vchimpanzee
Will Parker is new in the small town of Whitney. He spent five years in prison In Huntsville for killing someone in La Grange, Texas--though he says he didn't do it. The first place he goes is to the diner where Lula works as a waitress. There, he asks for a paper so he can look for a job. It seems Emily Dinsmore is advertising for a husband.Will goes to Emily's farm and introduces himself. Emily has two boys and is pregnant by her recently deceased husband. Will finally agrees to live in the barn and help out, but neither he nor Emily feels quite comfortable with getting married.Will works hard to improve Emily's situation, and even goes to the library to learn more about bees, which the farm has (apparently Emily's husband didn't know how to stay safe around them). The boys also seem to like him as a substitute father.Miss Beasly, the librarian, is very nice and eventually offers Will a job taking care of the library.Lula has a reputation, and she wants Will, along with nearly every other man in town.Most people in town don't want to give Will a chance to go straight. Emily is a recluse, regarded as crazy, as a result of abuse she suffered as a child, in the house with the morning glories.At first, this just seemed like a chick flick. Later, the film got more interesting with a major development that could have changed everything.Christopher Reeve's character was very polite and dignified though shy, rarely losing his temper, and very justified when he did. His demeanor would have been very difficult to maintain considering where he spent the previous several years. Deborah Raffin also did a capable job as Emily. To me, the standout actors in this movie were Nina Fochs as Miss Beasly and Lloyd Bochner as a lawyer who helps Will and Emily.There were occasional funny moments. Violence was minimal, though the sexual talk (mainly later) made this less than appropriate for kids.It was pretty good, though nothing outstanding.
FulanaPerez
After reading the book, I loved the story. Watching the movie I was disappointed that so many changes were made. It is understandable that books and movies differ but it was two different stories, only the names and some of the book's story remained. Read the book and you'll have a better understanding of the movie. The book gives you a better development of the characters. These characters are extremely interesting and make you care about them. The locations were indeed in line with the book's descriptions. Some characters not included. Television has microwaved so many great books and stories, this is a perfect example of that. Input from the author doesn't always insure a good movie but it can help sometimes.
preciousladyg2
I read the book and really enjoyed it from beginning to end. However, when I saw the movie I was very disappointed. First of all, no disrespect to Deborah Raffin but she was too mature to play a woman of 24/25. The late Christopher Reeve was also miscast-same reason. Will, according to the book,was around 30. I would have love to see a little more exploration of his military life, his friend Red, Elly's trip to see him as that was an important part of the characters' storyline development. Also Miss Beasley was miscast as the book mentioned her being a Plus Size lady. I know the movie didn't have the budget of the "Bridges Of Madison County" which I believe was released around the same time. But to me this was a very poorly made, low budget, miscast movie. As someone mentioned, I wish that Miss Spenser would come out of retirement and write screenplays for her books as they ought to be. She knows her characters better than anyone, I hope that she would consider doing the casting too. The movie let me down!
nammage
A simple movie in the beginning, a simple movie in the end. It does have that un-ending and pretending cliche, but, most tv movies have that any ways.Christopher Reeve does a good job as being an ex-con/drifter. The marriage between her and the woman he works for, I feel is a bit queer, but, I believe for the time period it is set in, that it is believable none-the-less.Now, I saw the edited 'tv' version, even tho the movie was made and showed on 'tv', I find that a bit queer as well. But, I feel if I saw the entirety of the piece, I would give it more-in-likely the same rating.J.T. Walsh does a nice job, not his best role, but, still....a nice job.
7/10
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