I have never been tempted to comment on a movie before I even finished watching it, but this is an exceptional movie.
It is a movie about a young polio victim who, encouraged by his mother, is determined to overcome his affliction and succeed as a salesman. Sounds like a simple feel good story, doesn't it? Well, it isn't. This is a masterpiece of courage, persistence, and human emotion that I haven't seen on the screen before. We travel with Bill Porter through his career and along the way we first get to know him and then his customers, in depth, one by one. Over forty years, we get to feel his anxiety, his anger, his compassion, his frustration, and even his despair. I don't know how they fit this much movie into two hours.
Bill Porter is played by William H Macy (who also co-wrote). I first noticed him in Fargo and remember wondering if he would be able to equal his performance in that. Well, he not only equaled, but surpassed it here. Helen Mirren gives a strong performance as his mother who has her own problems to deal with, but always puts her son first. There is not a character out of place - not a line that doesn't fit. This is a first class picture with a first class cast, directed in a way that doesn't lose sight of the humanity it generates.
Door to Door is a made for TV movie I saw on TNT. My wife and I worked as extras in over thirty productions in and around Wilmington NC and I can tell you from experience, there is a big difference in budget and perks between features and tv movies. If they could put something like this on for nickles and dimes, what in the world is wrong with Hollywood today.
I am a grizzled old movie buff and I thought I'd seen too much to be personally affected by a movie anymore, but I found myself crying real tears, and laughing out loud at this one. At one point I even caught myself clapping. THIS IS THE FIRST MOVIE I EVER RATED "10". Door to Door and Bill Macy deserve an Emmy for this one. Don't miss it.
It is a movie about a young polio victim who, encouraged by his mother, is determined to overcome his affliction and succeed as a salesman. Sounds like a simple feel good story, doesn't it? Well, it isn't. This is a masterpiece of courage, persistence, and human emotion that I haven't seen on the screen before. We travel with Bill Porter through his career and along the way we first get to know him and then his customers, in depth, one by one. Over forty years, we get to feel his anxiety, his anger, his compassion, his frustration, and even his despair. I don't know how they fit this much movie into two hours.
Bill Porter is played by William H Macy (who also co-wrote). I first noticed him in Fargo and remember wondering if he would be able to equal his performance in that. Well, he not only equaled, but surpassed it here. Helen Mirren gives a strong performance as his mother who has her own problems to deal with, but always puts her son first. There is not a character out of place - not a line that doesn't fit. This is a first class picture with a first class cast, directed in a way that doesn't lose sight of the humanity it generates.
Door to Door is a made for TV movie I saw on TNT. My wife and I worked as extras in over thirty productions in and around Wilmington NC and I can tell you from experience, there is a big difference in budget and perks between features and tv movies. If they could put something like this on for nickles and dimes, what in the world is wrong with Hollywood today.
I am a grizzled old movie buff and I thought I'd seen too much to be personally affected by a movie anymore, but I found myself crying real tears, and laughing out loud at this one. At one point I even caught myself clapping. THIS IS THE FIRST MOVIE I EVER RATED "10". Door to Door and Bill Macy deserve an Emmy for this one. Don't miss it.