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Reviews
The Waltons: The Nurse (1975)
A Lesson in Humanity and Perspective.
Judy Norton does an amazing job as always, but what strikes me about this episode is the contrast between Mary Ellen and the older Bassham daughter. Mary Ellen looks jealously at the better educated nursing students who have been taught chemistry, but this girl, who never had the opportunity to go to school at all, looks up at Mary Ellen with even more wonder. Mary Ellen seems to realize this and is humbled, which grounds her and puts her ambitions into perspective and makes her appreciate what she has. It's A+ level writing and acting all around, one of the very best episodes of a great show.
Ice Castles (2010)
Nice Try, But....
This remake just does not have the heart of the original. The place where it is suffers most by comparison is Taylor Firth vs. Lynn Holly Johnson in the lead role of Lexie Winston. Sorry, but it's not even close. Johnson played the role with a sense of innocence and naive charm that is just not present here. Her version of Lexie was a confused, scared young girl that was being used and manipulated by those around her. She was finally pushed beyond her limits and rebelled against the power structure mapping out her career and skated in public without permission of her coach, which led to her downfall. . Firth plays the role like an ambitious brat who is fully on board with everything going on around her and does her best to speed the process along. She just happens to make a mistake that gets her hurt while waiting to conquer the next part of the skating worlds. . That aspect performs the double whammy of taking away the element of sympathy for her when things become difficult and diffusing the sense of joy when she triumphs at the end. Also in the original, each main character in the film: Lexie, Nick, her Dad, and both of Lexies coaches identified abs worked to fix serious personal flaws through the screen play. Mr Winston let his daughter go in the real world, Beulah came to terms with ending her skating career at sectionals , the sports reporter who seduces Lexie refused ti break her story that she was still blind, and Nick found his lifetime commitment in his love for Lexie. And Lexie, she put her mothers memory aside and skated her program for herself. I saw no such forgiveness in the new cast that all seemed to just think Lexie was a spoiled brat.
Ice Castles (1978)
Beautiful Film
Ok, I admit I am being a little sentimental here. But I love this movie. First, Lynn Holly Johnson may not be the greatest actress ever, but she was the perfect choice for this role. Johnson was a young, first time actress who I am certain didn't really understand where she was in the moment. She was playing the romantic interest of the hottest young leading man of the day in Robbie Benson, and part of a superb cast which includes the vastly underrated Tom Skerritt. This makes her just like her character, a inexperienced girl who leaps into an ultra competitive world she only knows from the outside and is not fully prepared to handle. Johnson plays Alexis with a sense of innocence in the first half of the film that evolves into a strong sense of grit and perseverance in the last act. Yes, the scenario may be a bit implausible at the end, but what film doesn't use implausible scenarios to make its point? I also like the way the story evolves and develops the characters over its course. Each main character in the film has a flaw which they recognize and work to correct as the story goes along, and they are all tied together in the conclusion. Viewers who just write this film off as romantic schlock are missing a lot. The scene with Lexie and Beulah in the attic for example, is very well done. There is a lot of anger and frustration in that sequence, its far from sunshine and rainbows. There is more to this story than just silly romance, and I don't think most people see it.