Reviews (1)

Packed with Emotion
An amazingly powerful drama based on the Hugh Whitmore play, in turn based on the true story of the Soviet spies, Peter and Helen Kroger. This is a low-budget, low-key movie that builds an emotional intensity that is almost unbearable. The cast is superb, without exception, and Anthony Page's direction is unerring.

A neglected masterpiece that all drama lovers should see. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Education Through Disaster
In 1986, a nuclear disaster rocked the Soviet Union. "Final Warning" is a chronological look at the cause and effects of that tragedy. It focuses primarily on the doctors who rushed to battle the effects of the radiation. Smartly directed, "Final Warning" is a sad and educational depiction of history. ... Read more

Reviews (19)

Finally on DVD!
I've been waiting for The Missiles of October to come out on DVD since I first got my DVD player over a year ago. My VHS copy of Missiles, which is over 15 years old, has degraded greatly in picture and sound quality, so I was hoping that the DVD copy would be an improvement. I was not disappointed. It has an amazingly crisp picture and the sound is excellent.

When the movie Thirteen Days came out I was anxious to compare it to Missiles. Thirteen Days was a good film, but I still prefer The Missiles of October. All the performances are excellent, but William Devane, Martin Sheen and Howard DaSilva top the list. I was barely six years old when the actual event occurred back in 1962 so I don't remember the incident from then. However, I did see the movie when it originally aired in 1974 and was greatly impacted by it then. They did an excellent job in weaving the actual documentary footage together with their dramatization. Watching the thirteen day countdown to possible worldwide nuclear destruction is compelling watching. I highly recommend this movie to anyone with a taste for history, suspense, excellent performances or as an example of how good television can be when given the chance.

Superb historical drama. Worthwhile and powerful.
There is very little to criticize about this dramatization of the Cuban Missile Crisis. The film mainly focuses on the deliberations on the American side, i.e. President John F. Kennedy and his Ex-Comm group ("Executive Committee of the National Security Council") as they try to force the Soviets to remove the missiles from Cuba while avoiding a nuclear conflict. The film successfully conveys the fears and difficulties faced by JFK and his team, their thoughts and deliberations. The script is fairly close to the actual facts as they are understood today. This is a wonderfully educational production that any parent would do well to watch with his or her children.

Devane is pretty good as JFK. I thought that Martin Sheen absolutely nailed Bobby Kennedy. The supporting actors were uniformly excellent. Good casting throughout.

One of the excellent things about the production is the occasional interjection of period news bulletins of nuclear tests, the escalating conflict, etc. These added a wonderful sense of authenticity even as they entertained.

A few quibbles, all minor. I thought that the movie somewhat (not excessively) idolized the Kennedys. It was a bit much when one member of Ex Comm commented that "Bobby [Kennedy] I confess your moral arguments [against invading Cuba] never occurred to me..." Come on, of course they did. The record shows that Ex Comm debated these issues extensively. Nor was Bobby Kennedy against invading Cuba--the record is pretty clear that both Kennedys had been pushing for removing Castro by various means before the crisis began. Bobby Kennedy's comment that bombing the missiles out of Cuba would be like a "reverse Pearl Harbor" was disdained as amateurish by most of Ex Comm. The movie barely acknowledges that. [Dean Acheson characterizes that analogy to JFK at one point as "false and pejorative..."]. The movie portrays the US Navy as lusting after conflict in a manner I thought was unseemly--this was my only major criticism of the film. ["Thirteen Days" shares this flaw.] Hollywood often cannot pass up a chance to take a swipe at the military.

This is an incredibly worthwhile production that I make a point of watching every year or so. A must for the thoughtful viewer's DVD collection.

"MISSILES" IS A BARNBURNER
"The Missiles of October" starred William DeVane as JFK and Martin Sheen as RFK. Both of these actors portrayed the Kennedys better than any actors ever have. This is a patriotic film that depicts how close we came to nuclear combat toe to toe with the Russkies, and how the Kennedys saw us through the crisis. This may have been the beginning of Martin Sheen's political awakening.

STEVEN TRAVERS
AUTHOR OF "BARRY BONDS: BASEBALL'S SUPERMAN"
STWRITES@AOL.COM

BEFORE the true story of the Missilie of October...
With the publication of "The Kennedy Tapes" (May and Zelikow 1997) and, more recently, "Averting the Final Failure" (Sheldon Stern 2004), we now know what exactly was said by whom and when in the White House during these heady 13 days known universally as "The Cuban Missile Crisis". What has never really been conveyed (in print or otherwise) is the true "feeling" of what these leaders went through...I'd submit that that the true value of this video is the portrayal of the immediacy and emotion invoked by all participants during the Crisis. This film may lack some historical accuracy, but it more than makes up for it as an emotional target for this period and remains, to this day, an important and believable reference for this seminal period of the Cold War.

William Devane, Martin Sheen and William DaSalva portray a version of the Crisis that is at once believable and accurate as far as the emotional element is concerned, and convey an amazingly accurate "emotional history". This, coupled with the known version of the Crisis in 1974, gives a view of the Kennedy White House inner-workings that has remained somewhat the "standard" for understanding the strategy of the "Best and Brightest" who made up the Kennedy Cabinet. Character development is based on RFK's version of the Crisis in his post-humous work "Thirteen Days", and we know now that this was somewhat contrived...only to the extent that some things were said or believed that were overly amplified for emphasis. The true feeling of these exalted gentlemen has never been questioned and I think that the prospective viewer will be impressed with the detail and emotional content of this work.

So enjoy this movie and take from it the exacting and crucial motivations of a Government under siege and you'll be impressed (as I've continued to be for these 30 years) that "The Missiles of October" portrays the Kennedy government accurately as it struggled through the tortuous 13 days of the Crisis and leaves as it's legacy the true emotions of those heady days. Highly recommended!!

Great Movie
This movie is a very good and historically accurate portrayal of the Cuban Missle Crisis. If you liked "13 Days" then you will like this one, in some ways I like this one over 13 Days. It shows what is happening in both the Kremlin as well as the White House. Missiles is very well acted by a great cast. I would recomend this to any history buff, or anyone simply looking for an entertaining drama. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Review of The Nightmare Years
I have been a fan of Mr. William Shirer for many years and have read about his correspondence during the Nazi regime in Germany. This video compliments highly his views and the condition of the people very well during those years. Being a newspaperman he is critical and imaginative comparing Germany before and after the Nazi's.

Ronald R. Harris, PhD

Captivating
I rented this movie several years ago and loved it! It's based on a true life story of a top American journalist stationed in Berlin during Hitler's rise to power. He is on to Hitler and the rest of the Nazis very early and tries to warn people in the U.S. When war does eventually break out, the reporter is a thorn in Hitler's side. The Nazis chase he and his wife around Europe, but he keeps escaping their grasp. I can't tell you more without spoiling the movie, but I've been trying to buy a copy of this movie for years. It lasts over 3 hours, but is so exciting that it doesn't seem that long. Enjoy! ... Read more

Reviews (8)

Raquel Welch Rules!!!
Raquel Welch rules a a beautiful voluptuous barmaid dealing with small minds in a small town.If you liked Harper Valley PTA,you'll love this movie!!

Raquel Welch Rules!!
Raquel Welch rules playing a beautiful voluptuous barmaid dealing with the hypocracies in a small town.If you likeed Harper Valley PTA,then you'll love this movie!!!

Raquel Welch Rules!!
Raquel Welch rules as a beautiful voluptuous barmaid dealing with small minds in a small town.It's a must see!!

Not to be taken very seriously....
TV Movies are like soap operas and reality based shows, they exist as pure/shock value entertainment only. They do not useually take themselves very seriously and even when they purport to do something on a serious subject, the resulting film is often miscast and has very shoty production values. This movie was one in a whole series of very bad TV movies that the networks (both cable and commerical networks) continue to do to this day. The casting of Welsh is, well it does not really work.

She says these very corny lines that make you want to laugh when you hear it. The courtroom scenes are a joke, and the subject matter here would have been better handeled had different film makers (and more serious ones at that) done it. But they did not, and as a result this movie is a largely forgetable mess.

Sexy Raquel Welch Rules!!
Sexy Raquel Welch rules in this controversial small town story!!She's still got it!!! ... Read more

Reviews (4)

arguably better than the original
Underappreciated as it is, this remake of the Hitchcock's 1938 classic truly embodies my idea of how a well-crafted and entertaining movie should be. The story is able to make flesh creep and the screenplay even manages to improve on the original plotline by taking some bold departures but sticking all the way to the master's spirit and style. (E.g. the very effective motif of the Hitler-moustache - and the whole idea of transferring the story to nazi Germany.) The settings - real train, real land -, the camera work, the music are all great, adding to the thrill of the ride. The cast is a jackpot, Cybill Sheperd throwing out sparks. All in all: this is a highly ingenious remake that makes the old original seem pale and puerile by comparison. I'm sure Hitchcock himself wouldn't had done it better, if he'd considered a self-remake (as it was the case with The Man Who Knew Too Much). I want this on DVD!!!

La chanson dans le film
I really love this film and I'm going to do an exam at Sorbonne University about that film....I would like to write more, but my english is the worst in the world..
Enjoy the film!

Enjoyable :-) :-) :-) :-) :-)
09/19/01 - I saw this movie (1979) version for the first time this morning on Showtime. I really enjoyed it. Cybil Shepard reminded me of Carole Lombard. She was great. The whole cast was wonderful to watch. I want to add it to my viewing (fun category) collection. Sit back and enjoy. Every movie is not there to go down in history ... some are there just for fun viewing. I give this movie five stars for fun viewing.

Cybill does it AGAIN!!!
Running alongside a train in a slinky white satin dress Cybill Shepherd makes your blood boil! This remake of a classic is better than the original! Cybil shows she can actand is not just a pretty face! Rarely shown on tv if you can get a copy of the tape Sit back and enjoy!! ... Read more

Reviews (2)

HMMMMM?
This is the greatest film of all time. I saw this fil,m for the first time last year and i have seen it several times since. I feel that The children play a pivotal role in the affectivness of the emmotional tension in the room. The performances of Gregory Hall and Just Cirdler were fantastic.

Peter Cant rules!!!!!!!!
Although the content of the film leaves room for improvement, I have watched this movie so many times and i think that peter cant is the greatest actor in it. You are my number one fan, peter! ... Read more

Description

Presents the life of Princess Grace through rare photos and home movies of Grace as a young girl, plus several interviews with co-stars, agents and friends. Included in the program is extensive coverage of the wedding between Grace and Prince Rainier. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

I LOVE GRACE KELLY, but not this film
i am a true GRACE KELLY fan. i have seen all her films and i almost have every biography so i feel confident enough to say that this film did not do justice to the life Grace lived. Now i didnt expect the film to tackle every element of her life or career but this movie still left out a lot. it is known, no matter what biography you read, that Grace was quite promiscuous in her early years in new york. And she had several affairs with her leading men(such as clark gable, one which the film shows, ray milland, william holden, and even bing crosby fell in love with her) but the film fails to even touch on these relationships. this movie tried to make her appear to be so innocent and angelic. i dont want to see her reputation dragged through the mud but i do want to see the truth. there is a way to tackle those moments in her life without resorting to trashy direction, but i guess that would require good direction and a good screenplay. the movie also failed to show how famous she became within the five year period in which she became a star(1952-56). the film 'fourteen hours' which was really her first film debut is never even mentioned. and the movie never payed any notice to the fixation that alfred hitchcock had for her, which i think would have been an interesting development to see. the academy award scene was just awful. there was no tension(everyone wanted judy garland to win the award), no excitement and no joy in her winning. when i read GRACE by robert lacey i actually felt excited for her and nervous and almost shed a tear when she won and thats just a book. the wedding to prince rainer was rushed and the ending was weak. i didnt like the film ending at the wedding. i was just really disappointed with this film. i expected so much more and i was let down a great deal. but cheryl ladd did an ok job as grace. THE THREE STARS ARE FOR GRACE, NOT THE FILM.

Enjoyable but formulaic
I caught this on TV the other night while suffering from a bout of insomnia. It didn't put me to sleep, which is a good thing, and made for a pleasant diversion. Cheryl Ladd is lovely and luminous as Grace Kelly, but is given little to chew on acting-wise. That's true of the movie as a whole: it looks great (costumes, make-up, and hair are marvelously done) but skates along the surface. We get the usual tough-as-nails but heart-of-gold dad, who is distant emotionally, and the string of relationships Ladd goes through before meeting Mr. Right. There's no meat here, but at least the picture doesn't dredge up the worst possible details about Princess Grace and parade them about -- there's a degree of respect for the subject. It seems to follow the standard TV bio-pic formula; it's also shot with that gauzy filtered-lens look common to made-for-TV movies of the early 1980's. Enjoyable if you're in the mood. ... Read more

Reviews (8)

Raquel Welch Rules!!!
Raquel Welch rules a a beautiful voluptuous barmaid dealing with small minds in a small town.If you liked Harper Valley PTA,you'll love this movie!!

Raquel Welch Rules!!
Raquel Welch rules playing a beautiful voluptuous barmaid dealing with the hypocracies in a small town.If you likeed Harper Valley PTA,then you'll love this movie!!!

Raquel Welch Rules!!
Raquel Welch rules as a beautiful voluptuous barmaid dealing with small minds in a small town.It's a must see!!

Not to be taken very seriously....
TV Movies are like soap operas and reality based shows, they exist as pure/shock value entertainment only. They do not useually take themselves very seriously and even when they purport to do something on a serious subject, the resulting film is often miscast and has very shoty production values. This movie was one in a whole series of very bad TV movies that the networks (both cable and commerical networks) continue to do to this day. The casting of Welsh is, well it does not really work.

She says these very corny lines that make you want to laugh when you hear it. The courtroom scenes are a joke, and the subject matter here would have been better handeled had different film makers (and more serious ones at that) done it. But they did not, and as a result this movie is a largely forgetable mess.

Sexy Raquel Welch Rules!!
Sexy Raquel Welch rules in this controversial small town story!!She's still got it!!! ... Read more

Reviews (8)

Raquel Welch Rules!!!
Raquel Welch rules a a beautiful voluptuous barmaid dealing with small minds in a small town.If you liked Harper Valley PTA,you'll love this movie!!

Raquel Welch Rules!!
Raquel Welch rules playing a beautiful voluptuous barmaid dealing with the hypocracies in a small town.If you likeed Harper Valley PTA,then you'll love this movie!!!

Raquel Welch Rules!!
Raquel Welch rules as a beautiful voluptuous barmaid dealing with small minds in a small town.It's a must see!!

Not to be taken very seriously....
TV Movies are like soap operas and reality based shows, they exist as pure/shock value entertainment only. They do not useually take themselves very seriously and even when they purport to do something on a serious subject, the resulting film is often miscast and has very shoty production values. This movie was one in a whole series of very bad TV movies that the networks (both cable and commerical networks) continue to do to this day. The casting of Welsh is, well it does not really work.

She says these very corny lines that make you want to laugh when you hear it. The courtroom scenes are a joke, and the subject matter here would have been better handeled had different film makers (and more serious ones at that) done it. But they did not, and as a result this movie is a largely forgetable mess.

Sexy Raquel Welch Rules!!
Sexy Raquel Welch rules in this controversial small town story!!She's still got it!!! ... Read more

Reviews (2)

I LOVE GRACE KELLY, but not this film
i am a true GRACE KELLY fan. i have seen all her films and i almost have every biography so i feel confident enough to say that this film did not do justice to the life Grace lived. Now i didnt expect the film to tackle every element of her life or career but this movie still left out a lot. it is known, no matter what biography you read, that Grace was quite promiscuous in her early years in new york. And she had several affairs with her leading men(such as clark gable, one which the film shows, ray milland, william holden, and even bing crosby fell in love with her) but the film fails to even touch on these relationships. this movie tried to make her appear to be so innocent and angelic. i dont want to see her reputation dragged through the mud but i do want to see the truth. there is a way to tackle those moments in her life without resorting to trashy direction, but i guess that would require good direction and a good screenplay. the movie also failed to show how famous she became within the five year period in which she became a star(1952-56). the film 'fourteen hours' which was really her first film debut is never even mentioned. and the movie never payed any notice to the fixation that alfred hitchcock had for her, which i think would have been an interesting development to see. the academy award scene was just awful. there was no tension(everyone wanted judy garland to win the award), no excitement and no joy in her winning. when i read GRACE by robert lacey i actually felt excited for her and nervous and almost shed a tear when she won and thats just a book. the wedding to prince rainer was rushed and the ending was weak. i didnt like the film ending at the wedding. i was just really disappointed with this film. i expected so much more and i was let down a great deal. but cheryl ladd did an ok job as grace. THE THREE STARS ARE FOR GRACE, NOT THE FILM.

Enjoyable but formulaic
I caught this on TV the other night while suffering from a bout of insomnia. It didn't put me to sleep, which is a good thing, and made for a pleasant diversion. Cheryl Ladd is lovely and luminous as Grace Kelly, but is given little to chew on acting-wise. That's true of the movie as a whole: it looks great (costumes, make-up, and hair are marvelously done) but skates along the surface. We get the usual tough-as-nails but heart-of-gold dad, who is distant emotionally, and the string of relationships Ladd goes through before meeting Mr. Right. There's no meat here, but at least the picture doesn't dredge up the worst possible details about Princess Grace and parade them about -- there's a degree of respect for the subject. It seems to follow the standard TV bio-pic formula; it's also shot with that gauzy filtered-lens look common to made-for-TV movies of the early 1980's. Enjoyable if you're in the mood. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

NICELY DONE WW2 SPY DRAMA!!
JOAN COLLINS STARS AS A RUSSIAN SINGER IN A FRENCH CITY DURING WW2 WHO IS ALSO AN ALLIED SPY WHO SEEKS REVENGE AGAINST THE NAZIS FOR THE MURDER OF HER HUSBAND.IT'S A NICELY DONE SPY DRAMA!! ... Read more

Reviews (1)

NICELY DONE WW2 SPY DRAMA!!
JOAN COLLINS STARS AS A RUSSIAN SINGER IN A FRENCH CITY DURING WW2 WHO IS ALSO AN ALLIED SPY WHO SEEKS REVENGE AGAINST THE NAZIS FOR THE MURDER OF HER HUSBAND.IT'S A NICELY DONE SPY DRAMA!! ... Read more

Reviews (8)

Raquel Welch Rules!!!
Raquel Welch rules a a beautiful voluptuous barmaid dealing with small minds in a small town.If you liked Harper Valley PTA,you'll love this movie!!

Raquel Welch Rules!!
Raquel Welch rules playing a beautiful voluptuous barmaid dealing with the hypocracies in a small town.If you likeed Harper Valley PTA,then you'll love this movie!!!

Raquel Welch Rules!!
Raquel Welch rules as a beautiful voluptuous barmaid dealing with small minds in a small town.It's a must see!!

Not to be taken very seriously....
TV Movies are like soap operas and reality based shows, they exist as pure/shock value entertainment only. They do not useually take themselves very seriously and even when they purport to do something on a serious subject, the resulting film is often miscast and has very shoty production values. This movie was one in a whole series of very bad TV movies that the networks (both cable and commerical networks) continue to do to this day. The casting of Welsh is, well it does not really work.

She says these very corny lines that make you want to laugh when you hear it. The courtroom scenes are a joke, and the subject matter here would have been better handeled had different film makers (and more serious ones at that) done it. But they did not, and as a result this movie is a largely forgetable mess.

Sexy Raquel Welch Rules!!
Sexy Raquel Welch rules in this controversial small town story!!She's still got it!!! ... Read more

Reviews (8)

Raquel Welch Rules!!!
Raquel Welch rules a a beautiful voluptuous barmaid dealing with small minds in a small town.If you liked Harper Valley PTA,you'll love this movie!!

Raquel Welch Rules!!
Raquel Welch rules playing a beautiful voluptuous barmaid dealing with the hypocracies in a small town.If you likeed Harper Valley PTA,then you'll love this movie!!!

Raquel Welch Rules!!
Raquel Welch rules as a beautiful voluptuous barmaid dealing with small minds in a small town.It's a must see!!

Not to be taken very seriously....
TV Movies are like soap operas and reality based shows, they exist as pure/shock value entertainment only. They do not useually take themselves very seriously and even when they purport to do something on a serious subject, the resulting film is often miscast and has very shoty production values. This movie was one in a whole series of very bad TV movies that the networks (both cable and commerical networks) continue to do to this day. The casting of Welsh is, well it does not really work.

She says these very corny lines that make you want to laugh when you hear it. The courtroom scenes are a joke, and the subject matter here would have been better handeled had different film makers (and more serious ones at that) done it. But they did not, and as a result this movie is a largely forgetable mess.

Sexy Raquel Welch Rules!!
Sexy Raquel Welch rules in this controversial small town story!!She's still got it!!! ... Read more

Reviews (6)

to all our BURTON fans:
Even as a 7 year old kid whenever I 'heard' my father play a Richard Burton film I knew it was him. His voice always got me before his acting did.
I remember seeing 'Absolution' in my early teen years. I wanna see it again to understand what I could not. But more, why it had got me (?) Was it the suspense with a dark gothic look? Today it stands to be a cult movie, so to speak, (that goes for the movie '1984' too). I believe being told 'Absolution' was banned upon theatrical release in the UK. If it is not true it did do the trick for a young teen kid curious not only to see a R rated movie but a banned one too! But I do know as a suspense, this was good! Richard did give a powerful performance. Then again if you are a Richard Burton fan you smile to be proud of him, even though the Academy awards treated him fine but the Oscars never. So much for the movie 'Becket' - what a great film but the Oscars wished not to go to the right hands.
I can hear Peter O'Toole agree with me.

A thriller made five years before Burton's death
Absolution, an English psychological thriller with a strong anti-religion subtext (a genre almost single handedly created by the film's screenwriter Anthony Shaffer with his far superior film The Whicker Man), was one of Richard Burton's final films. After decades of heavy drinking and Liz Taylor, Burton, in his declining years, tended to show every sign of his lifestyle. This was often to the detriment of the film's he was involved in and Absolution is no different. In this film, Burton plays a rather niave, obviously repressed priest whose latent feelings for one of his students (Burton's character teaches Latin at a Catholic school) leaves him open to psychological manipulation. However, one look at Burton's tired, blood-shot eyes and his ravaged face and its hard to buy Burton in the role. Which is unfortunate because after years of contributing little to his performances beyond his famous voice, Burton actually does a pretty good job. With the exception of a few over-the-top scenes at the end, Burton brings a subtle sense of anguish to a character that, otherwise, would have been totally unsympathetic. In the film's best scenes, Burton suggests a great humanity underneath the priest's chilly surface and he makes the priest's sexual and later psychological torments quite believable.

The film's twisty plot is pure Shaffer -- a rigid, conservative system is thrown into chaos by the arrival of a liberating, almost pagan force (which, in a typical Shaffer twist, turns out to be as false as the establishment it destroys) and a great deal of senseless violence ensues. In Absolution, that establishment is the Catholic Boys School where Richard Burton teaches and dotes on one student (Dominic Guard) to an uncomfortable degree. That pagan force shows up as a bearded, Scottish drifter and theif (comedian Billy Connolly) who camps out in the countryside outside the school and ends up befriending Guard and leading the youth away from Burton and religion in general. (One of the film's flaws is that Guard's drastic transformation from good Catholic boy to Pagan prankster comes far too quickly.) Eventually, under Connolly's suggestion, Guard starts to tell Burton elaborate stories of sin during confession -- tormenting the priest with information that, as a priest, Burton is not allowed to share with anyone else. Eventually, what started as a joke spirals out of control into a vortex of murder, madness, and a surprise ending that comes out of nowhere but remains a lot of fun nonetheless.

Poorly directed by TV vet Anthony Page, the film's main appeal is to be found in its script and cast. Though not up to Shaffer's best work, Absolution -- especially early on -- displays a good deal of his stringent wit and he does a good enough job of keeping the story moving quickly enough that its not obvious just how ludicrous much of it is. He's helped by strong performances from his principles. Billy Connolly is likeable in a performance that'll surprise Americans who know him only as Howard Hesseman's replacement on Head of the Class. Andrew Kier, the final Prof. Quartermass, is a welcome presence as the school's head master while, as the two most distinctive students, Dominic Guard and David Bradley give nicely nuanced turns that alternate between youthful innocence and enigmatic slyness. Both Guard and Bradley were former child stars and both pretty much vanished from the screen following their performances in this film.

In the end, however, this is Burton's film and, even if miscast, he still gives an admirable performance that provides a much needed anchor to Shaffer's plot. Its a reminder -- after years of appearing in such claptrap as The Klansman and the Exorcist sequel, that Burton truly could be a good actor. This performance and his final turn in 1984 both suggest that, in his later years, Burton was finally ready to start acting again. Its difficult not to regret that he didn't get more chances to remind us of just how good he could be.

1 star due to very poor quality of amazon video
Amazon has duplicated this film on slow speed using very little tape. The result being the quality is so poor, one can barely watch it.

It is disgraceful that Amazon would do something like this. It is almost like a boot-legged video.

Don't BUY this video from Amazon.com

Green peas make green pasta
Not a bad video but has two awful performances with one terrible music score. After watching this I immediately put the tape in the toilet and tried to flush it down but it clogged it up and then it overflowed. That tape has been giving me problems ever since I began using it. Otherwise it is an okay piece not worth $1.50.

Burton's last starring role
A good film, not quite able to break out of TV limitations thanks to a mainly TV director and a script not up to par with Schaffer's prior Sleuth. But the performances and characterisations are excellent, and enough to grip a viewer thinking of England on a rainy afternoon. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

I LOVE GRACE KELLY, but not this film
i am a true GRACE KELLY fan. i have seen all her films and i almost have every biography so i feel confident enough to say that this film did not do justice to the life Grace lived. Now i didnt expect the film to tackle every element of her life or career but this movie still left out a lot. it is known, no matter what biography you read, that Grace was quite promiscuous in her early years in new york. And she had several affairs with her leading men(such as clark gable, one which the film shows, ray milland, william holden, and even bing crosby fell in love with her) but the film fails to even touch on these relationships. this movie tried to make her appear to be so innocent and angelic. i dont want to see her reputation dragged through the mud but i do want to see the truth. there is a way to tackle those moments in her life without resorting to trashy direction, but i guess that would require good direction and a good screenplay. the movie also failed to show how famous she became within the five year period in which she became a star(1952-56). the film 'fourteen hours' which was really her first film debut is never even mentioned. and the movie never payed any notice to the fixation that alfred hitchcock had for her, which i think would have been an interesting development to see. the academy award scene was just awful. there was no tension(everyone wanted judy garland to win the award), no excitement and no joy in her winning. when i read GRACE by robert lacey i actually felt excited for her and nervous and almost shed a tear when she won and thats just a book. the wedding to prince rainer was rushed and the ending was weak. i didnt like the film ending at the wedding. i was just really disappointed with this film. i expected so much more and i was let down a great deal. but cheryl ladd did an ok job as grace. THE THREE STARS ARE FOR GRACE, NOT THE FILM.

Enjoyable but formulaic
I caught this on TV the other night while suffering from a bout of insomnia. It didn't put me to sleep, which is a good thing, and made for a pleasant diversion. Cheryl Ladd is lovely and luminous as Grace Kelly, but is given little to chew on acting-wise. That's true of the movie as a whole: it looks great (costumes, make-up, and hair are marvelously done) but skates along the surface. We get the usual tough-as-nails but heart-of-gold dad, who is distant emotionally, and the string of relationships Ladd goes through before meeting Mr. Right. There's no meat here, but at least the picture doesn't dredge up the worst possible details about Princess Grace and parade them about -- there's a degree of respect for the subject. It seems to follow the standard TV bio-pic formula; it's also shot with that gauzy filtered-lens look common to made-for-TV movies of the early 1980's. Enjoyable if you're in the mood. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

to all our BURTON fans:
Even as a 7 year old kid whenever I 'heard' my father play a Richard Burton film I knew it was him. His voice always got me before his acting did.
I remember seeing 'Absolution' in my early teen years. I wanna see it again to understand what I could not. But more, why it had got me (?) Was it the suspense with a dark gothic look? Today it stands to be a cult movie, so to speak, (that goes for the movie '1984' too). I believe being told 'Absolution' was banned upon theatrical release in the UK. If it is not true it did do the trick for a young teen kid curious not only to see a R rated movie but a banned one too! But I do know as a suspense, this was good! Richard did give a powerful performance. Then again if you are a Richard Burton fan you smile to be proud of him, even though the Academy awards treated him fine but the Oscars never. So much for the movie 'Becket' - what a great film but the Oscars wished not to go to the right hands.
I can hear Peter O'Toole agree with me.

A thriller made five years before Burton's death
Absolution, an English psychological thriller with a strong anti-religion subtext (a genre almost single handedly created by the film's screenwriter Anthony Shaffer with his far superior film The Whicker Man), was one of Richard Burton's final films. After decades of heavy drinking and Liz Taylor, Burton, in his declining years, tended to show every sign of his lifestyle. This was often to the detriment of the film's he was involved in and Absolution is no different. In this film, Burton plays a rather niave, obviously repressed priest whose latent feelings for one of his students (Burton's character teaches Latin at a Catholic school) leaves him open to psychological manipulation. However, one look at Burton's tired, blood-shot eyes and his ravaged face and its hard to buy Burton in the role. Which is unfortunate because after years of contributing little to his performances beyond his famous voice, Burton actually does a pretty good job. With the exception of a few over-the-top scenes at the end, Burton brings a subtle sense of anguish to a character that, otherwise, would have been totally unsympathetic. In the film's best scenes, Burton suggests a great humanity underneath the priest's chilly surface and he makes the priest's sexual and later psychological torments quite believable.

The film's twisty plot is pure Shaffer -- a rigid, conservative system is thrown into chaos by the arrival of a liberating, almost pagan force (which, in a typical Shaffer twist, turns out to be as false as the establishment it destroys) and a great deal of senseless violence ensues. In Absolution, that establishment is the Catholic Boys School where Richard Burton teaches and dotes on one student (Dominic Guard) to an uncomfortable degree. That pagan force shows up as a bearded, Scottish drifter and theif (comedian Billy Connolly) who camps out in the countryside outside the school and ends up befriending Guard and leading the youth away from Burton and religion in general. (One of the film's flaws is that Guard's drastic transformation from good Catholic boy to Pagan prankster comes far too quickly.) Eventually, under Connolly's suggestion, Guard starts to tell Burton elaborate stories of sin during confession -- tormenting the priest with information that, as a priest, Burton is not allowed to share with anyone else. Eventually, what started as a joke spirals out of control into a vortex of murder, madness, and a surprise ending that comes out of nowhere but remains a lot of fun nonetheless.

Poorly directed by TV vet Anthony Page, the film's main appeal is to be found in its script and cast. Though not up to Shaffer's best work, Absolution -- especially early on -- displays a good deal of his stringent wit and he does a good enough job of keeping the story moving quickly enough that its not obvious just how ludicrous much of it is. He's helped by strong performances from his principles. Billy Connolly is likeable in a performance that'll surprise Americans who know him only as Howard Hesseman's replacement on Head of the Class. Andrew Kier, the final Prof. Quartermass, is a welcome presence as the school's head master while, as the two most distinctive students, Dominic Guard and David Bradley give nicely nuanced turns that alternate between youthful innocence and enigmatic slyness. Both Guard and Bradley were former child stars and both pretty much vanished from the screen following their performances in this film.

In the end, however, this is Burton's film and, even if miscast, he still gives an admirable performance that provides a much needed anchor to Shaffer's plot. Its a reminder -- after years of appearing in such claptrap as The Klansman and the Exorcist sequel, that Burton truly could be a good actor. This performance and his final turn in 1984 both suggest that, in his later years, Burton was finally ready to start acting again. Its difficult not to regret that he didn't get more chances to remind us of just how good he could be.

1 star due to very poor quality of amazon video
Amazon has duplicated this film on slow speed using very little tape. The result being the quality is so poor, one can barely watch it.

It is disgraceful that Amazon would do something like this. It is almost like a boot-legged video.

Don't BUY this video from Amazon.com

Green peas make green pasta
Not a bad video but has two awful performances with one terrible music score. After watching this I immediately put the tape in the toilet and tried to flush it down but it clogged it up and then it overflowed. That tape has been giving me problems ever since I began using it. Otherwise it is an okay piece not worth $1.50.

Burton's last starring role
A good film, not quite able to break out of TV limitations thanks to a mainly TV director and a script not up to par with Schaffer's prior Sleuth. But the performances and characterisations are excellent, and enough to grip a viewer thinking of England on a rainy afternoon. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

to all our BURTON fans:
Even as a 7 year old kid whenever I 'heard' my father play a Richard Burton film I knew it was him. His voice always got me before his acting did.
I remember seeing 'Absolution' in my early teen years. I wanna see it again to understand what I could not. But more, why it had got me (?) Was it the suspense with a dark gothic look? Today it stands to be a cult movie, so to speak, (that goes for the movie '1984' too). I believe being told 'Absolution' was banned upon theatrical release in the UK. If it is not true it did do the trick for a young teen kid curious not only to see a R rated movie but a banned one too! But I do know as a suspense, this was good! Richard did give a powerful performance. Then again if you are a Richard Burton fan you smile to be proud of him, even though the Academy awards treated him fine but the Oscars never. So much for the movie 'Becket' - what a great film but the Oscars wished not to go to the right hands.
I can hear Peter O'Toole agree with me.

A thriller made five years before Burton's death
Absolution, an English psychological thriller with a strong anti-religion subtext (a genre almost single handedly created by the film's screenwriter Anthony Shaffer with his far superior film The Whicker Man), was one of Richard Burton's final films. After decades of heavy drinking and Liz Taylor, Burton, in his declining years, tended to show every sign of his lifestyle. This was often to the detriment of the film's he was involved in and Absolution is no different. In this film, Burton plays a rather niave, obviously repressed priest whose latent feelings for one of his students (Burton's character teaches Latin at a Catholic school) leaves him open to psychological manipulation. However, one look at Burton's tired, blood-shot eyes and his ravaged face and its hard to buy Burton in the role. Which is unfortunate because after years of contributing little to his performances beyond his famous voice, Burton actually does a pretty good job. With the exception of a few over-the-top scenes at the end, Burton brings a subtle sense of anguish to a character that, otherwise, would have been totally unsympathetic. In the film's best scenes, Burton suggests a great humanity underneath the priest's chilly surface and he makes the priest's sexual and later psychological torments quite believable.

The film's twisty plot is pure Shaffer -- a rigid, conservative system is thrown into chaos by the arrival of a liberating, almost pagan force (which, in a typical Shaffer twist, turns out to be as false as the establishment it destroys) and a great deal of senseless violence ensues. In Absolution, that establishment is the Catholic Boys School where Richard Burton teaches and dotes on one student (Dominic Guard) to an uncomfortable degree. That pagan force shows up as a bearded, Scottish drifter and theif (comedian Billy Connolly) who camps out in the countryside outside the school and ends up befriending Guard and leading the youth away from Burton and religion in general. (One of the film's flaws is that Guard's drastic transformation from good Catholic boy to Pagan prankster comes far too quickly.) Eventually, under Connolly's suggestion, Guard starts to tell Burton elaborate stories of sin during confession -- tormenting the priest with information that, as a priest, Burton is not allowed to share with anyone else. Eventually, what started as a joke spirals out of control into a vortex of murder, madness, and a surprise ending that comes out of nowhere but remains a lot of fun nonetheless.

Poorly directed by TV vet Anthony Page, the film's main appeal is to be found in its script and cast. Though not up to Shaffer's best work, Absolution -- especially early on -- displays a good deal of his stringent wit and he does a good enough job of keeping the story moving quickly enough that its not obvious just how ludicrous much of it is. He's helped by strong performances from his principles. Billy Connolly is likeable in a performance that'll surprise Americans who know him only as Howard Hesseman's replacement on Head of the Class. Andrew Kier, the final Prof. Quartermass, is a welcome presence as the school's head master while, as the two most distinctive students, Dominic Guard and David Bradley give nicely nuanced turns that alternate between youthful innocence and enigmatic slyness. Both Guard and Bradley were former child stars and both pretty much vanished from the screen following their performances in this film.

In the end, however, this is Burton's film and, even if miscast, he still gives an admirable performance that provides a much needed anchor to Shaffer's plot. Its a reminder -- after years of appearing in such claptrap as The Klansman and the Exorcist sequel, that Burton truly could be a good actor. This performance and his final turn in 1984 both suggest that, in his later years, Burton was finally ready to start acting again. Its difficult not to regret that he didn't get more chances to remind us of just how good he could be.

1 star due to very poor quality of amazon video
Amazon has duplicated this film on slow speed using very little tape. The result being the quality is so poor, one can barely watch it.

It is disgraceful that Amazon would do something like this. It is almost like a boot-legged video.

Don't BUY this video from Amazon.com

Green peas make green pasta
Not a bad video but has two awful performances with one terrible music score. After watching this I immediately put the tape in the toilet and tried to flush it down but it clogged it up and then it overflowed. That tape has been giving me problems ever since I began using it. Otherwise it is an okay piece not worth $1.50.

Burton's last starring role
A good film, not quite able to break out of TV limitations thanks to a mainly TV director and a script not up to par with Schaffer's prior Sleuth. But the performances and characterisations are excellent, and enough to grip a viewer thinking of England on a rainy afternoon. ... Read more