Alan J. Pakula directed Orphans, a domestic melodrama based on Lyle Kessler’s 1983 play of the same name.
The film follows two orphaned brothers (Matthew Modine and Kevin Anderson) as they navigate life on their own.
Treat (Matthew Modine) and Phillip (Kevin Anderson) are brothers living alone in a rundown row house in Newark, New Jersey. Treat, the elder, is a violent pickpocket who spends the day robbing people in order to provide for himself and Phillip. Meanwhile, at home, Phillip tries to educate himself via words in magazines and watching TV.
Treat kidnaps a mysterious man from a bar, with briefcase full of stocks and bonds. Known as Harold (Albert Finney), he turns the tables on his abductor and begins to assimilate himself into the brothers’ lives, turning Treat into a gentleman and encouraging Philip.
As Harold helps Phillip overcome his agoraphobia (Treat has him under the influence that he will die upon contact with the outside world), tensions begin to rise high.
After an argument between the brothers, Harold returns and is revealed to have been fatally wounded. He dies on the couch, with Phillip by his side. Treat breaks down in tears, and Phillip comforts him.
Cast
Albert Finney as Harold
Matthew Modine as Treat
Kevin Anderson as Phillip
John Kellogg as Barney
Anthony Heald as Man in park
Novella Nelson as Mattie
Elizabeth Parrish as Rich woman
B. Constance Barry as Woman in crosswalk
Frank Ferrara as Cab driver
Clifford Fearl as Doorman
