Purely Joyful Movie!

An Exercise In Nonsense

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

My wife and I watched this movie when it first came out and loved it. Stephen Collins and Kathleen Quinlan have wonderful chemistry together. It is a great love story. The scene where he has her picture blown up on a truck is hilarious when he tells her the scar on his forehead due to an accident is nothing and he has forgotten all about it. She is furious, goes off on him, and drives away, leaving him wondering what he has ever done to this woman. Until he said that he was finally getting through to her after striking out so many times in his attempt to get her to work for his firm. We have been hoping that this movie would come out on DVD. When it did we purchased it. It arrived today and upon watching it, we still love it as much as when we first saw it. If you like a love story, watch this movie!

Love, love, love this movie. One of my favorite rainy Sunday afternoon treats. I even have the book which was written by Nora Roberts based on the screenplay so it follows the movie very closely. I remember seeing it when I was 27 and I will be 57 this month, so it has been a 30 year "love affair". Stephen Collins is every body's boy next door.It was on television late, late, late recently and I watched it again and taped it even though I have purchased a DVD copy and was gifted a VHS copy years ago! Ha, ha! Never know when you'll need a backup I guess! Ha, ha! The plot is very simple and the characters are very straight forward. The acting is probably a 7 or 8. I especially enjoyed the music and found it very haunting. The locations were beautiful.

I really enjoyed the move The Promise made I believe in the year of 1979. It is a refreshing love movie that I looked at as many times as possible. Even my husband called me while we were separated to let me know The Promise is coming on. This is how much he knew I loved movie. I have been looking in most video stores asking for this movie in the early eighty's and was not able to fine it. I would like to know how I may receive a copy of this movie so I may add to my collection of movies I like to watch more than ten times. Because this is my favorite love movie and I really like the main actors. Your assistance on this would be really appreciated.The above comment was written I believe last year. Would like very much how I can obtain a copy of The Promise.Thank youKathy Bronson E-mail address: bronson54@sbcglobal.net

***Spoilers Rampant*** This stupefyingly bad romantic drama deserves a place in the annals of movies that are so bad they become good for all the wrong reasons. In the beginning, Collins and Quinlan go through all the 1970's gum-commercial moments to show us that they are "in love", culminating in their burial of a carnival necklace to signify their love and spouting some of the most ludicrous dialogue ever written. This is played with utter sincerity although Quinlan is decked out in all sorts of face-altering make-up so that she'll look different (and hopefully better) in the last 2/3rds of the film. Smeared with tan pancake make-up, wearing a wig that Marlo Thomas vetoed on "That Girl", donned with eye and nose prosthetics that give her a homely appearance and speaking in a whiny, annoying voice, she is anything but what one would imagine as a dream lover. But that's not all! They also outfitted her with false buck teeth which leave her unable to fully close her lips, so many of her words come out jangled and unintelligible. For example, when confronted by Collins with the prospect of marriage, she replies, "I don't need a feece of fafer..." So she can barely open her eyes and can't close her mouth when she and Collins and his best friend (a total buffoon who rinses toothpaste out of his mouth with BEER!!) are smashed up in a horrific car collision with a truck. From this point on, not one logical thing happens and the story takes on such an orchestra of contrivances that it becomes science fiction. Collins' gorgon of a mother (who viewers know is evil because she smokes cigarettes constantly through a plastic holder) pays to have Quinlan's face put back on, but only if she'll stay away from Collins. The mother (played by Straight) doesn't want a love affair with :::gasp::: an orphan to mess with her plans for Collins' career. So she tells Collins that Quinlan is dead. He apparently takes her word for it without ever once looking into it or even trying to see if there's a grave! A complete set of wild contrivances finally reunite the long lost couple.......and he doesn't even recognize her! You see, she is now the "normal" Quinlan replete with trendy new duds and full on glamour make-up, so he has no clue it's the chipmunk who was in the car crash with him. (And she is quite lovely. She is showcased in a wide variety of hairstyles and outfits.) It all keeps spiralling until they wind up back at the carnival necklace......at almost precisely the same time.....and have a "poignant" reunion. Astonishingly, this film, crazy and as bad as it is, still can manage to draw tears during that final scene from those who have gone along for the (insane!) ride! Collins gives a very heartfelt performance in it (however, Quinlan remains strangely stoic, which hurts the final clinch.) This movie is clearly inspired by such classic tear-jerkers as "Madame X" and "An Affair to Remember" and cribs from both of them. However, by 1979, that type of storytelling had lost all sense of reality....today even more so! It should have been a period piece. Amazingly, the director Cates had previously given audiences the stark and grim "I Never Sang For My Father" before offering up this hoot. Fans of soapy dramas who don't require much reality will love it. Fans of campy, unintentional humor will also eat it up. The only person who will likely hate it is any straight man. He will probably be off the couch and out the door before Melissa Manchester finishes howling the title song!