Bridge to Silence (1989) TV Movie

Bridge To Silence Collapses Under Weight Of Formulaic Plot
April 07, 1989|By Clifford Terry, Television critic.

Bridge to Silence, which airs at 8 p.m. Sunday on CBS-Ch. 2, is still another made-for-TV movie that starts out with a domestic scene so idyllic - Mom, Dad and 5-year-old daughter merrily singing at the outset of a long automobile trip that the viewer knows that tragedy is certain to strike.

Sure enough, a drunk driver crashes into the car, killing the father - a teacher at Washington`s Gallaudet University - and seriously injuring his wife, Peggy Lawrence (Marlee Matlin), a hearing-impaired actress.

As she slowly recuperates, and her parents take care of her child (Allison Silva), old wounds are opened between Peggy's manipulative, guilt-ridden mother, Marge (Lee Remick), who has never been able to fully deal with her daughter's having lost her hearing through spinal meningitis years before.

When the auto accident victim becomes increasingly despondent, a longtime friend and stage director (Michael O'Keefe of "The Great Santini") convinces her to return to Michigan's Theater of the Deaf as a form of therapy. The production just happens to be "The Glass Menagerie" (which, in case you haven't picked up on it, is also about fragility).

Meanwhile, Marge is convinced that Peggy has become emotionally unstable and initiates proceedings to obtain legal guardianship of the 5-year-old - an action vehemently opposed by her usually mild-mannered husband (Josef Sommer). Inevitably, as Peggy works through her grief, she and her mother confront one another in a climactic scene that leads to several tidying-up epiphanies. "You never accepted me as I am," says the daughter. "I learned to speak for you, but you never learned to sign for me. I'm deaf, but you're the one that can't hear." After which Marge confesses, "I could never love you, because I hated me."

Despite the fine cast, headed by Matlin - the Academy Award winner (Children of a Lesser God) who appears here in her first speaking role- "Bridge to Silence" is disappointingly formulaic and derivative, blending favorite movie-of-the-week elements: personal trauma and parent-child friction.

Karen Arthur directed, from a script by Louise Burns-Bisogno.

Bridge to Silence (1989) TV Movie
Cast: Lee Remick, Marlee Matlin, Michael O'Keefe

Ike: The War Years (1980) TV Movie

Five Emmy nominations were bestowed upon the TV miniseries Ike, which first aired May 3, 4, and 6, 1979. Later, these three two-hour installments were boiled down to two and retitled Ike: The War Years. Robert Duvall stars as General Dwight D. Eisenhower, with Lee Remick co-starring as Kay Summersby, his official driver, confidante, and (it has been said) lover. Part Two of The War Years finds Eisenhower, now the supreme commander of the Allied Expeditionary Forces, dealing with political tangles involving Winston Churchill (Wesley Pitney) and General DeGaulle (Vernon Dobtcheff). The film concludes with Eisenhower's supervision of D-Day and the Battle of the Bulge. Two directors were credited for Ike: The War Years Boris Sagal handled the scenes filmed in England, while Melville Shavelson helmed the scenes set in the US and North Africa. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Ike: The War Years (1980) TV Movie

Cast: Joe Altieri, Dana Andrews, J.D. Cannon, Robert Duvall, Paul Gleason, Laurence Luckinbill, Darren McGavin, Lee Remick

Nutcracker: Money, Madness & Murder (1987) TV Movie

The 1986-87 TV season was graced by two "dueling" biopics of Frances Bradshaw, the socialite convicted of coercing her own son into murdering Frances' millionaire father Frank. The first was the four-hour At Mother's Request, starring Stefanie Powers as Frances. The second, and superior adaptation was the three-part miniseries Nutcracker: Money, Madness and Murder, adapted by playwright William Hanley from Shana Alexander's bestselling book. With an extra two hours' playing time at its disposal, Nutcracker was able to explore the personal history of Frances Bradshaw, from her privileged entry into Bryn Mawr in 1958, through her gradual, twenty-year descent into homicidal insanity--culminating in the murder of her father in 1978. The miniseries was structured in flashback form, continually cutting back to the trial of Frances and her son (Tate Donovan). At the risk of offending the many fans of Stefanie Powers, it must be noted that the performance of Nutcracker star Lee Remick is so powerfully persuasive that it's virtually impossible to envision anyone else in the role of Frances Bradshaw. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Nutcracker: Money, Madness & Murder (1987) TV Movie
Cast: David Ackroyd, G.D. Spradlin, Inga Swenson, John Glover, Jonathan Frakes, Lee Remick, Linda Kelsey, Tate Donovan, Tony Musante

Mistral's Daughter (1984) TV mini-series

Beautiful and naïve Maggy Lunel arrives in Paris completely broke.

Mistral's Daughter (1984) TV mini-series

Cast: Cotter Smith, Ian Richardson, Lee Remick, Robert Urich, Stacey Keach, Stefanie Powers, Timothy Dalton

Toughlove (1985) TV Movie

The Charters family falls into despair over their drug-addicted son Gary. They discuss his problems through the "Toughlove" program in their search for answers.






Toughlove (1985) TV Movie
Cast: Beth Miller, Bruce Dern, Dana Elcar, Dedee Pfeiffer, Eric Schiff, Jason Patric, Lee Remick, Piper Laurie

Torn Between Two Lovers (1979) TV Movie

Diane is happily married. But, one day while travelling she meets a dashing architect.

Torn Between Two Lovers (1979) TV Movie
Cast: Andrea Martin, Derrick Jones, George Peppard, Jess Osuna, Joseph Bologna, Lee Remick, Mary Long, Molly Cheek, Murphy Cross

Of Pure Blood (1986) TV Movie

Four decades have passed since the end of WW II, and a woman returns to Germany, her birthplace, to investigate the circumstances surrounding her son's death.

Of Pure Blood (1986) TV Movie

Cast: Carolyn Nelson, Catherine McGoohan, Gottfried John, Katharina Böhm, Lee Remick, Patrick McGoohan, Richard Münch, Shane Rimmer

Good Sport, A (1984) TV Movie

Advertised as a "return" to the spirit of the old Spencer Tracy/Katharine Hepburn films (not all of which were that spirited - try watching "Keeper of the Flame" sometime), the made-for-TV "Good Sport" is essentially a reworking of 1941's "Woman of the Year". Ralph Waite plays a gritty sports columnist who enters reluctantly into the world of "haute courte" fashions to do a story on an ex-athlete turned clothes designer. He meets Lee Remick, an elegant fashion designer, and it's oil-and-water time for the next twenty minutes or so. Waite and Remick become friends, vowing to keep things strictly platonic. It doesn't take a PhD to ascertain what will happen next. For another slant on the premise of "A Good Sport", catch the superior 1957 Gregory Peck/Lauren Bacall vehicle "Designing Woman". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A Good Sport (1984) TV Movie

Cast: Antonio Fargas, Joe Morton, Jon Polito, Lee Remick, Ralph Waite, Tracy Pollan

Girl Named Sooner, A (1975) TV Movie

Stars newcomer Susan Deer in the title role. Sooner is an illiterate 8-year-old, growing up in a backwater Indiana community. Lee Remick co-stars as Elizabeth McHenry, Sooner's new foster parent, who hopes to properly educate the girl--and in so doing, give purpose to her own turbulent life. Dominating the proceedings is Cloris Leachman as Old Mam, a toothless, whisky-swigging crone who has raised Sooner from birth, and who has no patience with booklearnin'. First telecast June 18, 1975, "A Girl Named Sooner" was based on the novel by Suzanne Clauser. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A Girl Named Sooner (1975) TV Movie

Cast: Anne Francis, Cloris Leachman, Don Murray, Lee Remick, Michael Gross, Richard Crenna, Susan Deer