Paul Dunphy Movies
- 2004
The made-for-TV It Must be Love is based on "Rediscovered Love", a chapter in Meant to Be, a book by marital-advice columnists Barry Vissell and Joyce Vissell. Both film and chapter were inspired by the true story of Nancy and Leo Whitmore, a divorce-bound couple who learned the hard way how to truly appreciate their life together--and to truly appreciate life itself--when they trapped in a snowbound camper for a month. As adapted by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Beth Henley (Crimes of the Heart), the film stars real-life married couple Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen as George and Clem Gazelle, who labor under the misapprehension that just because they are being "amicable" and "civilized" about their impending divorce, their split-up will be a happy one with no unpleasant side effects for their children. All this changes when George and Clem are trapped in their camper by a freak Main snowstorm. As they hope and pray for rescue, the couple begins to ponder the reasons for their breakup, and wonder if perhaps they should have given their marriage a second chance. As the days turn into weeks, and despite their ever-diminishing health, the Gazelles carry on lively domestic debates in their "Divorce Camper", concluding at last that if they must die (which may indeed happen at any moment), they would much rather die together than apart. One of the highest-rated TV movies of its year, It Must Be Love was seen February 15, 2004, on CBS. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1997
A modern-day prodigal son, Isaiah Dockett (Rick Schroder) returns to his family farm in Nebraska after a six-year absence. Although he is welcomed back by his ailing mother Edith (Carroll Baker) and younger brother Jacob (Gabriel Mann), and is even able to platonically reconnect with his now-married former girlfriend Susan Doyle (Kim Dickens), Isaiah is unable to penetrate the wall of resentment that his taciturn and unforgiving father Arliss (Richard Crenna) has built around himself. Only when the farm is threatened by a raging flood are Isaiah and Arliss able to come to any sort of an understanding--but will it be permanent, or will it wash away once the waters have receded? Filmed in Alberta, the made-for-TV Heart Full of Rain first aired on October 5, 1997. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
