The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter, was a film based on the book of the same title, and which followed the theme of the Carson Mc Cullers novel rather well. Although most people tend to think of the Alan Arkin character (John Singer) as being the most pivotal, or even Sondra Locke's character (Mick Kelly) It has always seemed to me that the most important would have to be Biff Brannon (portrayed in the film by Hubert Harper) It is Brannon as the proprietor of the restaurant where all the characters come and go, who sees what is happening with all the others and interacts with most of the townspeople. The exceptions being those who were in the plot line prior to Singer's arrival in town (the other deaf mute,(Antonapoulos) superbly defined by Chuck McCann. Stacy Keach also turned in an excellent performance as the sad, deteriorating perpetually drunken Jake Blount. Excellent movie with a wonderful cast! And for those who must know, yes, I was named after the Biff Brannon character, so maybe I'm a little bit biased in my review.