Description

A beautiful cinematic adaptation of Tennessee Williams’ first novel, The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone, tells the emotional story of Karen Stone (Mirren), an aging American actress who falls for a young Italian gigolo of captivating beauty (Martinez) after the untimely death of her husband, Tom (Dennehy). In typical Tennessee Williams fashion, Mrs. Stone finds romance, but ultimately loses control and steps into a dangerous world of chaos. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Bravo! to Helen Mirren and Olivier Martinez.
Oh my, can Tennessee Williams write! I remmeber seeing the original film version "The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone" (1962) starring Vivian Leigh and Warren Beatty. The 1962 version was quite interesting because it had cast middle-aged Vivian Leigh (Gone With The Wind [1939]) and she played the role so believable. But I could not watch the film all the way through because of Warren Beatty. So I never saw the ending of the film and it is embarrassing to watch.
So when I found the 2002 version at Blockbuster Video, I couldn't wait to take it home to see it. Helen Mirren's performance is top-notch. Her acting and facial expressions are perfect. You can tell what she's thinking. Olivier Martinez is perfectly cast as well.(...) These two actors will draw you in to the storyline. Again so perfectly cast together. They work well together.
The very end of the film,I said "Bravo!".
I will probably watch this version again.

Incidentally, Anne Bancroft plays the heavy (the Madame role) in this one, of course we all remember Anne Bancroft played a role, similar to Helen Mirren's, in The Graduate, where Dustin Hoffman played the "May" in the May-December romance and Anne Bancroft played the "December" as "Mrs. Robinson."
DVD includes interviews with Helen Mirren and Olivier Martinez.

"Now I know the meaning of addiction."
After bad reviews begin rolling in for her role as Juliet, aging actress, Karen Stone (Helen Mirren) retreats to Rome with her wealthy husband (Brian Dennehy). Rome is supposed to be a refuge, but Karen soon finds herself facing life alone without the solid protection of her husband. As a wealthy widow in Rome, she becomes the prey of a shady Italian Contessa (Anne Bancroft) who specializes in providing beautiful young men to older, lonely wealthy American women. The Contessa introduces Karen to the beautiful--but petulant--Paolo (French heartthrob, Oliver Martinez).

The original, excellent 1961 film "The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone" stars Vivian Leigh, and I approached this re-make version with skepticism. When remakes are made of already-excellent films, the remakes tend to be a disappointment. I am happy to say that this remake was not a disappointment--in fact, the remake exceeds the original. While the remake version is faithful to the original film, it also expands upon the story--making it much richer. This newer version explores the physical relationship between Karen and Paolo, and there is some nudity involved. The casting of the three main characters in the film is perfect--Anne Bancroft is the wily, mean-spirited, grasping Contessa. The contrast between her real life and the face she shows to society is shocking. Oliver Martinez as Paolo is perfect in this role. He's pretty boy-Paolo--and he'd prefer to not think about the nitty-gritty financial details underneath his role with Karen. Unfortunately, financial considerations are a reality for both Paolo and the Contessa. When Paolo starts telling his ridiculous, fictional stories, Martinez actually manages to act the role with an insincerity that is astonishing. But it is the exquisite Helen Mirren as Karen Stone who steals the film. Karen's humiliation increases as the affair deepens, and she struggles to maintain some sort of dignity and some sort of balance in the relationship. Karen begins using more and more make-up in desperate attempts to keep Paolo interested. When Karen and Paolo are in public, passer-bys look at the couple with ridicule. The sets are luscious, and Mirren's costumes are spectatular. The only complaint I have is the rotten accents (Mirren and Chris, the playwright)--if you can't do an accent properly--don't do one at all). This version of "The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone" was a delight and fans of the original should not be displeased--displacedhuman

A Brilliant Interpretation of Tennessee Williams' Tale
It is reassuring to know that Amazon.com has placed the DVD version of the made-for-television movie THE ROMAN SPRING OF MRS STONE on the wait list for its release in March of this year. For those fortunate enough to have viewed this film last fall the queue to own this high quality version of a novel by Tennessee Williams starts here. For this reviewer this version is superior to the movie made years ago for theater audiences.

Mrs. Stone is an aging actress and devoted wife of a man who, after his wife's rather pathetic last bow on Broadway as Juliet, takes her to Rome to escape the critics and the public. She is a woman of means and when her husband dies suddenly of a heart attack she finds herself alone in a way she has never known. She decides to remain in Rome rather than returning to America. Though an actress by profession she is rather shy by nature and a vulnerable woman who stares a bit too long in the mirror that reminds her of her fading glamour. In attempting to 'adjust' to her new expatriate status she mingles and meets a lecherous 'Contessa' who loathes Americans (silently) for her postwar lack of money. Actually the Contessa makes her living by manipulating the wealthy visiting Americans, particularly lonely wealthy women who need succor. She 'arranges' dates with handsome Italian gigolos, encourages her men to make the women fall in love, and then perpetrates schemes to capture their money.

Mrs Stone is thus squired by legions of handsome men and eventually meets the one young gigolo with whom she can fall in love/lust. They have an extended affair until the obvious need for big money takes importance and Mrs Stone is left alone, injured, and feeling foolish. All during the story there is a disheveled beggar who stalks her and when she at last is left out in the cold, she invites the beggar up to her rooms for...and that is where Tennessee Williams leaves the ending to us!

Helen Mirren is wholly believable as Mrs Stone. She holds a flawless American accent, carries herself as the actress she is, and becomes as beautiful as any creature can become when love walks beside her. The costumer for the film provides spectacular gowns for her character and she carries them off with aplomb. The sleazy Contessa is played to a fare-thee-well by Anne Bancroft: you can almost smell her rags and wigs and evil breath. Mrs Stone's lover is Olivier Martinez and he burns up the screen with his sexuality and nobility of demeanor. Even the beggar is given the importance to be acted by Rodrigo Santoro who again proves that words are completely unnecessary when defining a sex symbol garbed even in filth. He is magic.

The settings are magnificent, the ironies between the wealthy and the poor are stated in just the right way, and all of Tennessee Williams' trademark characteristic symbols are in place. This is a superb film and an absolutely stunning performance by Helen Mirren. Get on the order list now and prepare for a pure delight in drama. ... Read more

Description

An estranged wife with seven sons pursues a new life until tragedy strikes. Starring 1995 Academy Award(R) winner Susan Sarandon and Sam Shepard.Year: 1994Director: Robert Allen AckermanStarring:Susan Sarandon, Sam Shepard, Robert Sean Leonard ... Read more

Reviews (5)

great stuff
This is one of my favorite movies. As a 40 year male with no children I don't think I'll ever be able to get closer to understanding the feeling a mother has about her children than when I watched this moovie. Great ensemble cast. You'll defiantly laugh and cry in this movie. Sarandon and Shepard were great. I don't know the name of any of the children but it included the guy from swing kids and the guy from Mall Rats. The kid that figured out teh alergy situation has been around to and they all do a good job. Lots of realism in Surandans neurosis. There is a great piece of acting by the actress who played the wife of the "swing kids guy" in the kitchen scene with Sarandon. I call it the tequila and meatloaf sceen. That's the best scene in the movie mostly due to some dynamite dialogue. Other great scenes include the scene at the creek, the post dog attack, the fire in the driveway scene, the reporter confrentation, and the morning bunk bed sceen when the young kid says today's the day we'll find out.

Give this to your mother.
I watched this the week before Mother's Day and couldn't help thinking what a good gift it would make for a strong, passionate sort of mother. There is one scene with a savage dog that I will remember for a long time because of what it says about a mother's love. It's an interesting, offbeat film about love, families, and mothers. I will also continue to think some about the scene where the mother reacts to the son's smoking dope and he let's her know she can't knock something she hasn't tried. Again, the depth of her passionate mothering is inspirational.

A beautiful movie about togetherness.
I thought that Susan Sarndon's character was incerdibly moving as well as Sam Shepard,Sean Aston and of course the young actor that always has my respect, Nick Stahl.A movie about family closeness and not missing a thing.

Representation of the typical NORMAL American family.
Watching this movie was like visiting old friends that one sees on the holidays or goes on vacations with. I simply loved this movie and all of the little quirks in each of the characters: Mag's classical music stress relievers, Patrick's blindness, Alfred's compulsive neatness, Izzy's annoying observations, Percival's rebelliousness, Gideon's guilt, Merle's and Darren's twinness, and finally, Simon's hair. The fact that each character has something different about him or herself shows that this "dysfunctional" American family is just about as normal a family as I've ever met. One of the best qualities of this movie is that the issues and the family roles that are portrayed by and between each character are very realistic. My mother and I, as we watched the film, could relate to many of the scenes. My mother continually nodded her head as Mag went from scene to scene with a motherly presence so dominating it simply defined her as the representation of every mothers' unconditional love. My favorite moments in the movie occurred between Mag and her youngest son, Simon. Right from the get-go, there is just some unexplainable bond between the two of them that permeates the screen when only the two are involved, even when they scream at each other. Their relationship is a very special one that I can relate to. Izzy's devoted relationship to his father is one that I can relate to as well. Considering this family as "dysfunctional" is like considering the Pope a Hindu, which brings me to my next best quality about the movie. I love the relationships in the film and the honesty that each character shares with one another. For example, the scene near the beginning of the movie where Izzy is greeted by Alfred and the two go on to joke about Mag and her "Mussorgsky-mode" stress relief is pure magic. A scene between two brothers such as this one shows how much the two brothers love and respect one another. It also shows how in-tune to the family they are because they know the goings-on that occur with their mother, the sporatic blindness that occurs with their father, and just about everything that occurs with their other brothers. The relationships in the film are what holds the film together so well. Each character is forced to reevaluate how he or she feels about every other family member and how those relationships will either improve or grow stronger from the hardships placed before them. Susan Sarandon's portrayal of Margaret Singer was absolutely golden, Nick Stahl's portrayal of Simon was both poignant and hilarious at the same time. Over the course of an hour and thirty-eight minutes, I absolutely fell in love with this family, I felt like I've known them for years. Wonderful feel-good film.

Transitions In Life Are Tough Stuff!
Safe Passages is an extremely engaging film of a family in the process of change. Susan Sarondon and Sam Shepherd play the parents of seven sons. All except one are now raised and out of the house. Sarandon having been a Mom since 19 is now in crisis; the realization of the energy she has spent raising her sons -- at the personal cost of any career or work is a challenging crossroads for her. We find her resentful of her children on one hand for having kept her away from career and frightened on the other hand of what to do with her life now that her sons are raised. She is completely uncertain that she can start a career at this point in her life.The entire family is summoned upon learning that one of the boys may have been killed in a terrorist bombing upon the Marie barracks he was assigned to. While clearly emergent, the family finds itself coming together only to be stuck together in wait -- the endless process of identifying who has died and who the survivors are is a careful and lengthy bureaucratic process. In the waiting together, the family is on one hand frightened at the prospect of the news they are waiting for while at the same time unintentionally re-examining their lives as a family unit. It is obvious by the kids' assessment of their Mom that she was a tremendous one. They are each extremely well grounded -- with the exception of the youngest who is still home caught in the midst of Mom and Dad's empty-nest crisis -- and have wonderful recollections of a strong loviing woman and a very involved father who reared them. The dad is the less dominant of the couple but he was very clearly involved in the loving care of raising his sons, although more involved with the two boys who were runners who shared his common interest in running. The empty-nest is difficult for him as well. When we meet both parents, beyond the emergency of their missing son, both of them are going through the worst of redefining their identities. Mom seems to believe she has nothing in common with Dad other than the boys at this point. Mom is a bit over the edge and has announced a separation. Dad is sleeping in his office.Through the coming together of the family, much of the crises seem to abate as Sarondon and Shephard realize that they have done a pretty good job of raising well adjusted men who like each other and have a deep respect for their parents.The movie's ending is a hopeful one, the immediate foreshadowing of the promise of Sage Passage for the parents is the news that their Marine son has survived and is fine. While it finishes there, we're pretty confident that Sarondon and Shepherd will make Safe Passages of their own as they move on together as a couple -- for the first time in many years -- without parental responsibilities.Excellent performances by Susan Sarondon, Sean Astin and Robert Sean Leonard. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Despite charges of character assassination that drove made-for-TV movie The Reagans off CBS's primetime schedule, the three-hour production is actually sympathetic and even generous in its portrayal of Ronald and Nancy Reagan's rise from hard-working Hollywood couple to First Family. Beginning with their first date in 1949, the story establishes parallel dramatic tracks--the Reagans' acquisition of power and remoteness from their children--and never veers from them. The most interesting section concerns crucial political transitions made by the onetime Democratic loyalist and future Republican governor and president (James Brolin), though Reagan is never portrayed as an opportunist with flexible principles. Once more familiar details kick in--Reagan's hard line as California's boss, the presidential campaigns, two terms in the White House, Iran-Contra, etc.--the script shifts focus to Nancy (Judy Davis) and her ascendancy as a fierce player in the doddering Ronald's latter administration. It's all fascinating, and most certainly not a hatchet job. --Tom Keogh ... Read more

Reviews (14)

Trashy, yes...but fun too
This biopic got such a trashing from hyper-sensitive Republicans, but really is as good as any other made-for-TV biopic and the performances are better than most. Judy Davis captures Nancy perfectly and James Brolin is eerie as Reagan. Made for TV biopics always dwell on the dramatic and seamy. This is network TV after all (even if CBS chickened out and stuck it on Showtime). I would never expect something like Paul Schrader's film Mishima (one of the most artful biopics ever made) to show up on network television, for example. And after all, Ron and Nancy were very very eccentric people and just because someone is elected president by a minority of Americans (because most Americans don't vote, after all) doesn't mean they have to be lionized. I thought The Reagans was quite sympathetic and moving...and this is coming from someone who thinks Reagan epitomizes the very worst in the US presidency (well, at least until W came along). So don't believe all the hype and watch it for yourself. Now when will they make The Clintons? That would be a hoot!

trash heaven
Anyone who expects to see a balanced political view is in for a big disappointment but fans of bad made-for-TV bios will be in hog heaven. James Brolin is a dead-on as the clueless Reagan, although his performance and make-up are just this side of a marathon SNL skit. Judy Davis, meanwhile, never looks much like his calculating wife (the movie should have been called "Nancy Dearest") but nevertheless steals the show by suggesting what would have happened if Judy Garland had been cast in the Angela Lansbury role in "The Manchurian Candidate." And if this thing snags an Emmy nomination for best make-up, it will be in spite of Ron Jr.'s ridiculous wig which makes him look exactly like Prince Valiant. Actually, the most impressive work comes from the actress who plays rebellious Patty Davis--I'll have to watch it again to see whether the make-up crew bothered giving her a mid-career nose bob like the real Patty. This one gets my vote!

Surprisingly good for a made for TV movie!
This film got my attention because of the controversy, with conservatives demanding it not be shown on CBS. Being a liberal who didn't think much of the Reagans, I expected to see an unfavorable portrayal of the Reagans...but as I watched it, I felt impressed by Ronald Reagan, if he was actually the way James Brolin brilliantly captures him (voice, presence, walk). He comes across as a likeable, funny person who is not much for the details and appears to be mishandled by his cutthroat staff members. James Brolin and Judy Davis deserve Emmy wins for their portrayal of the first couple. Its touching to see how much they obviously love each other through the trials of a public life, even if their relationship to each other came at the expense of their children. I own a few Kennedy movies, and don't recall any attempts at boycotting/censoring those, even if they portrayed JFK's infidelity and health problems. This movie about the Reagans shouldn't surprise anyone who has read the autobiographies/memoirs by Ronald, Nancy, and Patti Davis. This film gave me a renewed appreciation for Reagan as a person and president. Conservatives should take note...if this film was a liberal slam against the former president, then it wouldn't have changed the mind of this liberal regarding him as a person. I still may not like most of his policies, but its hard to fault a funny, decent man that Reagan was. This film stands with "Jefferson in Paris" and "Thirteen Days" as must own movies about real American presidents.

Fascinating if a bit aimless
The problem with biopics is that in the real world events happen to people here and there. There is rarely a driving narrative to real people's people's lives. So you watch something like THE REAGANS fascinated by the detail (especially in its portrayal of the Reagan children trying to cope with their closed-off parents), but there's nothing to really be learned from the whole narrative. The Reagans meet and get married, have children; Ronnie runs for governor and then for the presidency four times (twice successfully); he gets shot in office and nearly undone by Iran/Contra, and then they go back to California. That's it.

This miniseries was based on a book about the First Ladies of the US, so Nancy of course figures heavily into it. Judy Davis, inarguably one of the greatest actors living today, would seem born to play the ironwilled Nancy, and she approaches her part with a great deal of intelligence and makes Nancy seem enormously sympathetic even at her most imperious to her husband's staff or at her most firebreating to her children. She even gets to do a musical number, with great panache (Nancy's famous rendition of "Second-Hand Rose" for the Gridiron club), and she is allowed one exceptionally poignant scene (her meeting with her senile mother at a retirement home in the mid 80s). James Brolin fares less well: he looks very much like Reagan, and has the mannerisms and the voice down pat (he's even as good a mimic as President Reagan reportedly was), but he does not project the needed vitality. The Reagan children are well portrayed--lonely and needy Michael, upbeat Maureen, angry Patti (Zoie Palmer, in a particularly fine and furious small performance) and practical Ron Jr.--,but you feel they often get shunted off from the main narrative just as they apparently did in real life from their parents' all-consuming love relationship and political ambition. Republicans were furious before this miniseries aired about its antipathy towards the Reagans' politics, but the only real points it scores against the Reagan administration is in its willful obliviousness to the AIDS crisis.

James Brolin in a Reagan Mask
The film was not as bad as I expected from the reviews, except that James Brolin looked like he was wearing a Ronald Reagan smiling mask. If one were to take any single still frame out of the film it would look like Reagan. If you listened to the voice, it would sound like Reagan. However, Brolin lacked the life and expressions of the real Ronald Reagan. The real Reagan captivated audiences. Brolin seems flat and empty.

The film is limited in time and cannot cover all the facts, but at times issues were raised without fully addressing them. For instance, the film raised the issue of Reagan saying he had seen the holocaust while his advisors note that Reagan never left the US during the war. They don't tell you that Reagan saw some of the first pictures of holocaust victims because of his role in making films for the war.

Over all, it was an interesting film, but the flat emptiness in Brolin's presentation of Reagan was a big disappointment. ... Read more

Reviews (30)

Double whammy!
Being perhaps the ultimate Diana Ross fan I will admit i was strongly biased towards liking this movie. And I did. But on second and third viewings I found myself enjoying it just as much as I had the first time. Diana Ross is well, Diana Ross here, but she's also an acting talent to be reckoned with. She makes Olivia King an all-too-human, dimensional character pushing all the right emotional buttons. Her scenes with Brandy have a real emotional tension to them. Definitely makes one wonder why she hasn't had more of an acting career. She really is good here, objectively speaking.
I will admit to not being much of a Brandy fan before the film, and while I'm still not president of her fan club she won a lot of points with me here. She's a surprisingly good actress who holds her own with the formidable Diana.
And let's not forget the music. First rate all the way. Both dramatically and musically Diana and Brandy have done themselves proud in this outing. I recommend this movie wholeheartedly.

Diana Ross' return to acting
Despite Soul music legend Diana Ross remaining the most successful female recording artist of all time (a total of eighteen U.S No. 1 hit titles to her credit) her movie career has not quite hit the heights of success it has often deserved though received an oscar nomination for her dynamic and powerful performance as Jazz/Blues legend Billie Holiday in Lady Sings The Blues (1972). Since then shes appeared in the moderatley successful Mahogany (1975), The Wiz (1978) which was a commercial failure and deservedly won wide praise for her harrowing performance as a paranoid schitznophrenic in the acclaimed T.V movie, Out Of Darkness (1993). In Double Palatinum she starred alongside Teen R&B sensation Brandy. The story goes that Olivia (Diana Ross - the character is a mere imitation of the Ross mystique and legendary status) is a struggling lounge singer at a downtown nightclub who abandons her daughter Kayla (Brandy) to pursue her showbiz dreams. Flash foward 18 years later and Olivia is now a massive star to whom Kayla - who is still ignorant of her orgins and is embarking on her own singing career - goes to for advice. When Kayla finds out that Olivia is infact her mother she agrees to let Olivia introduce her to some useful contacts in the business and makes it clear that its purley to further hrown career and not to form a mother-daughter bond as Olivia hopes. Whilst being a predicatable story and the scripts certainly run through a fair few cliches, the film is saved by the dramatic and convincing performance of Diana Ross. Her heart is clearly in the role and she carries the film convincingly proving that she hadn't lost any of that dramatic acting power and dazzling on-screen presence that made Lady Sings The Blues such a success. Brandy also puts in a likeable performance and the two stars enjoy a number of dramtically moving scenes. A tear-jerking movie that has a predictable but lovely ending. Diana Ross and Brandy perform many songs off their current studio albums of the time and Diana Ross' performs the exciting He Lives In You with style and verve, backed by an effective South African orchestra and gospel-influenced backing singers. She also proves shes still a dynamic diva as she performs the rip-roaring dance number, Carry On during the awards ceremony sequences. Both Diana and Brandy perform a touching, sparkling ballad at the climax of the movie, Love Is All That Matters which closes the movie beautifully. This T.V movie often careers along like a soap opera and whilst you could argue that this is purley an old-fashioned tale thats been done countless times before, its such a joy to see Diana Ross back on the screen who makes the most of her role, biting into it with a venegance and displaying a raw, instinctive performance, proving her undoubted wide range of abilities. Fans of these two singers will most certainly be enthralled by both the film and its accompanying soundtrack. Defintley worth a look.

Gret Movie Except For One Thing!
It is in full-screen. I hate full screen. The edges are always cut off (that makes the dvd incomplete). The only time I can stand full-screen dvd is if it is a tv show, music video (which some are widescreen) or a cartoon. The only time I'll buy a movie in full-screen (such as this one) is if that is the only format it comes in and I really want it! This is a great movie. Brandy and Diana Ross go Hand-In-Hand. They make a great combination. This is a must own for any Brandy or Diana Ross fan!

...
.... there is one funny line in the thing when that little twit brandy and miss ross are eating together at some restuarant and brandy says does it bother you when other people stare? ross says im used to it it only bothers me when im tired. ha ha ha. ... the plot is so ... to and the twists are so predictable. ...

An Okay Movie!
This was not the movie of the year, not bad but not good, it was okay. The story is du "Dejas-vu", very cliché. The acting performance of Diana Ross was good, it seem real, more then the one of Brandy but Brandy was not so bad. Their performance as a singner were both great, good music in this movie. If you are a fan of Diana Ross or Brandy you may love the movie, for others it's just a nice simple movie. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Excellent TV movie.
"David's Mother" is a superior TV movie in which Kirstie Alley stars as a dpressed single mother of a mentally challenged teenage son in Manhattan. Stockard Channing has a very good supporting role as Kirstie's sister, who tries to play matchmaker for Kirstie.
It's good to see a good-quality female-driven TV movie get released on DVD. I wish they'd release Kirstie's other terrific TV movies on DVD- like "Suddenly" in which she plays a waitress who gets hit by a bus, and "Family Sins", in which she teaches her foster kids how to shoplift. They also need to release Stockard Channing's extraordinary TV movie "The Matthew Sheppard Story" on DVD.

Alley's Performance Makes "David's Mother" Worthwhile!
This film aired on CBS the same year as Bette Midler's "Gypsy" Miss M and Ms. Alley were both nominated for an EMMY in the Best Actress catagory. Kirstie Alley took home the award! In my heart I wanted Bette to win but, I can see why Kirstie won! Not just because this is the type of role that usually wins an actress an EMMY but, because Ms. Alley brings something fresh to to an already overused made for TV formula! A much put upon mother rises above her station in life and realizes what is best for herself and her family. In the hands of another actress the role of Sally Goodman (Kirstie Alley) would be 92 minutes of long faces and heavy sighs! Instead we see a full human being beyond even what the writer could have thought! The script (written by Bob Randall based on his play "David's Mother") is filled with emotion that is all carried by the mother and well, David (Michael Goorjian in his EMMY winning performance) who doesn't speak one word yet speaks volumes with his silence. However, many of David's scenes are destroyed by lingering close-ups which make us (the viewer) pitty and in most cases laugh at David. I think this could have been avoided if the director had chosen the cut from David's reactions sooner. The director David Allan Ackerman who so brilliantly directed "Me & My Shadows: Life With Judy Garland" seems out of his eliment here. The film is very heavy-handed! The supporting cast Sam Waterston as the to good to be true boyfriend, Stockard Channing as the concerned older sister, Chris Sarandon as the cowardly ex-husband and Phylcia Rashad as the do-gooder social worker serve no other purpose than to react to the main characters. These are excellent actors and they are given no moments of their own to shine. That's another problem with the script as well as the direction.
The DVD contains no special features other than Full screen, scene selection & digitally mastered.
Excellent picture quality for a low cost DVD
Overall, not a bad film, just flawed! No fault though of the very talented cast. The fault lies firmly in the hands of the film makers! The performance of Kirstie Alley make it worth the price of the DVD! It's worth a look! ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Excellent, suspenseful movie! Rob Lowe's best performance!
I don't want to give away many details (like other reviewer) because it is best just to watch as the unfortunate but mesmerizing story unfolds. I happened to catch this movie on TV and got totally caught up in the story. I felt such pity for Rob Lowe and his wife! They were not all together likeable but certainly didn't deserve the unrelenting treatment dished out by the three teenagers- pure antagonists. At first, I thought, these guys are too cruel to be believed, especially for youngsters, but then I remembered that when I went to a private school in the 8th grade for the first time (similar to the background I imagined for these pampered boys), there were individual who were unmerciful to anyone who didn't fit into the narrow perception of what "they" considered "cool." I was particularly vulnerable for abuse being the "new kid, " but I was not ignored and left to go my own quiet way as I wished; instead, I was constantly singled out and picked on. The events in the movie escalate to something I never experienced (whew!), but the story is done in such a compelling and frighteningly realistic manner, I really felt deep hatred for the boys causing the trouble and wished for mercy or at least justice for the victimized couple. Well worth watching!

This Is A Keeper! You Will Not Be Disappointed!
This movie is awesome! It stars Rob Lowe and Jennifer Grey, who are a young married couple about to have a child. Without giving the plot away, they become the target of theft, harassment and home invasion. The bad guys in this movie got my blood boiling, because I just wanted to see them get what they had coming to them. They are so cruel. However...this is not a movie about chopping off heads and blood baths. This is about a couple who fall victim, need help, try to get help, and can only hope that they will get justice. Some movies are so predictable that you just know how they will end. This one has you guessing all the way through and you just are not sure if the good guy's will end up 'on top'. All I will say to that is...Guess you'll have to watch to find out! Check it out! ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Excellent TV movie.
"David's Mother" is a superior TV movie in which Kirstie Alley stars as a dpressed single mother of a mentally challenged teenage son in Manhattan. Stockard Channing has a very good supporting role as Kirstie's sister, who tries to play matchmaker for Kirstie.
It's good to see a good-quality female-driven TV movie get released on DVD. I wish they'd release Kirstie's other terrific TV movies on DVD- like "Suddenly" in which she plays a waitress who gets hit by a bus, and "Family Sins", in which she teaches her foster kids how to shoplift. They also need to release Stockard Channing's extraordinary TV movie "The Matthew Sheppard Story" on DVD.

Alley's Performance Makes "David's Mother" Worthwhile!
This film aired on CBS the same year as Bette Midler's "Gypsy" Miss M and Ms. Alley were both nominated for an EMMY in the Best Actress catagory. Kirstie Alley took home the award! In my heart I wanted Bette to win but, I can see why Kirstie won! Not just because this is the type of role that usually wins an actress an EMMY but, because Ms. Alley brings something fresh to to an already overused made for TV formula! A much put upon mother rises above her station in life and realizes what is best for herself and her family. In the hands of another actress the role of Sally Goodman (Kirstie Alley) would be 92 minutes of long faces and heavy sighs! Instead we see a full human being beyond even what the writer could have thought! The script (written by Bob Randall based on his play "David's Mother") is filled with emotion that is all carried by the mother and well, David (Michael Goorjian in his EMMY winning performance) who doesn't speak one word yet speaks volumes with his silence. However, many of David's scenes are destroyed by lingering close-ups which make us (the viewer) pitty and in most cases laugh at David. I think this could have been avoided if the director had chosen the cut from David's reactions sooner. The director David Allan Ackerman who so brilliantly directed "Me & My Shadows: Life With Judy Garland" seems out of his eliment here. The film is very heavy-handed! The supporting cast Sam Waterston as the to good to be true boyfriend, Stockard Channing as the concerned older sister, Chris Sarandon as the cowardly ex-husband and Phylcia Rashad as the do-gooder social worker serve no other purpose than to react to the main characters. These are excellent actors and they are given no moments of their own to shine. That's another problem with the script as well as the direction.
The DVD contains no special features other than Full screen, scene selection & digitally mastered.
Excellent picture quality for a low cost DVD
Overall, not a bad film, just flawed! No fault though of the very talented cast. The fault lies firmly in the hands of the film makers! The performance of Kirstie Alley make it worth the price of the DVD! It's worth a look! ... Read more