(George Roy Hill, US 1982, 136 min., 35mm)
Based on John Irving’s best seller, this eagerly anticipated screen adaptation did not disappoint. Robin Williams is a standout in the role of T. S. Garp, a serious writer with serious issues. But it is the performances of relative newcomers Glenn Close and Rochester-born John Lithgow that steal the film. Close plays Williams’s mother, Jenny (although only four years his senior), who becomes a novelist and feminist icon in the 1960s. Lithgow received his first of back-to-back Best Supporting Actor Academy Award nominations for his portrayal of a trans woman and follower of Jenny’s teachings. This ambitious adaptation is the closest to capturing Irving’s tone and temperament, ushered to the screen by director George Roy Hill.