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Heart Beat

Play trailer Poster for Heart Beat R 1980 1h 50m Biography Play Trailer Watchlist
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20% Tomatometer 5 Reviews 33% Popcornmeter 50+ Ratings
Beatnik drifter Neal Cassady (Nick Nolte) shares his wife, Carolyn (Sissy Spacek), with "On the Road" writer Jack Kerouac (John Heard).
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Heart Beat

Critics Reviews

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Bruce McCabe Boston Globe Apr 28, 2018
Heart Beat, which is supposedly about Jack Kerouac and his friends in the Beat Generation, is Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice without Alice and without humor. Go to Full Review Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times Oct 23, 2004
2.5/4
The characters are wonderfully well played by Nick Nolte Sissy Spacek and John Heard -- they have scenes together in which the round-robin of everyday dialogue is almost poetic -- but nobody has given their characters anything to do except to be. Go to Full Review Jesús Fernández Santos El Pais (Spain) Aug 15, 2019
John Byrum has achieved an honest film, narrated with the sobriety of the testimony, just as its characters deserved. [Full Review in Spanish] Go to Full Review Kathy Huffhines Sojourner Aug 15, 2019
The part gives Spacek little to do and her "acting" is a series of poses in 50's dresses and hairdos. Go to Full Review Dennis Schwartz Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews Aug 20, 2014
C+
The analysis of the beats comes across as superficial. Go to Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Mar 18, 2018 Takes liberties with accuracy and stretches out events beyond their actual chronology to create a love triangle between Kerouac and the Cassadys that was much more short lived in reality. Has a kind of melodrama sheen to it with dialogue that seems unlucky to have come from the mouth's of either Kerouac or Cassady. See more Read all reviews
Heart Beat

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Cast & Crew

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John Byrum

Director

Nick Nolte

Neal Cassady

Sissy Spacek

Carolyn Cassady

John Heard

Jack Kerouac

Ray Sharkey

Ira

Ann Dusenberry

Stevie

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Heart Beat

Heart Beat (1980) Heart Beat (1980) View more photos

Movie Info

Synopsis Beatnik drifter Neal Cassady (Nick Nolte) shares his wife, Carolyn (Sissy Spacek), with "On the Road" writer Jack Kerouac (John Heard).
Director
John Byrum
Producer
David Axlerod, Alan Greisman, Michael Shamberg, Edward R. Pressman
Screenwriter
John Byrum
Distributor
Orion Pictures
Production Co
Orion Pictures
Rating
R
Genre
Biography
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Apr 25, 1980, Original
Release Date (Streaming)
Jun 22, 2009
Runtime
1h 50m
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