Love Child (1982 film)

Last updated
Love Child
Love Child FilmPoster.jpeg
Directed by Larry Peerce
Written byAnne Gerard
Katherine Specktor
Produced by Paul Maslansky
Starring Amy Madigan
Beau Bridges
Mackenzie Phillips
Albert Salmi
Joanna Merlin
Margaret Whitton
CinematographyJames Pergola
Edited byBob Wyman
Music by Charles Fox
Production
company
Distributed by Warner Bros.
Release date
  • October 15, 1982 (1982-10-15)
Running time
96 min.
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$3.3 million [1]
Box office$112,940

Love Child is a 1982 biopic based on the life of Terry Jean Moore. The film stars Amy Madigan, Beau Bridges, and Mackenzie Phillips. [2]

Contents

Plot

At 19, Terry Jean Moore was convicted of armed robbery. Soon after entering prison, she meets a guard named Jack Hansen. The two start an affair, which falls apart after Moore becomes pregnant with his child. As a prisoner, Terry then faces the harsh reality of losing her baby, but fights the system to keep her child.

Cast

Reception

Janet Maslin of The New York Times found the film a stretch: "Larry Peerce, who directed Love Child, tries for as much prison-movie stridency as the material will bear, but his portrait of Terry is so mild that the film's harsher touches seem gratuitous. The periodic cat-fights among the prisoners are certainly nasty, but they don't contribute to any overall continuity. ...Amy Madigan, a newcomer who plays Terry, makes her a raw-boned, angry tomboy at first; only gradually is the child-crying-out-for-help side of the character revealed. Miss Madigan seems potentially a tough, unusual actress, but Mr. Peerce keeps her at full throttle so much of the time that the performance loses its force. Her wildeyed, furious mannerisms, at first quite arresting, become familiar long before they should. Miss Madigan isn't alone in this; all of the film's characters have a tendency to come on too strong and then wear out their welcomes." [2]

Stanley Kauffmann , however, wrote of Madigan's performance: "...I'm saving the best for last... Madigan, freckled, plain but winning, is simultaneously proud and pathetic, intense and vulnerable. A familiar phrase in the literature about acting is the Illusion of the First Time. It's usually applied to dialogue that has been memorized and rehearsed; in Madigan's case, it can be applied to her entire, fundamentally familiar role. She brings us news, human news." [3] And in The Village Voice, Carrie Rickey wrote that "Love Child ... contains one gem: Amy Madigan's raw-nerve performance." [4]

Awards

Home media

Love Child was released to DVD by Warner Home Video on June 1, 2010 via the Warner Archive DVD-on-demand service available through Amazon.

Related Research Articles

<i>Fly Away Home</i> 1996 film by Carroll Ballard

Fly Away Home is a 1996 family adventure drama film directed by Carroll Ballard. The film stars Anna Paquin, Jeff Daniels, and Dana Delany. Fly Away Home was released on September 13, 1996, by Columbia Pictures.

<i>Time After Time</i> (1979 film) 1979 film by Nicholas Meyer

Time After Time is a 1979 American science fiction film written and directed by Nicholas Meyer and starring Malcolm McDowell, David Warner, and Mary Steenburgen. Filmed in Panavision, it was the directing debut of Meyer, whose screenplay is based on the premise from Karl Alexander's novel Time After Time and a story by Alexander and Steve Hayes. The film presents a story in which British author H. G. Wells uses his time machine to pursue Jack the Ripper into the 20th century.

<i>Night Shift</i> (1982 film) 1982 film by Ron Howard

Night Shift is a 1982 American comedy film directed by Ron Howard. The film centers on a timid night-shift morgue employee whose life is turned upside down by a new co-worker who fancies himself a free-spirited entrepreneur. It stars Howard's Happy Days co-star Henry Winkler along with Michael Keaton, in his first starring role, and Shelley Long. Also appearing are Richard Belzer and Clint Howard. There are brief scenes with a young Kevin Costner as "frat boy #1", Shannen Doherty as a Bluebird scout, Vincent Schiavelli as a man who delivers a sandwich, and Charles Fleischer as one of the jail prisoners.

<i>Micki & Maude</i> 1984 film by Blake Edwards

Micki & Maude is a 1984 American romantic comedy film directed by Blake Edwards and starring Dudley Moore. It co-stars Tony Award-winning actress and dancer Ann Reinking as Micki and Amy Irving as Maude.

Love child may refer to:

<i>Inside Moves</i> 1980 film by Richard Donner

Inside Moves is a 1980 American drama film directed by Richard Donner from a screenplay by Valerie Curtin and Barry Levinson, based on the novel of the same name by Todd Walton. The film stars John Savage, David Morse, Diana Scarwid, and Amy Wright. At the 53rd Academy Awards, Scarwid was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her performance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pamela Reed</span> American actress

Pamela Reed is an American actress. She is known for playing Arnold Schwarzenegger's hypoglycemic police partner in the 1990 film Kindergarten Cop and portraying the matriarch Gail Green in Jericho. She appeared as Marlene Griggs-Knope on the NBC sitcom Parks and Recreation. She is also well known as the exasperated wife in Bean.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amy Madigan</span> American actress (born 1950)

Amy Marie Madigan is an American actress. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the 1985 film Twice in a Lifetime. Her other film credits include Love Child (1982), Places in the Heart (1984), Field of Dreams (1989), Uncle Buck (1989), The Dark Half (1993), Pollock (2000), and Gone Baby Gone (2007).

<i>Why Would I Lie?</i> 1980 film directed by Larry Peerce

Why Would I Lie? is a 1980 American comedy-drama film about a compulsive liar named Cletus. The film, which was directed by Larry Peerce and shot in Spokane, Washington, is based on the novel The Fabricator by Hollis Hodges.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Victor Feldman</span> English jazz musician (1934–1987)

Victor Stanley Feldman was an English jazz musician who played mainly piano, vibraphone, and percussion. He began performing professionally during childhood, eventually earning acclaim in the UK jazz scene as an adult. Feldman emigrated to the United States in the mid-1950s, where he continued working in jazz and also as a session musician with a variety of pop and rock performers.

<i>Nuts</i> (1987 film) 1987 Martin Ritt film

Nuts is a 1987 American legal drama film directed by Martin Ritt, starring Barbra Streisand and Richard Dreyfuss. The screenplay by Tom Topor, Darryl Ponicsan and Alvin Sargent is based on Topor's 1979 play of the same title. It was both Karl Malden and Robert Webber's final feature film, and also included Leslie Nielsen's last non-comedic role.

<i>Bernardine</i> (film) 1957 film by Henry Levin

Bernardine is a 1957 American musical film directed by Henry Levin and starring Pat Boone, Terry Moore, Dean Jagger, Dick Sargent, and Janet Gaynor. The 1952 play upon which the movie is based was written by Mary Coyle Chase, the Denver playwright who also wrote the popular 1944 Broadway play Harvey. The title song, with words and music by Johnny Mercer, became a hit record for Boone.

Lawrence "Larry" Peerce is an American film and TV director whose work includes the theatrical feature Goodbye, Columbus (1969), the early rock and roll concert film The Big T.N.T. Show (1965), One Potato, Two Potato (1964), The Other Side of the Mountain (1975) and Two-Minute Warning (1976).

<i>Hard to Hold</i> (film) 1984 film by Larry Peerce

Hard to Hold is a 1984 musical drama film directed by Larry Peerce. It was meant as a starring vehicle for Rick Springfield, who had a solid television acting resume and a blossoming rock-pop career, but had yet to break out in feature films. It stars Springfield, Janet Eilber, and Patti Hansen. The film features many Springfield songs which are included on the soundtrack.

Witness for the Prosecution (<i>Hallmark Hall of Fame</i>) 1982 television film by Alan Gibson

Witness for the Prosecution is a 1982 American made-for-television drama film version of Agatha Christie's 1925 short story and 1953 play, and also a remake of the Billy Wilder film Witness for the Prosecution (1957).

Amy Holden Jones is an American screenwriter and film director best known for directing The Slumber Party Massacre and for creating the FOX medical drama The Resident. She has edited various films and later began directing and writing. She currently works in television.

<i>Worth Winning</i> 1989 film by Will Mackenzie

Worth Winning is a 1989 American romantic comedy film directed by Will Mackenzie and starring Mark Harmon, Madeleine Stowe and Lesley Ann Warren. It was written by Josann McGibbon and Sara Parriott, based on the novel by Dan Lewandowski.

<i>V.I. Warshawski</i> (film) 1991 American film

V.I. Warshawski is a 1991 American action comedy film directed by Jeff Kanew and starring Kathleen Turner, Jay O. Sanders, Charles Durning, Lynnie Godfrey, Anne Pitoniak, Geof Prysirr, Angela Goethals, Stephen Meadows, Frederick Coffin, Stephen Root and Wayne Knight.

<i>Frankie Starlight</i> 1995 film

Frankie Starlight is a 1995 drama–romantic war film directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg. The screenplay was written by Ronan O'Leary and Chet Raymo, based on the internationally best-selling novel The Dork of Cork by Raymo.

<i>And Then There Was One</i> (1994 film) American TV series or program

And Then There was One is a 1994 television film directed by David Jones and starring Amy Madigan and Dennis Boutsikaris. The film first aired on the Lifetime Television network on March 9, 1994.

References

  1. "AFI|Catalog".
  2. 1 2 Maslin, Janet (1982-10-15). "Love Child (1982)". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-10-25.
  3. New Republic, December 30, 1982
  4. The Village Voice, October 26, 1982