…or, what TV movies do you think would have won an Oscar if they’d been released theatrically instead of to the small scene? (You can include mini-series.)
Here are four of mine:
The Awakening Land - a three part 1978 miniseries based on a trilogy ( The Trees , The Fields , and The Town ) written in the 1930s/1940s by Conrad Richter, this is the zenith of historical miniseries set in 19th century America. Sayward Luckett (Elizabeth Montgomery) is a “woodsie” who lives with her constantly rambling father and sisters in the wilderness of Ohio ca. 1800; she falls in love with Portius Wheeler (Hal Holbrook), a “Bay State lawyer” with a secret who has exiled himself to the same wilderness. The miniseries follows their lives together and those of their many children through many hurdles and changes as the wilderness becomes a thriving town. Excellent performances all around and a sense of accuracy and realism (achieved in part through incredible set design and detailed dialect coaching) makes this an incredible view. (The miniseries goes through about 1830; the books go til the eve of the Civil War.) I’d sell my plasma if I had to in order to buy this, but unfortunately it’s not on video.
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman - based on the Ernest Gaines novel , which in turn was very very loosely based on a true story, this is the story of a 110 year old former slave who is remembering her life in an interview ca. 1965. It’s been thirty years since I first saw this masterpiece, but the “water fountain” scene still makes me blubber.
Murder in Coweta County -a 1983 film based on Margaret Barnes’ 1976 bestseller , it is the true story of the trial that put John Wallace, a thoroughly coldblooded land baron chillingly played against type by Andy Griffith, in the electric chair. Sheriff Lamar Potts is played by Johnny Cash, but he is upstaged by his wife June Carter who played the old country witch Miss Mahayley (who really did exist and who really is still revered as a genuine seer by old timers in Coweta County, GA). “My mama always told me, Do what you have to do, just never let your conscience get in the way.”
A Christmas Memory - filmed as part of a trilogy of Truman Capote short pieces (I haven’t seen the other two films, though I did see this along with THANKSGIVING VISITOR performed phenomenally well onstage), it is the story of young Truman’s relationship with his mentally-disturbed aunt Sook, a special bond that would draw tears from a statue. This version is not on video, though tragically the godawful remake with Patty Duke (it doesn’t deserve a link) is.
And Never Let Her Go - Ann Marie Fahey and Tom Capano, big movie here in DE. Mark Harmon was Capano, I have always loved MH, but seeing what the real Capano looks like, I don’t know how he was such a Ladies Man, I guess he had alot of Charisma.
Lord, it was ages ago but there was a TV movie with Patrick Dempsey where he played a teenager with epilepsy who sued his parents so he could have a really controversial operation to have his brain hemispheres separated. A quick look at the IMDB turns up “A Fighting Choice” (1986) It was really powerful and moving and it fascinated me. I think it might have been one of those World of Disney things, or another ABC weekly touchy-feely thing.
For horrible cheesiness I cannot forget, the gripping and bizarrely disturbing “Deadly Intentions” (1985) I can’t even describe it really. This woman marries this doctor who slowly becomes completely evil and threatens to kill her and their baby, etc. She gets away and the second half is all about him hunting her down and trying to kill her. I think it’s based on a true story, which makes it even creepier.
I don’t usually watch made for TV stuff so I’m not sure why I happened to catch these. Neither are Oscar-worthy but I did enjoy them. (I’ve got “Deadly Intentions” on my TiVo wishlist because I’m dying to see it again. I think it turns up on Lifetime every so often.)
HBO’s Band of Brothers mini-series. Despite my cynical nature, I was genuinely moved by several episodes. It was a brilliant examination of the fine line between heroism and self-preservation.
The Missiles of October with William Devane, Martin Sheen, Howard Da Silva, and a lot of other lesser known actors who should have been much better known.
The best ever was the MFTV movie adaptation of The Stand. Good goddamn, I wish there was more from the book that they coulda put in the movie, but hey…
Couldn’t tell you how GOOD it actually was from this vantage point 35 years later but at the time SEVEN IN DARKNESS, the very FIRST made-for-TV movie, made an impression. It was about the trials and tribulations of seven blind people whose plane goes down in the wilderness.
Other notable TV films:
PLAYING FOR TIME (Vanessa Redgrave and Jane Alexander as musicians in a concentration camp
THE DOLLMAKER (Jane Fonda’s “hommage” to her dad’s THE GRAPES OF WRATH)
THE MISSILES OF OCTOBER (noted above)
ESCAPE TO SOBIBOR (Alan Arkin in a thrillingly written story about the famous concentration camp uprising)
CONSENTING ADULT (Marlo Thomas plays a mother struggling to accept her son’s homosexuality)
ANDRE’S MOTHER (Sada Thompson gives a wonderful performance as a mother coping with the death of her son by AIDS.)
To my mind, the underappreciated King f T Movies is Nicholas Meyer. You might know him better as the author of The Seven Per Cent Solution and its two sequels, or as director and/or screenwriter of three of he best of the Star Tek movies, but before thse things he was making riginal, interesting TV movies. Among ones he has been associated with are:
The Night that Panicked America - the story of Orson Wrelles’ 1938 radio broadcast of “The War of the Worlds”. They play the entire radio play during the course of this film, and they show exactly why it created such a stir, and how they performed the play. Well worth watching.
Judge Dee and the Haunted Monastery – diplomat Robert H. van Gulik translated the exploits of Judge Dee (an actual historical person from 7th century China) from Chinese into English, then went on to write a seris of mystery novels based on Chinese plots and the real Judge Dee’s renown for solving crimes. Meyer adapted one of these for TV. It’s great! Not only is it fairly faithful to the original book, but it features only oriental actors (no Sidney Toler or Warner Oland-style impersonation) in all the roles. And the plot touches on homosexuality and bisexuality, and deals with it intelligently (the film was made in 1975)! Pretty heady stuff for an ABC Movie of the Wekk. I get the impression tht this as made as a pilot for a series, but that the network balked, maybe at the cost, maybe at the al-asian cast. The put the star in a modern-day detective show instead. It fizzled. There were rumors that Paul Verhoeven was going to do a Judge Dee movie, but it never materialized. There was another Judge Dee series in Britain at about the same time, but it nly ra about half a dozen episodes. (Note: Effects wizard Stan Winston did the make-up for this! And I suspect he constructed the dessicated body of the deceased Head Abot True Wisdom.)
The Day After – probably the most famous American TV movie, about the bif Nuclear War. Shocking and Moving. I think that The War Game and Threads did it better, but this is still a sobering flick. It made th cover of Newsweek when it first aired.
The Odyssey – Just a few years ago.I think NM as a exec producer. Extremely well done adaptation. At least I think so. Odysseus’ home on Ithaka looks exactly right.
There was a MfTV movie about incest called Something About Amelia, which was heartbreaking. You even had some sympathy for the father, played by Ted Danson.
RUNNING MATES (Not great but a charming romantic comedy with political overtones, starring Diane Keaton and Ed Harris)
THE GATHERING STORM (Albert Finney brilliantly portrays the late prime minister)
CITIZEN COHN (James Woods stars as the powerful and sleazy attorney---the film features an amazing number of Hollywood's greatest character actors.
And, last but not least:
SYBIL (Sally Field's performance is undeniably one of television's greatest---an unbelievable powerhouse)