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This earnest movie about a door-to-door salesman with cerebral palsy(based on the true story of Bill Porter) could have been cloyingly sweet,but a sense of humor and the clear, unpretentious performance of WilliamH. Macy keep it from drowning in sentiment. Door to Door followsPorter from when he first gets his job (by convincing a skeptical salesmanager to give him the worst route the company has) in the mid-'50s,to his brief retirement in the late 1990s, when door-to-door salesmenbecame outmoded by catalogs and the Internet. The depiction of how Porterbecame part of the lives of his customers may feel a little pat, but theportrait of Porter himself--particularly how his persistent independentspirit was also a wall between him and others--is honest and affecting.Also featuring Kyra Sedgwick and the great Helen Mirren as Porter'smother. --Bret Fetzer ... Read more

Reviews (31)

William H. Macy gives the perfomance of a lifetime!
It is hard to believe that William H. Macy did not get an Oscar for his performance in this film. The film tells the real life story of a door-to-door salesman named Bill Porter (Macy) who overcomes his challenges with cerebral palsy in order to become the company's most successful door-to-door salesman. Having overcome physical challenges, the movie shows the human side of Bill Porter as it shows the wall of self-independence he has erected and the friendships he develops, and almost loses, as he allows others who care about him to help him and become a part of his life.

This movie is funny, heart-warming, and endearing thanks to what I consider the best performance from William H. Macy ever. A must see movie!

Patience and Persistence
One doesn't see the classic DOOR TO DOOR salesman anymore. (The occasional youthful hawker of magazine subscriptions or Girl Scout cookies doesn't count.) But for more than 40 years beginning in 1955, Bill Porter walked the same sales route in Oregon for the (real-life) Watkins Company, which sold (and still sells) an esoteric mix of products from laundry soap to dog biscuits to condiments.

Porter was afflicted with cerebral palsy at birth. In this made-for-TV film, Porter (William Macy) explains its cause as the too assiduous application of forceps by the obstetrician who delivered him. As the film opens, Bill is attempting, at age 21, to land his first job as a salesman, the profession of his deceased father. Porter is encouraged and supported by his mother (Helen Mirren), who writes the words "patience" and "persistence" with ketchup on the outside of her son's brown-bag sandwiches after Watkins reluctantly hires the young man. To prove that he can do the job despite his disability, Porter has challenged Watson by offering to take the toughest sales route that nobody else wants. Soon after, Bill's mother begins to suffer the mental impairment that eventually lands her in an assisted care facility. Bill is now on his solitary own.

If it wasn't for Macy's performance, DOOR TO DOOR would just be another of those warm and fuzzy human interest stories that otherwise makes my eyeballs roll for its political correctness. Macy, who's cast in the lead too infrequently, turns in his best performance since FOCUS (2001) - perhaps better. The actor's depiction of Porter's handicap is a pointed reminder of the difficulties to be surmounted by one so afflicted, even including painful isolation from normal, male-female sexual intimacy and romance.

At the end of the film's credits, the audience is made aware of the fact that the real-life Bill Porter has a website. Out of curiosity, I signed onto it and discovered that it's actually a link to Watson's on-line shopping catalog. It left me wondering if I hadn't just been manipulated into watching a lengthy Watson promo. It's that vague feeling of having been conned that causes me to award 4 stars instead of the five otherwise due Macy's brilliant work.

Excellent
William Macy, like no other actor I think, can evoke such feelings of compassion. He is also plays a very likeable developmentally disabled person in this film. Bring a Kleenex box along when you view this movie. As a parent of a severely disabled autistic boy, I felt for the character who was limited in his coping skills but who tried and tried and tried to make his life meaningful and to help others through his job as a traveling salesman. Detractors may say Macy over acts, but I think his character makes a sterling point, that people can overcome their severe disabilities with perseverance and the constancy that evolves from the honesty of the human heart.

A+

Jeffrey McAndrew
author of "Our Brown-Eyed Boy"

Nice Uplifting Movie
This film doesn't aspire to be much more than it is - a simple, well acted movie that follows a very determined man who has cerebal palsy through his life and career and shows how he snuck in touched others lives along the way. The movie is quiet and unfolds slowly. If you are patient, it will grow on you just as Bill Porter slowly grew on his customers. Touching and inpiring.

A MUST WATCH
A must watch movie for all ages. William H.Macey portraits Bill Porter who has C.P. It is about the trials and tribulations he endures every-day . All that he wanted was a sense of belonging. Through his perseverance and determination he gets a job with "Watkins House Hold Products" selling their products door to door. A truly inspirationl account of one man's courage. ... Read more

Description

When an honored cop finds his brother in bed with his wife, there are no lengths he won't go to for revenge and no one is above suspicion. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Terrific thriller with a strong role by Christopher Reeve.
When a police detective (Christopher Reeve) got shot and he becomes crippled from a bust gone bad. He fined to a wheelchair and clinically depressed. When his unfaithful wife (Kim Cattrall) Cheats on him with his brother (Edward Kerr), when he finds out, he goes on a revenge and everything are not as they seem to the Ex-Police Detective.

Sharply directed by Steven Schachter but the real winner goes to Screenwriters: Jerry Lazarus, William H. Macy (Boogie Nights, Jurassic Park 3) and Steven Schachter. Also actor Joe Mantegna gives a fine performance. Made for Television from the Home Box Office (HBO) Network. Grade:A-.

Good drama-thriller.
I liked director Steven Schachter's TV movie "The Con" very much so when this movie was on TV, I decided to see if it was as good as that one. It was. It's about Dempsey, a policeman, who gets shot and, as a result of this, paralyzed in his legs. He gets depressed and the fact that his wife and his brother have an affair doesn't make things better (it's sad and ironic that Christopher Reeve actually got paralyzed not long after this movie was finished).

The movie has a good story, I won't tell you too much and spoil it for you, and all of the actors are very good. The movie was co-written by William H. Macy who also appears in a small part (he also co-wrote "The Con"). It works well both as a good thriller and as a drama. Enjoy!

When the writing is good
ABOVE SUSPICION is a good film. I give five ***** to the main characters including Reeve, Joe Mantegna, and Kim Cattrall. Ms Cattrall proves that nudity properly employed serves to contribute to the plot rather than distract you from it. Mantegna has to handle the old cliche role: "I'm a better cop than college-trained Christopher because I'm a street cop." He does a top drawer job of keeping the "street cop" role on balance. I thoroughly enjoy a movie when the writing is good. In ABOVE SUSPCION the writing was good . . . super . . . the very best suspense entertainment. It was the best suspense movie that I've seen in years. You might find--as I did--that you'll be rooting at one time or another for all of the characters along the way.

Above Suspicion was a Great Movie!
For Once the bad guy wins! Finally a movie that is more realistic, after all OJ did get off. This movie was one for the records! Reeves was Excellent!

Captivating drama with outstanding performance from Reeve
Christopher Reeve turns in an excellent performance in this captivating drama with sometimes-predicable twists. Nevertheless, the ending will surprise you.

Definitely, this movie is worth watching. ... Read more

Description

Janice Mitchell (Judith Light) is attempting to put a recent affair with the handsome plastic surgeon Guy (Jack Wagner) in her past as she and her husband take an island vacation. The obsessive Guy refuses to let go and stalks Janice, resulting in a brutal attack and rape. Unable to tell her husband of her secret , the terror becomes even more insidious when Guy begins to date her daughter who brings him to the island resulting in a terrifying and thrilling final struggle for survival.Starring: Judith Light, Jack Wagner, Ben Masters, and Tracy Gold. ... Read more