AllMovie

First Steps was inspired by a widely-seen, enthusiastically received 1982 piece on 60 Minutes. Amy Steel plays Nan Davis, a young woman totally paralyzed in an auto accident. Judd Hirsch costars as Dr. Jerold Petrovsky, a bioengineer who attaches computerized electrodes to Nan to enable her to reclaim her muscle power. After many torturous months, this state-of-art physical therapy works magnificently, and Nan is able to take ten steps on her own at her college graduation. While the technique was still rather controversial at the time First Steps was telecast, there was no denying that it had worked in the case of Nan Davis, who eventually became the subject of two 60 Minutes follow-ups and reams of upbeat magazine articles.