Some men need help

by John Ford Noonan

This off beat comedy about male friendship begins with Harley T. Singleton III face down on his suburban kitchen floor dead drunk. His neighbor, an ex mafioso, is determined to save Harley from himself.

66 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1983

About the author

John Ford Noonan Jr. (October 7, 1941 – December 16, 2018) was an American actor, playwright, and screenwriter. He best known for his Off-Broadway hit two-hander comedy A Coupla White Chicks Sitting Around Talking. Noonan's first major production was the 1969 play The Year Boston Won the Pennant; he continued writing throughout the 1970s, '80s, and '90s, completing more than 30 plays in total.

Noonan wrote occasionally for television in the 1980s. He shared the 1984 Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series with Tom Fontana and John Masius for an episode of the show St. Elsewhere; he received a second Emmy nomination in 1985 for his TV adaptation of his play Some Men Need Help.

Reviews

[Kat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Basic plot: A Mobster makes it his mission to save his alcoholic neighbor from himself.

Not a bad read. It's a short script, really only a 1-act play, though with multiple scenes. The story has good emotional notes, with drama and comedy alike, and a sprinkle of tragedy, too. There is some very offensive language in it, which makes it a tricky play to use. The language is there for a clear reason (to show us exactly how bad of shape the one character is in and how kind the other is being), but it is very jarring and made me almost not finish the play. I'm glad I did, because I got to see the payoff and character growth. The play starts with some serious toxic masculinity and then allows the two male characters to both grow and learn.