Reviews

I first saw this on TV in the late 1970s. My family and I were curious as to how Marlo Thomas and troupe would handle a genuine film classic. The title of my summary says it all: "Well intended but misfired." All that is different is the gender reversal. Otherwise, it's the same basic story as the movie...same plot line, same characters, same situations, etc. It's hard to knock a nice lady like Marlo Thomas who was so good as "That Girl" and as a feminist actress and activist or a lady like Cloris Leachman who just keeps getting better with age but the story just seems to work better with James Stewart, Donna Reed, etc. ...the reworking just doesn't seem to cut it. Leonard Maltin gave this a lukewarm review in his book of movie reviews saying it was "earnestly made." I would agree saying (again) it was well-intended but ultimately misfired. Everybody seemed to want to do well with the material but it just didn't come through.

I finally got a chance to see an episode of this show all the way through last night (everything seems to happen in my apartment and my roommate wants to keep it that way). All in all, it's a good show with great characters and great story lines. All the classic high school types are here (music geeks, jocks, supportive and non-supportive parents, supportive and non-supportive teachers, big and small kids, straight and gay kids, etc., etc.). This hits home for me because I was part of a musical act in the mid 1960s with my sisters (older and younger) and my twin brother. We performed in the South Bay area of Los Angeles and did moderately well until a school administrator made us stop (they said something about child labor laws, but I think somebody got jealous of what we were doing). From there we wanted to get into school music programs (choir and glee clubs) but were told we couldn't because we were professional musicians and couldn't become amateurs again! There were several child actors in the various school systems and they couldn't take part in the school drama programs (Butch Patrick of The Munsters went to my junior and senior high school and couldn't take part in drama class...just one example). My siblings and I were then told we couldn't continue our music careers because of some legal technicality...??!! We tried later in the 1970s but we had lost some of the fire we had in the 1960s. Back to the series...it is very true to life, very accurate, well written and certainly well played. The way Fox is presenting it (as a lead-in to American Idol) is to be commended...they can show the reruns during the summer leading into Season Two. Again, this is a very good series even if it did bring up some memories of "a dream deferred."

I saw this movie when it first came out in 1995 with my twin brother. We do a lot of things together-we're twins. He was having some gender identity issues at the time (he is straight but was having a recurring series of dreams about becoming a woman) so we went to see this movie as a way of seeing how drag queens/crossdressers/etc. function. The movie was interesting from beginning to end. Seeing the three principal characters getting dressed and going to the contest was fun in itself. Seeing how they landed in a rural Nebraska town and stirring up the local womenfolk was even more interesting. I don't want to spoil any plot developments but I can say that my/our father would've been upset over not ENOUGH pepper being in the sauce! The film comes to a nice resolution and conclusion and we both came out of the theater with some idea of how he wanted to deal with the issue. He figured if all that work went into being a drag queen/transvestite he should just work through it and out of it (actually, when we got home he tried on some of my clothes, shoes, wig, etc. and he looked absolutely ridiculous...he hasn't done this since...I hope!). Back to the movie...it was a lot of fun and, at the same time, thought provoking. There are men that do this for an alternative lifestyle and they're comfortable with it. The aftermath-that the Academy Awards ignored Patrick Swayze for Best Actor, John Leguizamo for Best Supporting Actor, any of the ensemble cast for Best Supporting Actor/Actress or any of the technical people (Makeup, Costume Design, Visual Effects, etc.) shows that the Academy Awards often look the other way (at least Swayze got a Golden Globe nomination). Again, this movie was very thought provoking as well as being entertaining. I give a nine.

I saw this movie when it first aired in October 1975. NBC ran a viewer advisory that it was very intense and may affect sensitive viewers. Yes, indeed! Whitman was one demented person and the casting of All-American Disney actor Kurt Russell to play him was incredible...it showed Russell could do heavy stuff. The casting of journeyman Latino actor Richard Yniguez to play Officer Martinez was also great. The supporting cast (Ned Beatty, John Forsythe, Pernell Roberts, etc.) was also excellent. It was interesting to see Mr. Forsythe as a detective investigating the gun stores-a far cry from Bentley Gregg or Blake Carrington. This was also Pernell Roberts' first time on TV in a while playing Martinez' sergeant. Part of the intensity of the movie came from the fact that Whitman shot at anyone or anything that moved and any attempt to take him out (shooting from a plane or citizens shooting with their hunting rifles) only agitated him. The bookstore clerk guiding Martinez and his fellow officers into the tower showed true heroism. I was in college in California when this movie first aired and I mentioned to my father that my college's library had an observation/study deck that somebody could use for such an act! In fact the college security department worked out a plan in case of somebody doing this. Thank goodness nobody tried this. Back to the movie...it was presented from Martinez' point of view and some have said there is a Latino bias, but I say it is a very intense depiction of true heroism. 43 years have passed since that tragic day. One would hope it would never happen again anywhere, but it does (Fort Hood, San Ysidro, Orlando, to name a few).

I watched the first episode (as I do with all new shows) to test it. All I can say is that another famous TV nurse with a military background...Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan...wouldn't't have taken five minutes of any of this. Doctors who show no professional respect to a nurse; drunken parents who can't show any sympathy for their daughter's problems; marital/relationship issues; etc....Margaret would've either freaked out or hit somebody just because it felt good to hit someone! I honestly had enough of the oily bearded doctor and the drunken parents after one episode. The younger nurse who couldn't turn off the life support and/or froze in an emergency will be OK after a few episodes. Veronica needs to channel the spirit of Margaret and tell some people to simply take a hike!

I saw this movie in 1977 when I was only 23. I sat through it because it was part of a double feature and I really wanted to see the other movie. This movie has every sex joke in the book (or so it seems) and at the risk of being blackballed as a spoiler I won't tell you any...you'll have to find the movie and see it. Once seen, the finale is not to be forgotten. Keefe Brasselle was a journeyman song and dance man as well as an entertainment executive and novelist. This is not for every taste but, if seen, you'll be repeating every joke in the movie to your friends and coworkers. Another commentator was right...Uschi Digard is certainly a screen presence to be remembered. The sequel "Can I Do it Till I Need Glasses?" got some publicity when it featured Robin Williams for all of about five minutes (if that long). The two films should be seen together for full impact.

I saw this movie a few months ago on a local TV station on the late, late show. It looked good and I stayed with it to the end. It's a good chick flick with enough to hold anybody's interest. The fact that Zoe's apartment becomes a prison and she makes do with what she has gets interesting and intriguing. Zoe's relationship with the man who keeps attaching her monitoring device was also quite interesting. That was several months ago. The other night, the same station rebroadcast the same movie on the late, late show and what I saw came across as a totally different movie--different plot twists, etc. from what I saw several months ago. Perhaps an alternate version exists...please check.

This was a classic chick flick! Four great TV actresses playing the bridesmaids and the entire movie focused on them rather than the bride. Which leads me to ask, "Who was the bride??!!" We never saw her face, only the back of her head at the airport, the wedding rehearsal and the wedding. There was no credit given anywhere (not even in IMDb.com!) as to who played her. I can only guess it was one of the producers, the writer, ??!! The movie is also great for seeing, as mentioned above, four great TV actresses (Shelley Hack, Stephanie Faracy, Brooke Adams and Sela Ward) having some great girl fun while waiting for the wedding. The sight of them coming down the aisle with the different bridesmaid dresses is worth waiting almost two hours. But still, who was the bride??!!

I was five years old when this movie came out and was intrigued more by the special effects (Jerry floating in air and walking up the wall and onto the ceiling). It was also of not that this was his last film for many years where he had someone else direct the film (the veteran Norman Taurog). From this Jerry went to make his kind of movies. My parents were big Lewis fans and I am to this day. This may not be up there with "The Nutty Professor" but it's close. This film also had a good supporting cast and had a "stagy" look befitting its origins as a play. I mentioned being intrigued by the FX (floating and walking on walls). Being a typical kid I thought I could walk on walls and quickly found out I couldn't. This is definitely something that shouldn't be tried at home-only in the movies.

I remember watching this show in the late seventies and thinking "McLean Stevenson left MASH for this?!" But the show began to grow on me and it was fun watching a single dad raise two teenaged daughters. One episode that hit home with me was when Ruthie decided to rechristen herself as Ruth. That's my name (officially Ruth Ann, but call me Ruthie) and I can relate to being Ruth (serious, professional, etc.) as well as Ruthie (cute, informal, etc.)-it's been going on for almost 55 years. Granted, this show will never equal MASH, but McLean Stevenson could be knock-down funny when he wanted to and it was sad to see him go through so many projects (the reason he left MASH was to possibly host the Tonight Show) and it was sad to see him die without equaling his work on MASH. The show got better when Krista Errickson replaced Donna Wilkes as older daughter Diane and the other cast (Joanna Gleason, Ruth Brown, Meadowlark Lemon, etc.) did very well. This was a show that should've gotten a better chance. And that's the Ruth(ie).