Family Reunion (film)
Encyclopedia
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
television movie
Television movie
A television film is a feature film that is a television program produced for and originally distributed by a television network, in contrast to...
directed by Fielder Cook
Fielder Cook
Fielder Cook was an American television and film director, producer, and writer whose 1971 television movie The Homecoming: A Christmas Story spawned the series The Waltons....
. The teleplay
Screenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...
by Allan Sloane was based on the Good Housekeeping
Good Housekeeping
Good Housekeeping is a women's magazine owned by the Hearst Corporation, featuring articles about women's interests, product testing by The Good Housekeeping Institute, recipes, diet, health as well as literary articles. It is well known for the "Good Housekeeping Seal," popularly known as the...
article How America Lives by Joe Sparton. It was produced by Columbia Pictures Television
Columbia Pictures Television
Columbia Pictures Television was the second name of the Columbia Pictures television division Screen Gems . The studio changed its name on September 4, 1974.-1974-1982:...
for NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
, which aired it in two parts on October 11 and 12, 1981.
At its core is feisty matriarch Elizabeth Winfield, a New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
teacher recently retired
Retirement
Retirement is the point where a person stops employment completely. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours.Many people choose to retire when they are eligible for private or public pension benefits, although some are forced to retire when physical conditions don't allow the person to...
after a fifty-year career. She uses an unlimited bus
Bus
A bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers. The most common type of bus is the single-decker bus, with larger loads carried by double-decker buses and articulated buses, and smaller loads carried by midibuses and minibuses; coaches are...
ticket received as a gift to visit the distant members of her long-estranged family. During her absence, her small hometown, which bears her family's name, falls prey to dishonest relatives colluding with corrupt shopping mall
Shopping mall
A shopping mall, shopping centre, shopping arcade, shopping precinct or simply mall is one or more buildings forming a complex of shops representing merchandisers, with interconnecting walkways enabling visitors to easily walk from unit to unit, along with a parking area — a modern, indoor version...
developers. She returns in an effort to halt construction on the project and, armed with the moral
Morality
Morality is the differentiation among intentions, decisions, and actions between those that are good and bad . A moral code is a system of morality and a moral is any one practice or teaching within a moral code...
integrity
Integrity
Integrity is a concept of consistency of actions, values, methods, measures, principles, expectations, and outcomes. In ethics, integrity is regarded as the honesty and truthfulness or accuracy of one's actions...
she has instilled in her students for the past five decades, she manages to resolve the situation in time for the annual Founder's Day festivities.
Cast
- Bette DavisBette DavisRuth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis was an American actress of film, television and theater. Noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional...
as Elizabeth Winfield - J. Ashley Hyman as Richard Cooper
- David HuddlestonDavid HuddlestonDavid William Huddleston is an American actor, best known for his roles in Blazing Saddles, Santa Claus: The Movie and The Big Lebowski.-Early life:...
as Chester Winfield - John SheaJohn SheaJohn Victor Shea III is an American actor and director who has starred on stage, television and in film. He is best known for his role as Lex Luthor in the 1990s TV series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman and also starred in the short lived 1990s TV series WIOU as Hank Zaret...
as James Cookman - Roy DotriceRoy DotriceRoy Dotrice, OBE is a British actor known for his Tony Award-winning Broadway performance in the revival of A Moon for the Misbegotten.-Life and career:...
as Lester Frye - Roberts BlossomRoberts BlossomRoberts Scott Blossom was an American theater, film and television actor and poet. He is best known for his roles as Old Man Marley in Home Alone and as Ezra Cobb in the horror film Deranged...
as Phil King - Kathryn WalkerKathryn WalkerKathryn Walker is an American theater, television and film actress. She was with Douglas Kenney for many years until his death in 1980 at the age of 32, and was married to singer James Taylor from 1985 to 1995...
as Louisa King - David RoundsDavid RoundsDavid Rounds was an American actor of stage and screen. He received both a Tony Award and a Drama Desk Award in 1980 for his role in Morning's at Seven....
as Grover Winfield - Roberta Wallach as Jessica Winfield
- Jeff McCrackenJeff McCrackenJeff McCracken is an American actor, director, and producer.After studying at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City he began his acting career on Broadway and off-Broadway, including Circle Repertory Company where he originated roles in new works by Lanford Wilson and Beth Henley, as well as...
as Max Winfield - Beth EhlersBeth Ehlers-Personal life:Born in Queens, New York, Ehlers eventually moved closer to Manhattan and attended Satellite Academy, a performing arts school, as a child. Ehlers briefly attended Syracuse University before focusing on her acting career....
as Janice Lyman - Paul RuddPaul Ryan RuddPaul Ryan Rudd was an American actor, director, and a professor. He appeared as the title character in a 1976 production of Shakespeare's Henry V, opposite Meryl Streep as his love interest...
as Lane Lyman