC-17
Genre: Comedy
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Feb 27, 1970, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Dec 23, 2016
Runtime: 1h 27m

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