AllMovie

This Emmy award-winning literary adaptation is notable for Jane Fonda's fierce lead performance and the unflinching nature of its look at the conflict between rural ideals and urban reality. Although Hume Cronyn and Susan Cooper's script isn't completely faithful to Harriet Arnow's sprawling, depressing tome, it does capture the many facets of the difficult transition from the Kentucky farmlands to the factories of Detroit. The mixture of grim social realism and aspirational gumption may strike some as a little bit corny; Fonda also sometimes lays it on a little too thickly with her syllable-perfect Appalachian accent. But emotionally, the A-list actress is firing on all cylinders, imbuing the richly detailed script with proto-feminist vigor and just-plain-folks wisdom. The supporting cast proves uniformly fine, from youngsters like Dan Hedaya and Amanda Plummer to veterans like Geraldine Page; the child actors who portray Gertie's kids are solid, too -- all five of them, which is a rarity. In short, The Dollmaker is first-rate, even when it feels like what it is: a TV movie.