Cannery Row ( 1982 )

A depressed section of Monterey, California, known as Cannery Row from its string of now-empty canning plants is the backdrop for an offbeat romantic comedy about a pair of mismatched lovers. Doc is a lonely marine biologist (and former baseball star) who supplies specimens for science labs and classrooms. Suzy is a scrappy drifter who can't even succeed as a prostitute because of her abrasive manner. When the two get together, it's fireworks, though not the romantic kind. Not to worry, everything is in the hands of Cannery Row's resident guardian angels, Mack and the boys, a band of drunken derelicts whose hearts are in the right place, even though their brains are not.—P. Silvestro