Candy Mountain is a 1987 drama film directed by Robert Frank and Rudy Wurlitzer, and starring Kevin J. O'Connor, Harris Yulin and Tom Waits.
Set in New York City and Cape Breton, Nova Scotia,[2] it is categorized as a drama and road movie, drawing heavy inspiration from 1960s genres of film and music.
Each encounter provides him with valuable insight into the kind of man Silk is, and his journey is filled with "musicians playing small roles: David Johansen as the star who wants to buy up the guitars, Tom Waits as Elmore's middle-class brother, Joe Strummer as a punk, Dr. John as Elmore's cranky son-in-law, Leon Redbone as one-half of a peculiar Canadian family who enjoy imprisoning passers-by".
[5] Frank credits his opportunity to live quietly and view nature as contributing to his own self betterment and his work as a filmmaker, which he exemplifies in the film.
"[8] A review published in the August 25, 1988 edition of The Herald[specify] writes, "You might think that a movie directed by a still photographer would have a static, composed quality, but Frank goes the opposite way, to a raw, gritty sense of life.
"[9] Despite mostly favourable reviews for the film, O'Connor's performance was criticized, with the Ottawa Citizen stating that "if [the production] had cast a different lead (someone like Mickey Rourke would have been ideal), Candy Mountain would have been much better than it is".