So, I originally said that I wasn't going to use my blog for reviewing movies per se'. I want to keep The Freaking Film Fanatic all about movies and the entertainment business, but I also said I wanted to recommend things, and sometimes I think that if the podcast isn't reaching you all, there are still things that I love that I want to recommend to you all, and tonight, I have a special recommendation that I love so much. It's a movie, but I want to share a story.
So, when I was ten in 1991, my family and I were sitting down watching TV, and it was about 8:00. There was a made for TV movie that was playing, and we stopped because it had some football players, and my dad stopped flipping through the channels. Anyway, we got sucked into a movie, and we watched it and loved it, but missed the whole first hour of it. Then, a couple days later, there was a commercial saying that so many people wanted to see it again, or see the whole thing, so they were going to do an "Encore Rerun" of the movie. We got a brand new VHS tape from the grocery store video rental section...... Kids under the age of 13, forget it, I'm not going to lecture how we used to have to go places to pay and borrow movies, return them, or get a fee, and if you didn't follow the "Be Kind, Rewind" sticker on the tape, there was an additional fee. It was madness. They even let you rent video games, which was great because you were either able to play it and decide if you would want to buy it or not, and I don't know very many people that ever actually "conquered" a video game that was rented unless they paid a lot of no return fees. Blink 182 sang about it in their song "Adam's Song" if you want a reference. You see, Blink 182 is something the kids might call "Punk Rock", but they were more the sell out of punk rock. I still like them, but anywho. Anyway, yes, I told you how annoying and hard it was to watch video tapes you didn't own. Sometimes you had to reserve them, if the store was nice, and they would call you when a movie was returned so that you could have your turn to borrow it. It wasn't like a streaming service like Netfilx and Disney+ where everyone has access to a movie or show at the same day it's released. There are so many things in this life in entertainment nowadays that used to be a problem. If you wanted a record, or cassette tape, and even when CDs were brand new, the store would sell out of them, and you would have to wait and wait until they were back in stock, and the same thing happened, you had to wait longer until things were back in stock again. I think you get the idea.
Anywho, I hope I didn't lose any of you readers. Back to my story....
So, we went to the grocery store to buy a VHS tape to record the movie. That following Sunday, it started, and we recorded it. We loved it so much. We loved it so much, in fact, that we wore out the VHS tape, and it had "white outs" which were where the VCR tape reader would start to wear out and scratch the video tape, and it would leave these white streaks over the picture, and if you kept watching the video tape, it would eventually either break or become so annoying, it wasn't watchable anymore. DVD's were so amazing when they came out, and now we have 4K TVs with super high def picture, and the new video game systems coming out this November promise 8K high def picture when that technology is released to the masses. I think they are a waste of money. If I love something, I get a Blu-Ray, but I would rather by a DVD over a $40 4K DVD.
Anyway, we wore the tape out. I think I was 13 when the tape ended up being chewed up by the old VCR we had. We were so sad. Especially since made for TV movies never got a video release. The movie was lost, and we were so sad.
Speed forward a few years to 2019. Almost 30 years from when the movie released on TV. I was browsing Netflix to see if there was anything new or interesting, and what I saw made my jaw drop and literally brought a tear to my eye. The movie was released on Netfilx. A made for TV movie from 1991 was added to Netfilx.
Now, I'll tell you the name of the movie, but it's a bit difficult. You see, I hate spoilers. I hate them so much. Entertainment isn't intended to be spoiled. Even film critics have to make promises to media companies that they won't spoil anything until after the film or TV show has been released, but us critics have to dance a fine line between what to share to get our points across, and totally spoiling the film. We can say things like, I hated the ending. It made no sense and it was completely a waste of time, but we don't come out and say, and it turns out that Bruce Willis was really a ghost the whole time! What an awesome twist ending.
Okay, so I hate spoilers. The Netflix description of the movie tells you the ending of the movie. Of course, I've watched this film so many times, and it never gets old. It's timeless, and every single time I see it, I am still moved and love it. So knowing the ending ahead of time sucks, but it doesn't completely ruin the movie. It just makes you sit through the whole thing wondering when it's going to happen, if that makes sense. The strange thing, is the ending isn't the beautiful part of the movie.
The film is called "Triumph of the Heart".
It is about an NFL player for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the 1980s named Ricky Bell. Ricky Bell was a very, very talented football player. He was huge in college, and his NFL career was great. Even though the story is about a football player, and his career is super important to the story, the special thing about the story is that Ricky Bell majored in Speech Therapy while he was playing football in College at USC. The movie is about the relationship that he makes with a young boy named Ryan Blankenship. Ryan was a special case. He was smart, but he was handicapped and had a horrible time trying to write and speak.
So, Ricky Bell would do service work for the state with speech therapy for kids that were eligible for it. The film begins with Ricky Bell driving to Ryan's house. All of the neighborhood kids follow behind him on their bikes, and when Ryan sees the car coming down the street and all of the kids, he hides under the truck in his driveway. It's very evident that Ryan is bullied, especially by one kid that you just want to reach through the screen and smack the living heck out of. Anyway, Ricky sees this, and he gets out of his car, and crawls under the truck with Ryan, and tells him that he was bullied when he was little, and that he would laugh and the bullies would leave him alone, so he gets Ryan to laugh enough to get out from under the truck, and into the house. Before Ricky starts working with Ryan, Ryan's grandmother asks to speak with him privately. She tells him that she's aware celebrities do nice things for publicity, but once the check stops being paid and an event is over, the celebrities don't come back.
Ricky had starred in a fast food commercial for a friend that was the owner of the restaurant. Ryan's grandmother tells him she saw the commercial, and tells him that helping kids in need is not like doing a commercial to sell chicken. Ricky reassures her that he majored in speech therapy and that while it was true, he was there to help Ryan because he was on a list, but he promises the grandmother that if he thinks he can truly help Ryan, he will keep helping him. Ryan's grandmother says okay, but it would be better if you just left right away, than to give Ryan hope, and then never come back and break Ryan's heart. Ryan's family were also huge Buccaneer fans and have season tickets, so they would go to all of the home games, and Ricky Bell is Ryan's favorite player.
It's very evident after their first meeting that Ryan really needs help, and Ricky tells his parents and grandmother that the football season is starting, and he would be pretty busy between practices and games, but that he will work more with Ryan.
That's the set-up. What follows is one of the most beautiful relationships that I have ever seen portrayed in any form of entertainment. As I am writing this blog post, here right now at 2:24 in the morning, that's right, I'm up way too late, I'll go straight to bed after I post this. As I write this blog, I am teary-eyed and have a smile on my face. This movie is a tear jerker. I'm not going to lie. There are a lot of things in this movie that are hard, but I think that's what makes it so beautiful at the same time. It doesn't sugar-coat things. If you read the Netfilx description, you will know the ending of the movie. I have thought about writing Netfilx and asking them to change the description. I've done it before, and they listened. Go figure.
Mario Van Peebles plays Ricky Bell, and is amazing in the role. He's really the only known actor from the movie, besides Ryan's mother, played by Susan Ruttan, who was in the cast of the 1980s TV show, L.A. Law. The transformation between both Ricky and Ryan is so amazing. I don't want to spoil anything, but they both need each other. Sometimes Ryan is the teacher, or a reminder. I wouldn't stay up this late writing this blog if I didn't love this movie so much. I had a curling match at the Olympic Oval last night, and when I got home, I went to bed and watched the movie again, and decided that I needed to do a full blog post about it.
The movie is still on Netfilx, however, you can also purchase the movie from Amazon.
If you have Netflix, watch it. If you get it on Amazon, it's $20, which isn't cheap. And it's not a DVD, its a digital version which you can then burn to any form of media you wish. I actually payed the Amazon price because I wanted to always have a copy of this movie. It's really that good. What's been interesting, is I was ten when it came out. The story actually took place in 1981, the year I was born. What's been pretty cool is sharing the movie with my sisters' families. They were six when the movie came out, and now they have husbands and kids, and they have watched it now. I have yet to share it with Elliot. It will be something we do the next time I have him with me. I don't know why I haven't thought about watching it with him. I think I wanted him to be old enough to understand handicaps and people that have them, but now, he's the exact age I was when I saw it for the first time.
Here are a couple of pictures.
The boy who plays Ryan is very convincing as someone with the handicap, and has me wondering if he really had the handicap, and was cast. He's easy to love. I've looked him up online, but can't find any more information about him beyond what I have said in this blog post.
Like I say, it's a tear jerker, and it isn't just one tear jerker moment. It has lots of them, but they never feel gratuitous. The movie doesn't seem like it's trying to make you cry. It's very genuine, and even if you have a hard time crying in movies, or skip them because you don't want to cry, throw that thought out the window and watch this amazing movie. It is so worth the time, and it might even be one that you love to watch over and over and over like my family and I do. Also, this movie has virtually nothing dirty in it. It has two super mild swear words I might say when I step on a LEGO that Elliot left on the floor.
Well, that's it for this post. Watch the movie. It will remind you to be kind to others, which is something we all need. I hope you are all safe and are wearing your masks in public. A super nice lady in my curling league made everyone in the league really cool masks with curling stones and Canadian maple leaves on them, and gave one to everyone. If you are sick, please stay home and make sure to be careful around others who aren't sick. I didn't see my poor sister and her family for almost a month when they were diagnosed, but they are all better and back to normal. Just be careful. I love you all.
"I wish you well". (Watch the movie for the reference.)
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