Zal became the youngest primetime Emmy-winner in history for her work. Amelia, played touchingly by Roxana Zal, has been becoming more withdrawn and her grades have been suffering in school. 'Something About Amelia,' the tastefully told story of what happens to a middle class family when the elder daughter reveals she has had an incestuous relationship with her father, was the No. SOMETHING ABOUT AMELIA (1984)"Counseling helps a family deal with the discovery that their child was sexually abused by the closest relative. The Emmy-winning teleplay by William Hanley fails, really, to give us a strong, sound foundation in which to build the central drama, while the young heroine (Emmy-winner Roxana Zal) internalizes her pain, becoming a somewhat somnambulant victim. TV-movie produced with a high level of filmmaking competency (if not craft). Roxana Zal is the daughter and gives an understated effective performance. I was a teen when this movie came out, and back then, especially with no internet and social media, we didnt hear or talk much about this type of thing. Something About Amelia: Directed by Randa Haines. Please click here to update your account with a username and password. It's an insult to child victims of abuse everywhere. A concluding note stresses that ''this story dramatized a therapeutic approach to the problem'' and that ''procedures vary from state to state.'' Just because you forgive doesn't mean that you forget, and for the troubled Roxana Zal, dealing with the issue of molestation by father Ted Danson doesn't mean that she'll want anything to do with him unless he can prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that he desperately wants to atone. The only one who would appreciate the approach of this film is the offenders. Not even of all the Emmy nominations! Something About Amelia (TV Movie 1984) cast and crew credits, including actors, actresses, directors, writers and more. It's the only glimmer in this production of focusing on the victim. Jump on his desk and swear him out and throw a fit because you should. By law Mrs. Hall must notify the police. Another family therapist tells Amelia she should forgive her father and "move on," so he can heal. The family at the center of this story, as written, isn't very believable, even with Emmy-nominated Glenn Close and Ted Danson cast as the parents; their stilted-bickering interactions both before and after Amelia's revelation aren't convincing. R36 Awww that's Audrey Griswald from European Vacation. [1] [2] It was the most-watched network television show in the United States for the week of January 9-15, 1984. That's a serial pedophile, not some troubled soul. More than 20 years later I happened to catch it on a rebroadcast and I was astonished how awful it was in every way. The standard image of a drunken brute in an impoverished background is a popular misconception. As Cait adjusts to her new surroundings and community, she discovers things that could affect their relationships. By what name was Something About Amelia (1984) officially released in India in English? **The film is under non-exclusive license from Artist View Entertainment Inc. All rights reserved**The Haunting Of Amelia (The Other Side Of The Tracks) - A. The interchange upsets Amelia to the point she starts spacing out in class and flunking tests. This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. Something About Amelia is a 1984 TV movie exploring the trauma to a family caused by incest. Posters are sourced from TMDb and Posteritati, and appear for you and visitors to your profile and content, depending on settings. Hello and thank you for being a DL contributor. AT first glance, Amelia seems to be a fairly ordinary 13 year old. The film starred Ted Danson, Glenn Close, Missy Francis and Roxana Zal. Danson is a loving father who took it way too far so obviously she isn't making up as revenge for strict discipline. The mom rails against her daughter for lying, her father plays dumb and her little sister, who hasn't yet become her father's victim, is baffled. In the 16-week-old television season, CBS now has won 12 weeks and ABC 4. Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for There's Something About Amelia at Amazon.com. First offered as an ABC Theatre presentation on January 9, 1984, Something About Amelia stars Ted Danson in an "against type" role to end them all. She ended up on a crazy ward and had a shoe lace. Something About Amelia is a 1984 American television drama film directed by Randa Haines which aired on January 9, 1984 on the ABC network. He declined, feeling that he was so strongly identified with the role of the morally upright father Charles Ingalls on. Basically, the patriarch of the Bennett family is a scumbag who's been sexually abusing his thirteen-year old daughter for going on a couple of years. 10 Video Games That Need a Live Action Adaptation, 2023's Most Anticipated Sequels, Prequels, and Spin-offs. An excellent film that handles a difficult topic well. [3] It could have been a career killer. With Ted Danson, Glenn Close, Olivia Cole, Roxana Zal. This aired during my prime TV-watching years as a kid and I think, maybe, I remember the cover of the TV Guide, but otherwise have absolutely no memory of this at all. They need to do a remake of this and have him end up locked up in prison with the other short-eyes and get out divorced and with his name on the sex-offenders list unable to get a job. In Fallen Angel you can watch her seduce Richard "Hold me , David" Masur. I was a kid at the time but I would read my Mom's People magazines. Amelia is convinced her mother won't believe her. It was a revelation to me. Something About Amelia is a 1984 television film about psychological trauma caused in a family by a father's molestation of his daughter. https://www.nytimes.com/1984/01/09/arts/tv-amelia-on-abc-a-movie-about-incest.html. Please complete the process by verifying your email address. The message also implies that the abuser's wife was to blame. TMDb 80s TV movies are a lot better than the crap that comes out on Hallmark. R7, no. 'Something About Amelia,' the made-for-TV movie about incest, carried Something About Amelia An ABC Theatre Presentation, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Something_About_Amelia&oldid=1137701217, This page was last edited on 6 February 2023, at 00:44. Roxana Zal gives a poignant performance as the victim. CBS' Tuesday night movie about drunk driving, 'License to Kill,' placed 16th with a 19.3 share, and Bob Hope's Christmas in Beirut special was 20th with an 18.1 rating. I remember how shocking and scandalous it seemed at the time for network TV. It might sound strange that I hadn't realised that what went on in my home was not normal, I assumed it was just how life was. Groundbreaking movie is still good today. Everything is revealed through school counselor Jane Kaczmarek who is given the heave ho by Close and decides to report it to the authorities. Really, if you watch this, you'll be yelling at the tv like I was. How did this win nominations and awards? Amelia's younger sister (Missy Francis) is angry with her for telling and disrupting their family. I saw that as a kid some Saturday afternoon and it was fucked up. It was a huge risk for Danson to play the role. The eldest child only unburdens the secret in order to reassure that nothing may happen to the younger child. Uma Thurman stars as an assassin who seeks bloody revenge on those who left her for dead on her wedding day. It wound up playing too exploitative. 3:19. The subject is incest, undoubtedly the biggest of social taboos. Amelia confides in her school guidance counselor, Mrs. Hall, that her father is forcing her to have sex with him. I remember that movie. He smokes too much, and she might occasionally drink more white wine than she should. What a good cast. I hate the ending. Mrs. Hall attempts to explain the law but Gail is too angry to listen. He is a bit of a brooder and his marriage to Gail has reached the point of increasing bickering and negligible sexual fulfillment. Gail is at first protective of her husband, but her position is painfully clear: She must protect her daughter from her own husband, who not only molested their daughter, but have betrayed her in the process. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. With an unstable family, Greg Laurie (Joel Courtney) heads to California, seeking to change his life. It felt incredibly dated (like all TV movies, I suppose). The other method is shown in this one-of-a-kind movie: Counseling for everyone in the family. Her father, Steven (Ted Danson) has been raping her. Beth: Missy Francis. "Something About Amelia" was the most-watched network television show in the United States for the week of January 915, 1984. Why the fuck try to paint a happy ending for the dad? As a 21 year old I thought that was so clever to paint him as bad early on by showing that he was a smoker. A ludicrous therapist tells the mom she should have sympathy for her husband's motives, which are valid. It's hilarious how poor G lost at the Emmys for this movie. The acting is fine, the cinematography and editing is handled compotently, and the film speeds along at a decent pace. According to executive producer Leonard Goldberg in an article with People magazine: "ABC stipulated that father and daughter were not to be shown in bed together and further that there be no scenes showing the father going into the girls bedroom and closing the door behind him, which would be even worse.". Lauded with award nominations. for your pointless bitchery needs. Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series, Outstanding Writing in a Limited Series or a Special, Best Performance by an Actor in a Limited Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television, In a Controversial TV Movie, Teen Actress Roxana Zal Tackles a Taboo SubjectIncest. Third-ranked NBC continued to perform well in the ratings on Tuesday night with its popular ''A' Team' and the new series 'Riptide' both winning in their time slots. Now it's not a bad movie in the sense of cinematography or acting, more of how its handling the subject matter. The sessions sometimes get a bit too comfortably clinical but ''Something About Amelia'' manages to stick close to the incredibly painful experiences of each member of the Bennett family. She talks nauseatingly about how she's so jealous her husband "cheated" with their underage daughter. See production, box office & company info. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. It should be remade as "Something About Ivanka". Co-directors Jon Erwin and Brent McCorkle tell the story of a '70s revival movement that brought together countless Christians in Southern California. In this instance, William Hanley's screenplay focuses on a suburban middle-class family called the Bennetts. There are 2 main ways to handle a case of incest. Glenn Close, as the mother, is very similar to the character of Beth Jarrett from "Ordinary People", maybe more openly loving but there is a sense of distance in her towards her older daughter as if she somehow knew, blocked it out and immediately denied it. Release Calendar Top 250 Movies Most Popular Movies Browse Movies by Genre Top Box Office Showtimes & Tickets Movie News India Movie Spotlight. Michael Landon was the first choice for the role of the father but turned it down because of his morally upright reputation. TV Shows. click ACCEPT. Film data from TMDb. Something about Amelia (TV) - Film Complet VF En Ligne HD 720p cindie2567 9:53 Michael Halphie Presents Something Funny Happened on The Way to State of Wonder 1983 Part III Michael Halphie 10:00 STEVE HARVEY something special 1983 BY DJ CRYSTAL 38 jonathan cochois 2:57 Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983) m0vietrailerpark 4:04 But as new details emerge, the family is shaken to its core. How did the TV movie starring Ted Danson and Glenn Close that basically said incest could be fixed with family therapy be made and win so many awards? The plot opens with pretty, smart thirteen year old Amelia growing up in upper middle class suburbia with her parents and younger sister. [quote] Fallen Angel was another creepy as fuck TV movie. At one point, he says, "I can't believe I didn't know anything about you going to a dance with another boy." Innocent college student Dakota Johnson begins a relationship with troubled businessman Jamie Dornan. It's insulting and gross, almost entirely focused on the "poor" mom and dad who treat it all like an inconvenience that calls for a few couples retreats and the child who has been scarred for life should get over it because they don't want to acknowledge the true horror of what's been done to her. In all this, Amelia is practically forgotten. Please consider upgrading to a Pro accountfor less than a couple bucks a month, youll get cool additional features like all-time and annual stats pages (example), the ability to select (and filter by) your favorite streaming services, and no ads! So glad mom and dad are trying to work on their marriage by outlining reasons to justify the crimes that one of them committed on their daughter and the other one feels resentment for. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of serviceapply. Is there anyone who raises hell better than Glenn Close? He seems to try and strong arm her into spending time alone with him at home and when she refuses, he says he'll get her younger sister to hang out with him, instead. I have always remembered Ted Dansen putting a new carton of cigarettes on top of the refrigerator. They recruit a working-class white man to front their ambitious real estate and banking operations. Plus, why does no one mention that this wasn't some temporary insanity on the dad's part, when Amelia started avoiding him, he began making plans to do the same to his younger daughter. 2023 TV GUIDE, A FANDOM COMPANY. A school counselor asks her what's wrong and Amelia blurts out the truth - her father has been sexually assaulting her by coercion and manipulation for years, and now she's afraid since she actively started trying to avoid being alone with him, he's moved on to start grooming her beloved little sister. Shame and fear have kept Amelia Bennett silent about the sexual molestation she's been suffering at the hands of her father, Steven. Steven is a white-collar worker and, in just about every respect, a decent man. We are changing the login scheme for contributors for simpler login and to better support using multiple devices. Original, more exploitive title was. One is to place the offender in jail, and let him rot there for a while. Yet, as the title of tonight's ABC Theater presentation at 9 warns, there is ''Something About Amelia.'' Their advice to the daughter is stop wearing skimpy clothes. Counseling helps family deal with the discovery that their child was sexually abused by the closest relative. Letterboxd Limited. Anyone can read what you share. Randa Haines ("Children of a Lesser God," "Wrestling Ernest Hemingway") sensitively directs a television movie of very high caliber. Counseling helps family deal with the discovery that their child was sexually abused by the closest relative. First in disbelief then anger. This movie received major publicity the week it aired. Armstrong, Lois & Eric Estrin (16 January 1984). Set in rural Ireland in 1981, the story follows Cait (Catherine Clinch), the quiet and shy nine-year-old daughter of abusive and impoverished parents who have many children. Controversial, highly publicized drama about incest, spotlighted at the time as TV's "last taboo," with Ted Danson -- as far from his "Cheers" character of Sam Malone as imaginable -- playing the father accused by his teenage daughter of having sex with her. Shame and fear have kept Amelia Bennett silent about the sexual molestation she has been suffering at the hands of her father, Steven. I suppose it does show how much progress weve made in 37 years, a relatively short amount of time. Painful subject is sensitively and realistically handled, Brave attempt at a controversial subject, but an impenetrable glaze of phoniness remains, When BIG pain hits get some counseling. An intelligent treatment of incest in a middle-class household. ", O'Connor also added that the film "manages to stick close to the incredibly painful experiences of each member of the Bennett family. The role ultimately went to Ted Danson. Ted Danson learns the best meal is home cooked with his very own hot piece of tail a couple doors down the hall, thirteen year-old daughter Amelia, played by Roxana Zal. One of the shittiest things you can experience as a teen is to hear someone who is being abused, report it to your folks, get some bullshit status report, have everyone grow silent, and thennothing. April 28, 2017 2:43 AM. The ending made me feel very sick. Amelia blames herself and worries that Steven will start molesting her younger sister Beth (Melissa Francis). The casting and sets create an atmosphere to let the story unfold in a seemingly average American home, which adds both to the realism and power of this movie. A producer of soap operas once observed that only the hint of an incestuous relationship in a plot line was enough to trigger mounds of protest mail. It's quite horrific when he admits it. Something About Amelia was notorious in its day, but its eight Emmy nominations (three wins) and four Golden Globe nods (two wins) have long since been forgotten, as has the film itself. Counseling helps family deal with the discovery that their child was sexually abused by the closest relative. Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. Mr. [Ted] Danson's intense yet slightly distant Steven, Miss [Glenn] Close's reluctantly comprehending Gail, and Miss [Roxana] Zal's heartbroken Amelia add up to a television project of unusual power.". One of the few overly contrived notes in the film takes place when Steven watches an old Shirley Temple movie on his motel television set. Filmpedia, the Films Wiki is a FANDOM Movies Community. The effects are devastating, from the feelings of anger and betrayal from the mother, Gail(Glenn Close) , to the denials from the very sister she was trying to protect. Something About Amelia Jump to Edit Summaries Counseling helps family deal with the discovery that their child was sexually abused by the closest relative. Learn more. From that moment on, the family's facade of normality begins disintegrating. Confronted with this horrifying piece of news, Steven's wife, Gail, refuses to believe it is true, and he professes his innocence. https://www.truetvmovies.net/store/c2/Drama.html For more Movies Opening the door unfortunately for 15 years of hysterical fraus screaming "I was molested!" Buy About Something About Amelia Counseling helps family deal with the discovery that their child was sexually abused by the closest relative. ", Leave it to Lifetime to make an unrealistic made-for-television movie that's totally disrespectful towards survivors of incest and molestation!Something About Amelia isn't a bad film in the technical sense. Become a contributor - post when you want with no ads. Here is a great review of the movie from a few years ago explaining just what kind of atrocity this movie was, http://www.scaredstiffreviews.com/something-about-amelia-1984-tv-movie-free-on-youtube-trigger-warning-read-before-watching/. Probably won awards for being groundbreaking or whatever. Alfred Schneider on working with Producer Leonard Goldberg on his TV movie Something About Amelia, which dealt with incest. Please click here to get full access and no ads for $1.99 or less per month. Ted Danson Glenn Close Olivia Cole Roxana Zal Lane Smith Jane Kaczmarek Melissa Francis Kevin Conway Matthew Faison James Carrington Mark Withers Michael Bond Ed Call Robert Hitt Keri Montgomery Patrick O'Brien, Leonard Goldberg Deborah Stoff Michele Rappaport, 100mins Playboy had a publication called Sugar 'N' Spice which featured nude pics of little girls including 10 year old Brooke Shields. Shame and fear have kept Amelia Bennett silent about the sexual molestation she's been suffering at the hands of her father, Steven. Muhammad Noman. An intelligent treatment of incest in a middle-class household. It's not until she notices that her sister is about to become his next victim that Amelia lets out her secret. The person who commits incest, it is noted, could be anyone. Yes indeed, we too use "cookies." I caught this made-for-TV movie one afternoon many years ago, and I was stunned by its delicacy and intelligence of an extremely candid subject matter: incest. "Something About Amelia" revolves around a typical, middle-class family named the Bennetts. Dealy: Lane Smith. The film stars Ted Danson, Glenn Close, Roxana Zal, and Missy Francis. Wow, so glad the story calls for telling a victimized child to forgive and forget so her assailant can get back to his old life. Take a look at It won a 31.6 rating and 46 share, surpassed this TV season only by the ABC nuclear war movie, 'The Day After,' which won a 46.0 rating and 62 share on Nov. 20. But as Amelia starts to believe that Steven might harm her younger sibling in similar ways, she unburdens herself of her awful secret. What does her mother do when Amelia and the counselor inform her? Anticipating the arrival of another baby, they temporarily send Cait to live with her distant middle-aged relatives, Eibhln (Carrie Crowley) and Sen (Andrew Bennett). R20 A movie with that ending wouldn't be made today. Basically, the patriarch of the Bennett family is a scumbag who's been sexually abusing . She acts circles around everyone else, though Ted Danson and Roxana Zal are good in their own rights. I remember them saying Roxanna Zal was going to be the next "big thing". Glenn Close as his wife reacts realistically. Letterboxd is an independent service created by a small team, and we rely mostly on the support of our members to maintain our site and apps. Incredibly Powerful Film (Possible Spoilers). Gail is furious and turns on both Mrs. Hall and Amelia, accusing her daughter of making the story up. at 1:08 the movie is wrong. Mrs. Hall: Jane Kaczmarek. Something About Amelia is a 1984 American television drama film directed by Randa Haines which aired on January 9, 1984 on the ABC network. As a 10 year old gayling, I remember being extremely jealous of Amelia. Hm, was it made by Woody Allen or Roman Polanski? Finally, when Steven talks to Amelia during a therapy session, you see the conflict within Amelia: this is her father, the authority figure of the home who has betrayed her in the most vile way. Ted . Something About Amelia Movies Something About Amelia (1984) PG On Demand Something About Amelia is not available to stream with a subscription service. This was before the internet, there was much less access to information, and kids were not warned about abuse in school. 14 last week. The Streamable uses the TMDb API but is not endorsed or certified by TMDb. This is a television message picture done right. The casting and sets create an atmosphere to let the story unfold in a seemingly average American home, which adds both to the realism and power of this movie. Right out of the gate things seem odd, her father (played by Ted Danson) seems like a jealous boyfriend when he hears she wants to go to a casual dance at school with a boy in her class. . Allegations that rock the heart of the family to its very core. Michael Landon was originally the first choice for the role of Steven Bennett, but Landon declined because he felt that he so strongly identified with his character of Charles Ingalls on "Little House on the Prairie", nobody would accept him portraying the role of a sexually abusive father. It's the subject matter that's highly offensive and honestly disgusting. The counselor calls the police, who remove Amelia to a foster facility as an emergency measure, yet tell the dad they won't arrest him. The cops tell them it's not worth breaking up a family over this. Some piece of dialog? Obviously aware of the subject's built-in sensationalism, the producers of ''Something About Amelia'' have taken pains to be ''responsible'' in their treatment and, to a remarkable degree, they have succeeded. I swear, it was as if a pedophile wrote the script in a desperate attempt to get sympathy for other pedophiles. I don't think so! Something About Amelia is a 1984 television film about psychological trauma caused in a family by a father's molestation of his daughter. 1984. I can handle the truth. Ted Danson, Glenn Close. On top of everything else, once the charge has been officially filed, the authorities are able to move in and break up the family. More at Add it to your Watchlist to receive updates and availability notifications. This would make a great feel-good jukebox musical. When the mom finally starts to realize her daughter is likely telling the truth, does she kick her husband out and press charges? [4], The movie was also nominated for four Golden Globes and won two, for Best Miniseries or Television Film and for Best Performance by an Actor in a Limited Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television (Ted Danson).[5]. And some authorities argue that, because of the ostracism connected with the act, many instances go unreported. She sends Amelia to her room. I saw it for the first time just last night, and was surprised to see Danson in the role. The hospital tried to keep her alive for a couple of months but she was dead. Very Good Acting - Should be available on VHS video. Press J to jump to the feed. Her motives are both common and appallingly selfish: "She didn't wish to marry him, but she wished to keep him. This was pre #metoo Hollywood this is a prime example of why the changes started with the #metoo movement needs to continue. The plot follows thirteen-year-old Amelia (Roxana Zal) has been keeping a secret since age eleven. When a counselor asks her if anything is the matter, the distressed girl. Well-acted for an 80s TV movie, but insanely dated and offensive. But as new details emerge, the family is shaken to its core. Fallen Angel was another creepy as fuck TV movie. The wife attacked her husband because she caught him fucking their daughter.