The Shadow Box (1980)
Directed by Paul Newman
Genres - Drama |
Sub-Genres - Psychological Drama |
Run Time - 100 min. |
Countries - United States |
MPAA Rating - NR
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Synopsis by Hal Erickson
Advertised as "Paul Newman's First Film for Television," Shadow Box was more specifically the first TV movie to be directed by Newman. Moving in a slow, deliberate fashion, the film concerns three terminally ill people. Their stories intertwine as the unfortunate spend their last days with their families in a cottage-complex hospice. Christopher Plummer and Joanne Woodward play a pair of ex-spouses, whose chances for reconciliation are strained somewhat by the presence of Plummer's male lover Ben Masters. James Broderick plays a blue-collar worker, sharing precious final moments with wife Valerie Harper. And elderly Sylvia Sidney comes to terms with her daughter Melinda Dillon. Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Michael Cristofer, Shadow Box was co-produced by Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward's daughter Susan Kendall Newman. The Emmy-nominated drama was first telecast December 28, 1980.
Characteristics
Themes
Keywords
daughter, ex-wife, homosexual, husband-and-wife, lover, mother, reconciliation, terminal-illness, blue-collar
Attributes
High Artistic Quality, High Production Values