On the Nickel(Movie, 1980)

On the Nickel is a 1980 feature film written, produced by, and starring Ralph Waite, as well as Donald Moffat. It features five original songs composed for the movie by Tom Waits. The film presents the story of Sam (Donald Moffat), a recovering alcoholic who feels dissatisfied with his life of sobriety and goes back in search of the good times he enjoyed with his old friends living on Los Angeles' skid row. (This includes a section of Fifth Street, which is sometimes called "the Nickel", after the five-cent coin.) Eventually finding his best friend, "C.G." (Waite), still living on the nickel, the two men reminisce, and Sam gets a fresh look at the lifestyle he had once vigorously abandoned. The film is a multi-level odyssey through the slums of L.A., as well as Sam's personal ruminations as he re-evaluates the nostalgia he had felt for the free and bohemian lifestyle of a street person. The film also stars Hal Williams, P... ()