Gennie James Movies
- 1988
Good Old Boy is based on the autobiography of Southern writer Willie Francis. Ryan Francis plays young Willie, growing up in Yazoo City, Mississippi during the War years. The film follows Willie as he learns valuable lessons about life and death, and as he gradually drifts away from his circle of friends. Weather-beaten character actors Richard Farnsworth and Anne Ramsey add local color to the location-filmed proceedings. Originally telecast on cable in 1988, Good Old Boy was replayed in 1989 as a two-part entry on PBS' Wonderworks. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1987
- PG
This made-for-TV adaptation of Frances Hodgson Burnett's The Secret Garden stars Gennie James as spoiled-rotten Mary Lennox. When her parents die of cholera, Mary is whisked from her home in India to live in the forbidding Victorian mansion of her flint-hearted uncle (Derek Jacobi). Thanks to the friendship--and vivid imagination--of gardener's son Jadrien Steele, Mary learns that life is lived best when one cares for others. At the same time, her uncle begins to act like a human being. The only false note in this otherwise flawless production was the decision to clumsily frame the story with the narration of the adult Mary Lennox. Blessed with a top-rank British cast, including Michael Hordern, Billie Whitelaw, Lucy Gutteridge and Alison Doody (Harrison Ford's vis-a-vis in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, this 1987 Secret Garden was first telecast as a Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
Writer/director/producer James L. Brooks scores on all counts with this clear-eyed look at the television news business and the dysfunctional types who work in it. Brooks' intelligent script introduces us to Jane Craig (Holly Hunter), an ambitious producer at the network news division's Washington D.C. branch, who is calm under fire yet has a good cry at her desk every morning over her empty personal life. Jane works well with Aaron Altman (Albert Brooks), an excellent reporter who lacks the visual charisma to make him a star. Into their lives comes Tom Grunick (William Hurt), a regional newscaster who admits he can't write news and doesn't understand many of the events he's covering, but has the presence and physical appeal that the increasingly entertainment-oriented network wants for its news programs. Jane is also physically attracted to him, which drives her crazy, because Grunick stands for everything she's fighting against in the news business, while Altman is devastated by her attraction because he secretly yearns for Jane. As Grunick becomes a rising star at the network, and layoffs of the old guard loom, the three leads deal with their feelings for each other, their careers, and their values. Hunter, Hurt, and Brooks are all superb, as is the excellent supporting cast (including an unbilled turn by Jack Nicholson as the network's smarmy national anchor). Brooks' script is funny, poignant, gritty, and brutally honest in its examinations of the television industry and the ways in which professionals interact on and off the job. ~ Don Kaye, Rovi
- Starring:
- William Hurt, Albert Brooks, (more)
- 1986
In this holiday drama, a widowed architect tries to mix business with pleasure when he takes his daughter on a business trip to a strange town in Colorado. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- John Denver, Jane Kaczmarek, (more)
- 1986
Smoky Mountain Christmas is the sort of fare that always seems to pop up exclusively during the Yuletide season: an original made-for-TV musical fantasy. Dolly Parton plays a country-music star (imaginative casting, this) who finds herself stranded in the Tennessee backwoods with taciturn mountaineer Lee Majors. Parton also touches base with seven orphaned young'uns...and a witch (Anita Morris). John Ritter makes an uncredited cameo appearance as the judge who presides over the inevitable climactic adoption proceedings. First broadcast December 14, 1986 (directly opposite the ratings-grabbing The Promise), A Smoky Mountain Christmas was directed "con brio" by Henry Winkler. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Dolly Parton, Lee Majors, (more)
- 1986
Alex: The Life of a Child is based on the true story of Sports Illustrated writer Frank Deford and his dying 8-year-old daughter Alex. Craig T. Nelson plays Deford and Gennie James is Alex, both of whom come to grips in different ways with Alex's fatal cystic fibrosis. A subplot involves the torment of Deford's wife (Bonnie Bedelia), who wonders whether she should adopt a child after Alex's death in 1980. Alex: The Life of a Child is effective, but not as well made as its subject matter deserves. Better examples of this particular TV-movie genre include Death be Not Proud (75), based on author John Gunther's recollections of his son's struggle against a degenerative brain tumor, and Mary White (77) the story of a personal tragedy in the life of Kansas journalist William Allen White. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
Of the three "mortgage on the farm" films of 1984 (Country and The River were the other two), Places in the Heart is the only one set during the Depression. After her husband is killed, Sally Field is forced to take over the debt-ridden Texas family farm herself. Though slightly embittered by the fact that a black man was responsible for her husband's death, Field accepts the help of another African-American, Danny Glover. She is also given aid and comfort by her blind boarder, John Malkovich. Despite almost insurmountable odds, Field manages to bring in the cotton crop and to hold her farm and family together. Throughout the film, director Robert Benton stresses the importance of solidarity in facing down disaster, underlining this point with a remarkable surrealistic finale, in which the "live" members of the cast are seen singing a hymn with the characters who have "died" in the course of the film. Places in the Heart won Sally Field her second Academy Award. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Sally Field, Lindsay Crouse, (more)
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