Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

Beautiful, moving film.

A lot of fun.

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

I was 14 when this movie was first shown on TV. (The actress, Linda Blair, is a year older than me.) Even though I was not a drinker or a user, I remember feeling like the character of Sarah Travis was the first in movie/TV that I could identify with. I had gone from school to school, and my parents were split up. My Dad was an alcoholic, and I had a hard time fitting in. But like Sarah, I babysat to make pocket money, and I loved music. The Carole King album 'Tapestry' was my favourite album already, which the song 'It's Too Late' is from, (sung by Linda Blair in the movie.) As I lived through the teen years at the same time as this character, and had many similar issues, I feel like for me, the movie was an important one. I have the book again, like I did back then, but I would very much like to see this movie come out in DVD.

This is a teaching tool about the dangers of alcohol abuse. Linda Blair plays a 15 year old girl named Sarah Travis. She struggles in school, and with her family. She resorts to alcohol, to help cope with her adolescence troubles. It works perfectly at first, but it backfires when she starts getting hooked on it.Maybe I'm being a bit bold by praising this movie as much as I'm going too, but this movie affected me deeply. The made for T.V label shows, and it is a little dated at times, but the message behind the movie remains an extremely powerful one to this day. I think what disturbed me most about this movie is how realistic it was, as well as Sarah's (Blair) age in this movie. I'm a drinker myself, and to see someone that young get hooked on alcohol is really heartbreaking. I was fully invested in Sarah's relationship with her oblivious & self centered parents, as well as the Stepfather. (Very well played by Larry Hagman (Father), William Daniels (Stepfather) & Verna Bloom) The scary thing is this can happens with parents. They are so self involved in their own little world, that they fail to notice their kid's problems, and when they find out, they care more about the repercussions they will receive, and how they will be looked at, rather than be concerned about their kid's problems. They think it's more of a reflection on their parenting, and while that is true, it just disgusts me. Verna Bloom is thoroughly despicable as the Mother. Her self absorbed character will have you hating her. Perhaps it's not an appropriate time to add in a lame joke with such serious subject matter, but Mark Hamil is in this movie as well as a love interest. You could say Regan McNeil is paired up with Luke Skywalker. Unfortunately the young Jedi Knight couldn't get rid of the demon in this one, the force wasn't strong enough. Low blow, I know. Mark Hamil is actually fairly decent in this movie. I always found him to be a corny actor, but he has his effective moments here, especially near the end involving his horse. The finale of this movie is one of the most uncomfortable things I've ever witnessed, and Linda Blair absolutely nails it. Watching her deny her problems with alcohol was very saddening, and seeing her progressing worse and worse as the film goes along, almost had me in tears. It's her best performance in my opinion. Her scenes with the AA counselor (Michael Lerner) really hit home with me. It's kind of ironic… Linda Blair may have peaked when she was young, because she was an excellent actress at such a young age. Final Thoughts: I'm gonna give it 10 stars. Call me bold if you will, but it deserves it for making me think so much. I watched it three days ago, and it's still haunting me a little bit, now that's power for you. Maybe people won't feel as strongly as I did with this movie, but it's one of the most gut wrenching films I've ever seen. It's on You-Tube, so go see it, and make up your own mind. I'd love to see this movie on DVD. A special edition would be absolutely tremendous. One of the final lines from Sarah "I'm an alcoholic" It's so saddening.10/10

This movie was a vehicle for Linda Blair - but don't let that deter you from checking it out.Linda plays Sarah Travis, who as the movie begins already has a problem with alcohol. Her parents' recent divorce (and her mother's remarriage) and her move to a new school are not helping things. Slowly everything in her life slides right down the hill and into her river of alcohol. Some of the movie is custom-made for Linda Blair - she gets to sing at a party, her boyfriend has his own horses and lets her groom them (Linda LOVED horses, the teen magazines dutifully reported) - but the message of the movie rings clear. Remarkably powerful scene: Linda goes to an AA meeting, and little Bobby (Eric Olsen, then starring in "Apple's Way") steps forward and shares that his alcoholism made him "so damn disgusted with myself" that he knew he had to get help.It's not accurate to say Sarah hits rock bottom. She THINKS she hits rock bottom, and then learns the hardest way possible just how much further she could fall.A powerful movie, HIGHLY recommended.

New stepfather, new school, new boyfriend (Mark Hamill, pre-Luke Skywalker) proves to be all too much for troubled high schooler Sarah Travis (Linda Blair), who hits the bottle hard. TV-drama goes over the top in places, but is otherwise a sensitive and moving portrait, not too campy. Best scenes have Sarah T. scheming to get her precious booze (she has the liquor store deliver it while "mom" is in the shower), or trying to steal vodka from a corner store. Made in the day when movies attempted to teach younger viewers a life lesson; I don't know if that worked, but "Sarah T." is a pretty realistic depiction of teen angst. Blair is letter-perfect in the lead, conveying all the tangible insecurities of this awkward age. Was there any other teenage actress in the 1970s who was this good at being this tortured?