John Gardner Movies
- 1985
Teen-aged waitress Heather Langekamp is impregnated by college student Patrick Cassidy. Heather's kindly "loser" boss Michael Cole provides aid and comfort for the lonely, confused girl. Her father Ed Lauter wants to finance an abortion, but Cole insists upon taking responsibility. He marries Langenkamp, even though she hasn't expressed any overt love for him. The reasons are slightly vicarious: Cole had once been the suitor of Heather's mother. A novel by John Gardner was the source for the take-its-time Nickel Mountain. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Cole, Heather Langenkamp, (more)
- 1980
In the late 1970s, Grendel by John Gardner was a highbrow best-seller that everyone with pretensions to intellectual sophistication was reading. In it, the author retold the epic Anglo-Saxon hero myth of Beowulf from the point of view of the monster the hero killed, rather than from the hero's vantage point. In so doing, he scored numerous points about the violence and intolerance of human beings and raised more profound philosophical issues. This animated feature was adapted from Gardner's book and never quite found its audience; too simplified for the literati, it was definitely not a children's feature and was not aimed at mainstream audiences. Taken on its own merits however, reviewers lamented that it deserved a better fate than the obscurity to which it was consigned. Peter Ustinov provides the voice for the beleaguered monster. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Ustinov, Keith Michell, (more)
