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Reviews
Childhood Sweetheart? (1997)
Snore
What a waste of time and actors. I guess Melissa Gilbert couldn't get hired to do a Lifetime "based on a true story" so she or her agent picked this bomb, exploiting the "kidnap a child" story. Writing fiction about a subject that so many GOOD TV-movies have been made and try to spice it up.
Michael Reilly Burke did a tour de force with "Ted Bundy" but stepped way down with "Childhood Sweetheart?" I'd venture a guess that any movie with a title ending in a question mark is going to be bad. By the end of this mess I didn't think his love affair with the deceptive woman Gilbert played, was romantic, I thought it was bizarre and it left me hoping for "unhappiness ever after" for the pair.
I thought that the Gilbert character was responsible for her "would be father" Ronny Cox's death. If not, I must have missed it... but by then I couldn't care less, I still had no sympathy for the deceptive woman and her loyal "Childhood Sweetheart?" Please Lifetime fans, don't waste your time.
Love, Honor and Behave (1938)
Another thumbs down for a dated "romp".
It's hard to believe sometimes, in a new century, that movies like this, were made and viewed as acceptable behavior. The message is not only "only the strong survive", it's that the violent and the pushy survive and that what we now accept as correct behavior was looked upon as incorrect.
An example of how ridiculous the premise is made when Wayne Morris, the hero, who was raised by his mother, is criticized for preferring tennis to football, by macho old dad. Dad had even criticized Mom for not "fighting" (literally) for him earier in the movie. Well,Wayne falls for childhood girlfriend Priscilla Lane, whose philosophy is not unlike that of his schmuck father's. Priscilla wants a man who looks good, (as does Wayne Morris) but she wants him to be as physical and morally ambiguous as his father was. Very soon tere are marital problems because hero can't find a decent job (it's the depression and he quit med school to marry her). She still wants to party with a male friend while Morris wants her to stay home discuss a job that would mean their living on a lot less.
The "happy ending" and our "lesson in life" is when she manipulates him into physically fighting the guy who comes to take her out, and physically abuses her for not sticking with him. Both sets of parents watching from outside the front window (and are amazingly amused and satisfied) are told by Priscilla Lane's character to "leave them alone" (She appears tojoy his new-found penchant for domestic violence). The "older folks" present think it's all cute.
It's a movie with good actors but it's message makes it really difficult to watch. Unfortunately, I'm afraid that there are some people who may watch this movie and think of it as merely a screwball comedy, with an appropriate message. I pity them.
Playing to Win: A Moment of Truth Movie (1998)
Are these people real?
The acting was OK. This problem of the week was "addictive gambling". My problem today was watching this TV-movie. I loved Shelley Fabares in, I think it was "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman" or one of its spin-offs. She plays the concerned mother of the teenage girl (played by Lisa Dean Ryan) that follows every suggestion her new boyfriend (played by David Lascher) gives her, to get money, short of armed robbery.
In the very beginning when he's talking to her about how "you never lose" at gambling, a thug (well played by Gordon Currie)comes up to boyfriend and tells him, very audibly to our heroine, that if he doesn't repay him the $200 he owes him he'll do something akin to breaking his kneecaps. "Dana" cheerfully goes gambling with her new boyfriend. She loses, learns how to steal, gambles some more with prince charming, wins a little, loses much hore, steals some more, pawns her mother's wedding ring, etc.
If that seems unbelievable, you should hear her mom (Fabares) when she finds out that her jewelry and the girl's stereo, etc. are all missing,(also Dana's been fired from her job and been arrested) and it's because she's lied, cheated and stolen so she could gamble. Mom says to the boyfriend's dad, after "the kids" are let off because of his "connections" with the judge, "I was relieved it was gambling." and then, "You mean gambling is addictive?" Have she and her family been living in a bubble?
The other thing that bothered me was that neither women......the daughter nor the mother was strong enough, nor capable enough to figure out the obvious. Daughter did everything "new boyfriend" suggested without question, then eventually, after the "thug" threatened her and her family, she told her mom the truth about how she'd been doing about anything to get money and what did mom do when daughter asked her advice? She said "I don't know, but I'll find out from .....(HER new acquaintance)", the "jerk boyfriend's" father, an alcoholic.
The answer ultimately, of course, was to join gambler's anonymous. Nothing was said about the outcome of the thug's threats. But, more important, the flick ignored both women's inability to say "no" and to make intelligent decisions on their own. You'd think they had never watched a TV-movie.
Sweet Temptation (1996)
This is a movie about sexual abuse and there is a perpetrator and a victim.
Without going into any details of a good...if a somewhat provocative...TV movie, there seems to be a consensus among the users that there is "no one to blame here".
I disagree. Yes, the young male lover of Beverly D'Angelo, played by Rob Estes may be young and horny (and good looking) because he's not getting as much as he wants from mom, that doesn't mean, he can climb in bed and have sex with daughter. OK, he can use the excuse he just wanted to watch TV with her, but I don't buy it. People have to take responsibility for their actions. Not only did he "cross the line" by having sex with a very vulnerable teen, when he was supposedly "the responsible adult",he said, "Your mom must never know about this." How responsible was he then? Yes, it's a good flick, but he got what was coming to him. Don't kid yourselves folks that what happened was "no one's fault".
Haltéroflic (1983)
A reporter enters the world of bodybuilding at a time when there has just been a death at the gym. He befriends an unusually gregarious bodybuilder there.
It's a little difficult to comment clearly on this movie as it has been quite awhile since I saw it at The Castro Theatre in San Francisco. I saw it opening night there and a couple of times since. I had liked the director's previous film "We Were One Man". Phillippe Vallois director) and I seem to be on the same wavelength in both these films. In both, two men become very close in their relationships formed in a short period of time. The reporter in "The Rainbow Serpent" seems awestruck by the inhabitants of this particular circle of bodybuilders, in particular, the one who was present at the time another man was crushed to death by the barbell he was lifting. He becomes deeply immersed in his life, as do we. There is a quirkiness that reminds me of Fellini. And there is a wonderful love of life that the reporter finds in the bodybuilder and we wonder whether or not he is as innocent as he seems. This movie, to my knowledge, has not been available in the USA in any form for home viewing and I think that that's a shame. I highly recommend The Rainbow Serpent.
The Beatniks (1958)
A juvenile delinquent discovers he has a great voice but has trouble leaving his "gang" to "go straight" and become a star.
This movie, that was part of the Mystery Science Theatre 3K batch of "so bad, they're good" flicks. The film's worst offense is its title. There are no beatniks in the movie, but rather, juvenile delinquents (all over 2o, at least). By all Hollywood standards, this is a B movie, but I find it more entertaining than some movies that are nominated for an Oscar. Good looking lead Tony Travis is also a good actor, as is Peter Breck as a wise-cracking gang member who is supposedly psychotic but in the overall scheme of things comes across as funnier than menacing. Karen Kadler is fun too as Mr. Travis' gang girl-friend. Travis plays Eddie Crane, who in the course of the movie sings 4 times and sings well, from Sinatra-like ballads to early rock 'n' roll. There is a plot that involves shootings, and a jazz/ big band score...and a weak attempt at artsy filming but what we care about most is whether or not Eddie will side with the upright show biz people and leave his gang. Don't get serious about this film, just enjoy it!
She Said No (1990)
Veronica Hamel is a rape victim of an intelligent attorney and faces nearly insurmountable obstacles in attaining justice in the court system.
This is one of the best movies (TV or otherwise) on the subject of rape and its aftermath that I have seen. And despite the fact that the movie was filmed in 1990, there have not been significant enough advances in the criminal justice system to see that this story is still relevant. The three leading actors are very good, Judd Hirsh as the rapist, Lee Grant as the attorney, first for the prosecution and then in a civil case, for the defense of the victim, Veronica Hamel. Ms. Hamel's victim is unfamiliar with the court system, but it is further complicated by the rapist's having been an attorney, and he is an intelligent manipulator. There are interesting twists and turns and although I believe that this is fiction, it certainly rings very true. It is an acting tour de force by both Ms. Grant and Ms. Hamel. Judd Hirsh plays the sociopathic rapist well.
The Cracker Factory (1979)
Cleveland housewife who doesn't get human support has an alcohol problem.
An underrated TV movie.
Though it's a little dated and the variety of psychiatric stereotypes is a little annoying, but really it's a very good TV movie that I wish were available on video. It's one of Natalie Wood's best performances and she captures the Cassie Barrett character right on. The Cleveland setting gives it a great middle America setting and Marian Mercer, Shelley Long (before "Cheers") and the supporting cast are as up for this as is Natalie.
It's about alcoholism and promotes AA but doesn't go overboard in preaching to us. To the contrary, The "Cassie" character, thanks to the writing and to Natalie Wood, kick the wind out of the "typical" therapy people and methods.