Theme Song: A bunch of violins.
Interesting Dated References: A kitchen is a dedicated room entered through a single door with a handle.
Social Context: As far as made-for-television movies go, this one aims high. It completely covers the shortcomings of the adoption/foster system from one individual’s childhood to early adulthood. Even when it’s full of 80s clunkiness, it still manages to be sincere.
Summary: A social worker starting her new job gets the rundown on a family of three siblings living at a group home. These three siblings have lived on their own for years after being abandoned by their alcoholic parents, who dragged them from town to town looking for work.
This is told in voice-over and flashback, and the conditions the kids are shown in make some scenes from Gummo look classy.
The kids are separated, and we flash forward nine years. The oldest child, Donald (Timothy Hutton), is now a high school student. Donald longs to reunite with his siblings, but every time he tries, Lillian, the same social worker who initially separated his family, tells him he needs to be 18.
After turning 18, he abandons his foster family, lives independently, and falls in love with Rose (Rosanna Arquette). Slowly, Lillian, the social worker, agrees to help him track down his siblings, and after a series of complications, they’re all reunited.
Worth Mentioning:
– The major reveal here is George Dzundza as Floyd Booth, Donald’s foster father for much of the movie. Holy shit, Dzundza oozes sincerity and passion in every moment. I’m totally involved in every scene he’s in, and now I’m endlessly searching YouTube for episodes of Open All Night, a 13-episode sitcom he was the lead in from 1981 that also happened to star Susan Tyrrell.
– I think we’re not supposed to notice that the social worker has had the same thermos at her desk for seven years. It is first seen when Donald visits at 17 and is seen again when he’s 25. I know things were built better then, but wow.
– It was filmed the same year as Ordinary People, for which Hutton won an Oscar.
– First appearance of Will Wheaton as a young Donald in flashback scenes.
Poster and Box Art: After Timothy Hutton won his Oscar for Ordinary People, this movie was primed for home video release. Unfortunately, the USA Video release doesn’t play into the film and is photo-heavy and unexciting.
