Staying Together (film)

Staying Together

Directed by	Lee Grant
Produced by	Joseph Feury Milton Justice
Written by	Monte Merrick
Starring	Sean Astin Stockard Channing Melinda Dillon Levon Helm Dermot Mulroney Tim Quill Daphne Zuniga
Music by	Miles Goodman
Cinematography	Dick Bush
Edited by	Katherine Wenning
Distributed by	Hemdale Film Corporation
Release dates	November 10, 1989
Running time	91 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$4,348,025

Staying Together is a 1989 American comedy-drama film directed by Lee Grant and produced by Joseph Feury (Grant's husband) and Milton Justice. The film stars Sean Astin, Stockard Channing, Melinda Dillon, Levon Helm (of The Band), Dermot Mulroney, Tim Quill, and Daphne Zuniga. Grant's daughter, Dinah Manoff appears briefly making this the only film project (excluding TV Movies) to involve Grant, Feury and Manoff.

Channing and Manoff previously appeared together in Grease, released 11 years earlier.

Plot

Three brothers live at home with their parents and work at the family restaurant that has been managed by their father for the past 25 years. The brothers expect one day to take over the restaurant themselves, but one morning their father comes to the realization that he hates working there and he sells the restaurant without consulting the rest of the family. This begins to break apart the family, and one of the brothers, angry with the father's decision, leaves to find another job. The father subsequently dies from a heart attack.

Cast

Sean Astin as Duncan McDermott
Stockard Channing as Nancy Trainer
Melinda Dillon as Eileen McDermott (the mother and wife of Jake)
Jim Haynie as Jake McDermott (The father and owner of McDermott's Fried Chicken restaurant)
Levon Helm as Denny Stockton
Dinah Manoff as Lois Cook (one of the waitresses at the restaurant)
Dermot Mulroney as Kit McDermott
Tim Quill as Brian McDermott
Keith Szarabajka as Kevin Burley
Daphne Zuniga as Beverly Young
Sheila Kelley as Beth Harper
Ryan Hill as Demetri Harper
Rick Marshall as Charlie

Trivia

This movie was originally to be released in 1988 but had to be shelved for more than a year because Hemdale Film Corporation was having bankruptcy problems.

Reception

Staying Together was released on November 10, 1989. Despite good reviews and a strong cast, the film flopped, making only $4,348,025 at the box office when other films released at that same time such as The Little Mermaid, Back to the Future Part II and Look Who's Talking became top ten box office hits for 1989. This would be the last film directed by Lee Grant. It was released on VHS in the 1990s and on DVD in 2005.

Awards