The Last Dance

I was expecting a ho-hum story but instead I found myself pleasantly involved with the characters, especially Eric Stoltz, who wasn't a lawyer or a plumber, but a male nurse. This could have been very predictable but it wasn't, and I think that's why I enjoyed the story so much. It was great to see Maureen O'Hara, who I might add looks very pretty for her age. Overall this was a very touching movie.

Todd is a harried hospital nurse struggling to balance his hectic work and family lives, when he has a chance contact with an elderly patient: his high school Latin teacher.

Despite the untimely departure of her husband in her twenties, she developed a love for life and appreciation of friendship that she finds she must teach him. Drawing his wife and children into her life, she helps him achieve a better understanding of the essence of his existence, as she must resolve the final details of her own. A poignant, compelling tale, sad yet upbeat.

This 2000 TV movie has many things going for it. First off the legendary Maureen O'Hara, in her 80s, and looking as spectacular as she did in her 20s and 30s and 40s. Who can forget HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY, FOXES OF HARROW, LONG GRAY LINE, THE QUIET MAN, THE BLACK SWAN and those endearing John Ford films with her and her co-star John Wayne?

She sometimes was so incredibly beautiful you forgot that she could also act. Not to be outdone by The Duke, she held her own. In this sweet story she shows another side of her beauty; the simplicity of just being a woman. With elegance and without effort she radiates even the small TV screen. Those eyes! Her perfect diction and faded beauty enhance the performance. You can't stop watching her.

Not to be pushed away, there is also the quiet and thoughtful performance of Eric Stolz, who I have grown to respect over the years his body of work. I won't belabor the story as other critics have mentioned that, but I did want to pay respect to the actors and to the writers, namely, Todd F. Cope, Beth Polson and Dalene Young, who wrote the perfect vehicle for their star. And thanks Kevin Dowling for all those O'Hara closeups. Wow!

It's an ode for good teachers! It's a film that asks you to slow down and inhale the best scents of life's memories quoting Cicero's line about actors leaving the stage quietly after achieving their best! It's a film that brings to mind Mazursky's "Harry and Tonto" and Bruce Beresford's "Tender Mercies".

The story is great and performances real. Maureen O'Hara in her eighties is really wonderful to look at (compare her withered hands to her great face) and to hear. Her enunciation of spoken English is a treat for the ears.

The film is more of a play on film but the editing is so smooth that you feel one scene weaves in to the next. The film does not stun you but endears you psychologically. The film involved the work of three writers at three stages. Probably Beth Polson had much to do with making the story good for cinema, may be it was Dalene Young. The film is great because of the contribution of three good writers, a charming Maureen O'Hara and fine editing. The direction of Kevin Dowling and the cinematography of Larry Reibman, though not outstanding, was above average.

I caught this movie on Lifetime, but it had the Hallmark network feel to it. Sometimes this type of film can be overly sentimental, but I found this one to be wonderful as it emphasized the importance of taking time to love one another. Maureen O'Hara, at 80-something and looking great, plays a schoolteacher who becomes involved in the life of a former student and his wife. As a woman whose great love ended before the relationship could fully develop, she imparts what she has learned to them about what's really important in this world, and what really stays with those we leave behind when we go into the next one.

O'Hara is really inspirational. Her voice and acting are strong and her no-nonsense portrayal keeps "The Last Dance" from being cloying in any way. You really grow to love this woman and all she stands for. The flashback scenes are well cast.

A nice movie to catch, especially around the holidays.