The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (1968)

**_Loneliness and the need to connect with others in the Deep South_**

This was based on Carson McCullers’ first novel, which she wrote when she was only 23 years-old. It’s a Southern Gothic reminiscent of Brando’s “The Fugitive Kind” mixed with a little of James Mason’s “Lolita.”

The story revolves around a deaf-mute man (Alan Arkin) renting a room in a new town and his relationships with several troubled people, including the teenage girl of the house, played by Sondra Locke in her first feature film. While Sondra looks about 17, she actually turned 23 during shooting and is excellent in the role.

The relationship of the two protagonists brings to mind future movies, like “Lawn Dogs,” “My First Mister” and “Ghost World, not to mention “Lost in Translation,” which all explore the nature of a profound connection between members of the opposite sex from different generations. Is it a spiritual connection in the sense of father/daughter or is it a romantic connection? Sometimes there’s a thin line between the two and wisdom must be kept in mind, particularly on the part of the maturer person.

Yet that’s only one subplot, although I suppose it’s the primary one. Singer (Arkin) also develops relationships with a struggling alcoholic (Stacy Keach) and a black doctor who hates white people (Percy Rodriguez), not to mention oversees a fellow deaf-mute at a nearby hospital. The irony is how this silent handicapped man can have such a positive effect on so many people. And it’s more than just being a great listener.

What I don’t like is the one-sided depiction of the black experience in the South, which is eye-rolling. “A Time to Kill” is a later example. In these distorted movies black people are always the oppressed victims and, by golly, never the oppressors. You tell me, what communities in America have bars on the windows because crime is off the charts? What happened to harmless Iryna Zarutska on the train in Charlotte on August 22, 2025? Say what you will about 2004’s “Crash,” but it had the honesty to tell the awful truth right out of the gate.

If you can look past that, this is a worthwhile drama from the 1960s.

It runs 2h 3m and was shot in early fall of 1967 in Selma, Alabama, with the opening scenes done in Marion, which is a 35-minute drive northwest of there.

GRADE: B-