THE TEMPEST (1982) Going a little mad to get sane

Borrowing both title and plot from Shakespeare's play, Paul Mazursky's THE TEMPEST is about a man's mid-life crisis and the coming of age of his teenaged daughter. But that's barely a hint at what makes this movie so interesting. A successful New York architect (John Cassavetes) separates from his actress-wife of many years (Gena Rolands), moves to a rocky Greek island, has a mostly platonic fling with a free-spirited young woman (Susan Sarandon), and tries to be a dad to his angry, hormone-raging daughter (Molly Ringwald). In retaliation, the wife has a fling of her own with her husband's millionaire boss and winds up shipwrecked on that same island. Thrown into the mix are a horny shepherd (Raul Julia) with a TV in his cave, a herd of sheep performing a Broadway-style dance routine to Sinatra's "New York, New York," magical storms, and lots more.