THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 18, 1995 TAG: 9502170072
SECTION: TELEVISION WEEK PAGE: 1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LARRY BONKO, TELEVISION COLUMNIST
LENGTH: Long : 125 lines
WELCOME BACK, GIDGET. Thirty years after she played 15-year-old Francine ``Gidget'' Lawrence on ABC, Sally Field returns to television Sunday in a six-hour miniseries.
``A Woman of Independent Means'' plays out over three nights on NBC starting Sunday at 9.
Television has been good to Field. She knows it. ``Gidget'' and her role as Sister Bertrille on ``The Flying Nun'' made her famous. She revived her career on TV in 1976, and won the Emmy, by playing a troubled young woman with many personalities in ``Sybil.''
Today, with two Academy Awards on her resume, and a role in the box-office bonanza ``Forrest Gump'' fresh in the minds of producers, Field doesn't need TV. She could be a TV snob and get away with it.
But that's not Field.
``The work is the thing. The role is important. If I connect with it, I don't care if it is going to be on television or in a movie house,'' Field said when she met TV reporters in Los Angeles recently. ``A Woman of Independent Means'' is based on a book by Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey. It is not the easiest book to put on film.
Hailey's heroine, Elizabeth Steed ``Bess'' Garner, tells her story over 276 pages in letters to family, friends and even the editor of a Dallas newspaper to whom she sends her obituary. ``The only details I omitted are the time and cause of death,'' she writes.
Author Hailey, who was also on hand to talk to TV reporters, said she had her doubts that ``A Woman of Independent Means'' could be brought to film with much success until she saw the script by Cindy Myers. ``I was knocked out by the script. I am also in awe of actors who accomplish so much without words, who do so much with their spirit and how they behave before the cameras.'' Field is cast here in an actor's dream come true - playing a character who ages about 70 years on screen. Hailey gives us the life and times of Bess from when she was a fourth-grader in 1899 until she suffers a massive stroke in 1967.
``I loved exploring Bess in her old age. I was fascinated by her then. As an actress, the scariest part for me was doing the young Bess. It was much more interesting to play her as an older woman than a younger one,'' said Field.
Field, who is 49, has accepted what she calls the inevitable fact of life in Hollywood: Women in middle age have a hard time finding work. She quoted statistics that indicate only 8 percent of the roles in films today go to women who are 40 and older.
So, when a producer asks you to play the mother of a character who is just 10 years your junior, as was the case in ``Forrest Gump,'' you snap it up if you want to keep working. ``I had no idea the movie would take flight as it did,'' she said. Could it be that the success of ``Forrest Gump'' was just another way of moviegoers telling Field again that they like her? Really like her?
Elsewhere on television in the week ahead, A&E on Sunday night at 9 begins a two-part miniseries that is as riveting as it is disturbing - ``The Boys of St. Vincent.'' The drama, based loosely on events that took place in Newfoundland in the 1970s, is about sexual and physical abuse at a boys' orphanage.
Part 1 opens the door to the abuse of the young and helpless by the All Saints Brothers. Part 2 advances the story by 15 years when a government inquiry sheds light on the abuses. Be advised that disturbing scenes are in both parts.
Speaking for A&E, the network's vice president for film, drama and the performing arts said it would be wrong to reject ``The Boys of St. Vincent'' because a scene or two might upset some viewers. ``As a society, we cannot afford to ignore the terrible price that children pay when they are abused and damaged. This film will provoke discussion and raise awareness of this ongoing tragedy,'' said Delia Fine.
Powerful TV here.
For a complete change of pace, there is the comeback of the brothers A.J. and Rick Simon on CBS Thursday night at 8. In ``Simon & Simon: In Trouble Again,'' Norfolk State's very own Tim Reid returns as police Lt. Marcel ``Downtown'' Brown or ``Town,'' as the Simons call him.
There's also a revival on the air Saturday night at 8 on ABC when Kirk Cameron stars in ``The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes,'' a remake of the 1969 Disney film starring Kurt Russell. The sequel picks up with Dexter Riley struggling through college until a lighting strike in a computer lab turns him into a superbrain.
On the 1 to 10 cuteness scale, this ``Disney Family Film'' is a 7. Good work by Larry Miller and Anne Marie Tremko in supporting roles.
That nice but slightly mixed up Jennie Garth of ``Beverly Hills 90210'' - her character is involved with a cult-like awareness movement - worked in a TV movie when she was on vacation last year. On CBS Tuesday night, you'll see Garth in ``Falling For You,'' which airs at 9. Poor Jennie is the victim of a stalker. . . . Listen up, country and western music fans. Ever wanted to go on the road with a big C&W star? On Wednesday night at 8, it's the next best thing as The Nashville Network presents ``Full Access: On Tour With Pam Tillis.'' It's her life on the road over a three-day span including concert footage and even a little karaoke.
What's the lure of perfume? The appeal of French cuisine? ``Nova'' explains it all on PBS starting Sunday at 8 p.m. on WHRO in ``Mystery of the Senses.'' The series continues through Wednesday. . . . The world has been looking for Amelia Earhart ever since her plane disappeared in the Pacific in 1937. Saturday night at 8 on The Discovery Channel, experts say they have new evidence that may explain how and why her flight ended so abruptly. Her luggage is still missing, too. . . . In case you considered Oprah Winfrey a one-dimensional talk-show host, catch her Sunday at 8 p.m. on Bravo in ``Native Son.'' She acts up a storm in the drama about black oppression in urban America. Bravo's salute to Black History Month continues Monday at 8 p.m. with ``Listen Up: The Lives of Quincy Jones.'' Big special on Bravo Tuesday night at 8: ``Ain't Misbehavin' '' with Nell Carter. . . . MTV, the channel with its fingers on the pulse of pop music, takes note of the changes in pop music in the 1990s in a new series, ``Superock,'' which premieres Saturday at midnight. It's more than bands. It's also about the lifestyles and tastes of the audiences. Show us your tattoos. . . . How many sequels were there to ``Psycho,'' the 1960 Alfred Hitchcock flick that scared people out of their showers? Starting Saturday at 1 p.m., The Sci-Fi Channel reels off ``Psycho II, III and IV'' with Anthony Perkins starring in all three. Hello, Norman Bates. . . . On Tuesday at 8 p.m., A&E's ``Biography'' series shines a light on the Old Dominion's most famous patriot, president, diplomat, naturalist, architect and linguist: Thomas Jefferson. This ``Biography'' also pokes into some of Jefferson's dark corners. He died $107,000 in debt. . . . In the mood for a great war flick? Catch ``Sink the Bismarck!'' on The Disney Channel Sunday at 10:30 p.m. The Royal Navy hunts down Nazi Germany's great battleship. ILLUSTRATION: Sally Field plays "Bess" Garner in "A Woman of Independent
Means," which chronicles about 70 years of her life. The NBC
miniseries airs over three nights starting Sunday at 9.
by CNB