Why so much hype?

Thanks for the memories!

An Exercise In Nonsense

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Melanie Daniel (Glynnis O'Connor) is poor, naive, illiterate and mother to 6 year old son Tyler in rural Jasper, Arkansas. Her husband Carl (Don Johnson) returns after two years away in the Army. She wakes up and Carl is gone with Tyler. He leaves her a note which she can't read. He's taken Tyler to California. She rides the bus to find old friend Ronda who has settled in L.A. Ronda is staying at a luxury house in the Hollywood hills with musician Rick (Burton Cummings). Walter (Paul Sorvino) is Rick's lawyer.The movie is uneven. Sometimes it is slower than molasses. Then there are moments of emotional intensity. Her bus friend discovering her illiteracy is a wonderful scene. I wish that gal could stay in the movie. Some of it seems to be shot on the real streets and has that immediacy. O'Connor does a very nice performance and holds the screen. Cummings is surprisingly good as an actor. He's doing more than simply singing here. The movie is generally shot poorly but O'Connor is fascinating enough to keep watching. The story doesn't get the flow that well. It's a lot of starting and stopping.

The movie storyline was original and the music, thank-you Burton Cummings of The Guess Who, was great! He really surprised me as both a comedic and dramatic actor. The rest of the cast for this low budget film endevor came off as quite good. A sleeper movie during the early 80's, it did quite well on cable. Hard to find on tape or DVD but shouldn't be too hard to find on e-bay. There were many toe-tapping moments during the film, but what really came as a shocker and quite a pleasant surprise was the fact that Miss O'Connor exposed her bare breast for the first time in front of the camera. NICE! This occurred within the first 15-20 minutes of the opening before she left home to move to California with a friend.

Melanie has got to be one of the most Heart Warming stories...Burton Cummings plays the main part and what a Great Job he has done..Burton is one of the most talented singers of all times...The older he gets the more talent comes from his Golden Voice...God Bless You Burton Cummings ....I have seen him in concert over the years and he will always be Number One...I do hope that some of you get to watch the Move Melanie....Or buy it from ebay...Don Johnson, Paul Sorvina and Glynnis O'Conner...This is a poignant and Heart Warming adventure of Love And Courage...This was Burton Cummings only movie that he made and did One Great job as an Actor

This is a sweet little movie. I first saw it on HBO in the eighties and loved it. I subsequently rented it a few times but over the years it got harder and harder to find. I tried to buy it but when I checked it was on a moratorium and not being printed anymore. I finally got a VHS copy for myself thru Ebay. If you get a chance I highly recommend this movie. Glynnis O'Connor plays a young illiterate mother who desperately loves her young son. Don Johnson plays her husband. Paul Sorvino is good in his role, but I loved Burton Cummings. He has a natural screen presence. I am surprised he didn't do more movies. He wrote the songs and played piano.