Sarah, Plain & Tall: Winter's End

I think anytime you cast Jack Palance as Christopher Walken's father, throw in Glenn Close as the wife and Haley 'I see Dead People' Osment's kid sister into the mix-you have a pretty inspired set of castings.

I enjoyed also how the two kids in the first couple shows were brought back here-so nice to see the girl as a nurse and the boy as a young farmer. It's believable and well done, it's also the only things that either actor had done for some time, the transition to adulthood from kid actor is notoriously hard.

Some of the snowstorm contrivances were sheer Hollywood-but don't be fooled, there's a lotta heart and fine acting to go around here. The show never loses sight of it's ideals or center.

***

I enjoyed two of the three movies in the "Sarah, Plain & Tall" trilogy. This, the final of the three, was definitely one of the "good ones. " It is an excellent family film with wonderful acting by the three adult stars: Christopher Walken, Glenn Close and Jack Palance.

The storyline is simple but well-told. The only sub-par performance was by one of the kids. It was interesting to see how the kids had grown since that first movie.

Of the three, that initial "Sarah," was the best- filmed with some beautiful cinematography. This movie didn't have that, but it had the best story. It had some genuinely-tearful sentimental moments and a very nice ending.

Highly recommended.

I have never liked Palance better, although he has been in better movies. This was a sequel, and I tried to add Palance's name to the original, then found my error.

I had borrowed the three Sarah movies from a friend, and had watched them while sick in bed during one weekend. I thoroughly enjoyed every one of them. I enjoyed how the last movie gave a glimpse of what Caleb and his sister were like when they grew up. In addition, I liked the carry-through of the "Billy-boy" song that first was heard during the credits of the first movie, the title "Sarah, Plain and Tall." However, the one thing in Winter's End that I didn't like was the youngest daughter. She was a very cute little girl, but she just had too much spirit and looked like a brat compared to the other kids, even compared to talkative but still good-natured Caleb when he was younger.

This film was the perfect ending to the Sarah Plain and Tall trilogy. Once again, there was more conflict, but this time, Sarah takes a back seat, and the movie is more or less about Jacob. It has a very good message about forgiveness, which is something I think is very important.

The family has grown a little to include a child between Sarah and Jacob, and Anna and Caleb are considerably more grown up than in the previous movies. Once more, the casting was terrific, and the characters were just as endearing as always, although I must say that I found it rather odd that everytime something significant would happen, Sarah would be right in the middle of it--or close by. She was nosier than usual in this movie, but it suited her--as did her sometimes dry sense of humor, directed at various comments made by members of her family. If you watched the first two movies, you should definately see this one, but remember to watch them in order because otherwise some things won't make much sense.