Gene Hackman gives a strong performance as a 40-ish writer and widower who harbors trepidations about moving his life forward once his elderly mother dies, leaving his old codger of a father in his care. Screenwriter Robert Anderson, adapting his own play, works in the usual character-exposition without much skill or grace; still, there are some very real, human anxieties explored here, an internal struggle between a father and his son which is fraught with love/hate dynamics. Anderson's words are no doubt given a great deal of depth just from the players alone. Melvyn Douglas accurately pins down a precise type of strict, no-nonsense gentleman who lives mostly in the past, finds the present a nuisance, is frightened about his own sanity and yet refuses to accept help from anyone. It's a grandly unsentimental tour-de-force, with layers of character underneath to relieve the repetitiveness of the central situation and presentation (which feels like a television movie blown-up for the big screen). With Hackman internalizing the frustrations he has felt his entire life in regards to this cantankerous man, one waits for the proverbial 'showdown', the moment where the son can longer accept not getting answers to his questions, having been fed up a long time ago by the constant criticism and belittling. What's surprising is, the build-up to this moment is just as intriguing as what follows, and the actors (both Oscar-nominated) manage to make their dilemma seem universal. Still, the production is pedestrian, the editing (with jagged little flashbacks) often sloppy, and the music is silly. None of these technical faults take away from the highly-charged work by either Hackman or Douglas, though they do weaken the overall effect of the picture--turning it from something extraordinary into something passable. **1/2 from ****