User reviews

This Picnic adaptation was very well done. I enjoyed watching the tv-play version of it. Even though the play's setting is pretty limited and in that meaning there wasn't no more than two different scenery set. Oh well the performances was excellently delivered from Jennifer Jason Leigh as Madge, Dana Hill as Millie, Rue McClanahan as Flo-Madge & Millie Mother. Those ladies wonderful performances carried the play very well. I admit that this adaptation isn't the same as the original classic with Kim Novak/William Holden, but this one delivered Inge's play in a beautiful & touching way.

Too bad that it not really well know to others. I never remembered seeing this made for tv play wasn't made into a DVD. Possibly made into a VHS tape, but I doubt it made a huge impact in sales. Luckily you could watch it in Youtube. That's how I recently seen it. You could also watch the original film version in Youtube too. I would recommend anyone to watch it.

The film is not for anyone. It's static, it's actually a theater-movie, all in one location. The actors are all very good and, as usual in a production with Jennifer Jason Leigh in the cast, she is the main attraction. Here she is very young and very beautiful.

This televised version of a stage production is unlikely to supplant memories of the 1955 film version which Daniel Taradash so skillfully adapted to the CinemaScope screen but, judged on its own, it's a respectable take on a play that might almost be called an American classic. Casting and performance are all-important in this kind of venture and the results here are varied. Dana Hill makes a splendid Milly and Dick Van Patten couldn't be better as Howard. Conchata Ferrell at first doesn't seem quite right as Mrs. Potts but her larger-than-life personality soon wins out. Timothy Shelton is passable in the thankless role of Alan and Rue McClanahan has her moments as Mrs. Owens. On the other hand, Jennifer Jason Leigh can't quite bring off Madge and her semi-out-of-control hairdo is sometimes annoying. The weakness here is Michael Learned as Rosemary, the play's best part. Rosalind Russell was so much better. (The suggestion that she and Rue McClanahan should have traded parts is a good one.) As for Gregory Harrison, he doesn't quite capture the wounded little-boy-lost quality in Hal but he sure looks good with his shirt off.

This movie was filmed as a play and released on one of the cable movie stations. It had a cast of great stars, so its descent into the vaults of oblivion is puzzling. I've seen truly atrocious movies make it from VHS to DVD, while small treasures like this version of "Picnic" are forever forgotten. Being a play and being rooted in more traditional views of behavior probably date it beyond today's tastes.

Rue McClanahan was excellent as Flo, the proper southern mother and southern belle of younger years, hoping to marry her beautiful daughter to Alan, the son of a wealthy businessman. Gregory Harrison, as Hal, nailed the role as a sexy young drifter with a bad boy image who wanders into town and falls head over heels in love, offering nothing of substance but trying to change for his newfound love. Jennifer Jason Leigh as Madge, in one of her first roles, played her part well as she slowly realizes that her feelings for the renegade wanderer are stronger than her need to please her mother and marry someone for whom she has no real passion. Deep feelings overwhelm the lovers and lead them to a night of love that brings strong reactions from the others in the light of the following day.

The support roles and side stories are also really well done, with Michael Learned as Rosemary, the unmarried middle-aged school teacher who tries to maintain a facade of propriety while carrying on with a cheap-suit traveling salesman named Howard, hoping he'll make an honest woman of her. Conchata Ferrell was delightful in playing the strong, lovable and overweight Helen Potts who befriends the drifter and holds a twinge of attraction for the handsome Hal in the motherly role she takes on for him and for all the characters -- centered around food and unconditional love.

Timothy Shelton, as Hal's old college buddy and Madge's fiancé, does well in portraying a decent and caring man whose growing jealousy overrules enough to call in the police under false accusations in an attempt to save his plans to marry Madge. Dana Hill also adds to the mix as Millie, the plain and pudgy teenager living in the shadow of her pretty sister, Madge. She develops a crush on Hal and mistakes his kindness and friendship for something more.

The original "Picnic" with William Holden and Kim Novak was great, but there is room for this stage-play version to come alongside. It's sad that it never made it to the retail market, for whatever reason. It's sadder still that my old videotaped version was also lost in time. I'd love to see this movie again.