Few individuals enjoyed the same amount of prolonged success as Ron Howard. Starting with his role as young Opie Taylor on TV’s Andy Griffith Show, the red-headed behemoth worked his way into starring gigs on the popular sitcom Happy Days and made the jump to the big screen in classics such as American Graffiti and John Wayne’s final film The Shootist.
Naturally, when he grew tired of acting, Howard decided to step behind the camera and evolve into a legendary director capable of producing large-scale blockbusters (Backdraft), heartfelt comedies (Splash), and intimate, award-winning character studies (A Beautiful Mind). Easy, peasy. Howard’s body of work has brought in an impressive $4.3 billion at the box office. Although he has had some disappointments (like Solo: A Star Wars Story), the man continues to influence Hollywood enormously and impact the industry in many ways.
Of course, Howard could have ridden off into the sunset decades ago after producing one of my favorite pictures and easily his best work, 1989’s Parenthood. As much as I adore the likes of Cocoon, Apollo 13, and even Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas, nothing tops this masterful, sharply written look at the joys and hardships of childrearing.
Featuring perhaps the most outstanding ensemble ever put to the silver screen and one of Steve Martin’s all-time performances, Parenthood opened on August 2, 1989, and eventually earned $126M worldwide, which was a big deal in those days, particularly for a PG-13-rated comedy.
Ron Howard’s Parenthood is a delicate balancing act between comedy and truth, a movie that contains a lot of laughter and yet is more concerned with character than punch lines. It’s the best kind of comedy, where we recognize the truth of what’s happening even while we’re smiling, and where we eventually acknowledge that there is a truth in comedy that serious drama never can quite reach.
Parenthood follows the Buckmans, an average suburban family, through their intertwined stories. Gil (Steve Martin), a mild-mannered father, navigates life with his wife Karen (Mary Steenburgen) and their children, including an older child facing emotional challenges. Helen (Dianne Wiest), a single mother, struggles to raise her two troubled kids: the quiet and reserved Garry (Joaquin Phoenix) and the rebellious teen Julie (Martha Plimpton). Frank (Jason Robards), the family patriarch, passed his gambling habits on to his son Larry (Tom Hulce) with disastrous results. Meanwhile, Nathan (Rick Moranis) and his wife Susan (Harley Jane Kozak) grapple with the growing divide caused by their differing parenting approaches.
