Nick Nolte gives one of his finest performances in this somewhat mannered but absorbing adaptation of John Steinbeck's novels Cannery Row and Sweet Thursday.

Cannery Row is a sweet and comic slice of life with all the elements in balance: it's funny, it's sad, and it feels right. [12 Feb 1982, p.11]

Sentimental comedies must walk a fine line between mawkishness and insipidity: although this one slips off the wire occasionally, a strong script, careful treatment and some spirited performances keep it aloft.

The movie is almost always good to look at, thanks to Richard MacDonald's sets (he linked together two giant sound stages) and Sven Nykvist's photography. And Nolte and Winger are almost able to make their relationship work, if only it didn't seem scripted out of old country songs and lonely hearts columns.

Cannery Row is expendable and creaky, a lavishly mounted antique.

This long-in-the-works adaptation of John Steinbeck's waterfront tomes [Cannery Row and Sweet Thursday] displays more appreciation for the values inherent in the material than it does ability to breathe life into it.

This is insubstantial stuff, light as laughter, and every bit as fleeting. [13 Feb 1982]

The only people who emerge from this precious nonsense smelling good are Richard MacDonald, the English production designer, and Sven Nykvist, the Swedish cameraman.