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The Cider House Rules is a novel by John Irving and was later made into a 1999 movie directed by Lasse Hallström..
Film Plot
The Cider House Rules is about a young man, Homer Wells (Tobye Maguire) who leaves his home at an orphanage in search of a life of his own. Wells was raised in a World War II-era orphanage by Dr. Wilbur Larch (Michael Caine)in the fictional town of St. Cloud’s, Maine.
Larch operates his orphanage with a gentle touch and a kindly heart, tending to the sick and reading to his boys every night. He leaves the children every night with the movie's best-known line: "Goodnight, you princes of Maine, you kings of New England."
Homer Wells (Tobey Maguire), a college-age orphan who couldn’t find an adoptive home, has been trained by the doctorto carry on what he calls "the Lord’s work": abortion However, Homer — sensible of the fact that he "could have ended up in the incinerator," initially resists the destiny Larch has chosen for him.
After a glamorous young couple — Lieutenant Wally Worthington (Paul Rudd) and his inamorata, Candy Kendall (Charlize Theron) — arrive at St. Cloud’s for an abortion, Homer decides to join them in search of a life of his own. He winds up working with Candy at the Worthington family’s apple orchard. All the other migrant workers are black, but Homer's honesty and open-mindedness win them over. He bunks with them in the barn under the watchful eye of their strict foreman, who has an attractive daughter named Rose. After Wally, an Army Air Corps bomber pilot, is called to duty in Burma, Candy seeks consolation in an affair with Homer.
Late in the film it is revealed that Rose (Erykah Badu), the daughter of the crew chief, has become pregnant by her father. Candy, who is aware of Homer’s background, implores the reluctant young man to take the girl to St. Cloud’s, but her father refuses to let her go. By this time, Larch had sent to Homer a medical kit equipped with the tools of the abortionist’s trade, which Homer has kept concealed under his bed. Still hesitant to commit an abortion on Rose, Homer urges her not to "do anything" to herself. Eventually he relents and tells Rose and her father that he can help them dispose of the unwanted child.
The title refers to the rules to be obeyed by apple-pickers living in the cider house. For years they have never even read, let alone observed the rules. When they are read out loud, their arbitrary and paternalistic nature offends the workers. They complain: "Somebody who don't live here made them rules. Them rules ain't for us. They think we're dumb niggers so we need dumb rules".
Primary cast:
- Tobey Maguire : Homer Wells
- Charlize Theron : Candy Kendall
- Delroy Lindo : Mr. Rose
- Paul Rudd : Wally Worthington
- Michael Caine : Dr. Wilbur Larch
- Jane Alexander : Nurse Edna
- Kathy Baker : Nurse Angela
- Erykah Badu : Rose Rose
- Kieran Culkin : Buster
- Kate Nelligan : Olive Worthington
The composer of the musical score was Rachel Portman.
John Irving also wrote the screenplay and won the Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay. For his performance in the film, Michael Caine won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Irving himself appears briefly in the film, twice, as the disapproving stationmaster.
It was also made into a two part play by Peter Parnell.
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