Full Moon in Blue Water is the type of film I used to call a Sunday Afternoon Movie. When I was a teenager, we would go to church on Sunday Mornings for a good two hours and then go back for evening services around six. There wasn’t enough time in between to go out for anything fun, but there was enough time to watch some sportsball, or play a game on my Nintendo Entertainment System, or watch a movie. Whenever it wasn’t football season and I’d played all my games, I’d usually find myself flipping channels looking for something to watch.
Buy Full Moon in Blue Water Blu-rayTV stations understood that Sunday afternoons weren’t prime TV-watching time. Most folks were going to church or spending time with family or just out and about so they weren’t about to put on their big-time shows or blockbuster movies. What you got were fishing shows, nature documentaries, old-timey TV series, and movies that hadn’t made that big a splash at the box office. The best movies had some good stars and a decent story. You couldn’t hope for something amazing, but you might find something that pleasantly passed the afternoon.
Full Moon in Blue Water would have passed a Lazy Sunday Afternoon just perfectly. It has good performances from Gene Hackman and Teri Garr, and a pleasant little story. It gets a little too ridiculous before wrapping everything up a little too neatly, but I’m glad I watched it.
In a sleepy little town on a small island off the coast of Texas, a man named Floyd (Hackman) runs a little bar and grill called the Blue Water Grill. Well, I say he runs it but mostly he just inhabits the space that used to be the restaurant. Ever since his wife went missing a year ago, he’s not had the willpower to do much cooking or bartending or anything but watch old home movies of her. The few customers that do come in serve themselves and write what they took down in a little book without actually paying for anything.
There is a kid, Jimmy (Elias Koteas), that helps out sometimes. Mostly, he takes an old timer called “The General” (Burgess Meredith) out on the docks to play chess. General is Floyd’s father-in-law, is confined to a wheelchair, and shows signs of Alzheimer’s or another form of dementia. Floyd can’t actually afford to pay Jimmy, but the kid likes hanging around. The government is threatening to take the bar over and sell it if he doesn’t pay his back taxes soon.
Louise (Garr) might be in love with Floyd and is definitely willing to put up some money and partner with him in the bar. Floyd doesn’t mind sleeping with her (for a man has his needs) but is still wholly devoted to his wife. She is almost certainly dead as she wasn’t the type of woman to up and leave like that, but he can’t quite let go.
These parts of the film are wonderful. They have a lived-in quality to them and feel like a realistic slice of life. But the script keeps veering into one ridiculous incident after another and I lose interest. There are rumors of a bridge being built which would bring in lots of commerce. Some shady businessmen try to force Floyd into selling. There is a tragic accident and some gunplay. The naturalism that makes up most of the story is tossed out for action sequences that feel out of place. It feels like some studio suit looked at this lovely little screenplay and only agreed to make it if they made more stuff happen.
But Hackman and Garr make it worth watching. They have a natural chemistry and a style that makes even their dumbest moments feel real. Hackman is retired and just turned 95 and we sadly lost Garr last year. Watching them together lights up the screen.
MGM has just released Full Moon in Blue Water on Blu-ray for the first time. I could find no information on the technical specs and it comes with no special features.
