An excellent movie to keep for a long time, Oct 19 2004

By	Allan Lee - See all my reviews

The tune itself is fairly simple, so it was conceivable that someone like Laurie can actually came up with it. As far as the acting is concern, not all the casts were bad. I thought Didi Conn did a great job, so is her pop, the conductor, and Laurie's lover Michael Zaslow.

By the way, I always had the album by Debby Boone, and always thought that Debby Boone sang in the movie. Then one day, I found the original vinyl LP soundtrack in my local Goodwill store for 50 cents, and I was totally shock! The title track in the record was 100% better then the Debby Boone version, and it was not sang by Debby Boone. It was sung by Kasey Cysik, One of New York's top session singers at the time. Here is what Debby Boone had to say about Kacey: "Joe Brooks wrote a screenplay and hired Kacey Cisyk to sing five songs for the soundtrack, including the title theme. Later, Kacey claimed she was never paid for that recording session, and her name did not appear in the movie credits. When the soundtrack album came out, her name was misspelled and she was listed as a "background singer."

Kacey Cisyk is the reason I purchased the DVD. She actually had a small part in the movie. She played the 1st Bridesmaid, and you can actually see her recording with Didi Conn in Chapter 3 of your DVD. She said to Didi Conn after the song Do you have a Piano: that was a really good song, and Didi Conn replies: Thanks Casey. Then you also will see Kacey sat in the studio while Didi Conn talks to Si (your pop in the movie) on the phone.

Anyhow, after watching the DVD, my vinyl LP version is still the best of the best, Kacey's voice dominates through out the record. They must have recorded the long version in the soundtrack in a latter session just for the record. By the way, Kacey was married to Jack Cortner (Song writter) and later married to Ed Rakowicz (sound man). Sadly, Kacey recently died of Cancer 5 days before her 45th birthday. Enjoy the DVD and the vinyl LP if you can get it.

Was this review helpful to you? (Report this)

Simple plot, simple story- but timeless life lesson, Oct 15 2003

I remember walking out of the film more affected than I thought I would be due to the last scene of the movie with Didi Conn's affecting performance and some her last lines: "I learned something today, Pop. It was really painful, but I learned something. I learned that I have to depend on myself. I can't depend on anybody else and that's ok. You know why? Because I'm a really good person to depend on. Maybe I don't have someone that I thought I loved a lot really, but that's ok because I've got me. And I've got my work. And I've got my music. And I love that- more than anything else on this earth."

I was 25 and at the beginning of making my life choices in career, living on my own, and all the other "adult responsibilites" that come at you in that time in your life whether you're ready or not. I think that's why this film had the impact on me that it did. Maybe if some of the other reviewers- and people who watch this film- look back at that phase in their lives and evaluate the film again in comparison to their 20-something "coming into the real world" experiences, they may modify their original opinions as to the movie's quality.

Yes, I think the film ended a bit abruptly. It would have been a bit of a happy, selfish, enjoyable pleasure to see Laurie Robinson revel in her success because of her perseverance and hard work. At least the viewer was left with the fact that she did become a winner. Everyone needs "happy ending" movies every once in awhile! I am now going to put this DVD in my player and watch this movie I haven't seen in 26 years just so I can see Ms. Conn's ending performance/scene that has stayed with me all this time and hope it still has the same positive power and impression....

Was this review helpful to you? (Report this)