Miracle en Alabama

This movie made a strong impression on me when I saw it on Tv as a lad and I have revisted it a few more times but it had been a decade since i saw it last and my daughter had a done a book report on Helen Keller recently and was very moved by her story and I mentioned the Miracle Worker, so we rented it and viewed it tonight and it still packs a wallop and the performances are first rate. Patty Duke won the best supporting oscar that year and deserved it (even though she beat out Mary Badham who played Scout in To Kill A Mockingbird -- what a year for young actresses!!!)and Anne Bancroft is amazing as the tough, determined Anne Sullivan. A wonderful film.

I haven't seen acting like this in a long time! Patty Duke's portrayal of young Helen Keller shocked me with its intensity, rightness, and sensitivity. Anne Bancroft also played a tough role and did so brilliantly.

The other supporting roles were, of course, a bit stilted in the traditional Southern way, but added to the drama nonetheless. I still gave this movie a "10" despite having issues with the way director Penn handled the flashback scenes...a bit cheesy and not quite in keeping with the underlying plot in all cases. That said, the dinner scene with Patty Duke and Anne Bancroft is 100%+ riveting in a way seldom seen and the movie deserves its accolades just for that scene alone.

I bought this movie after having not seen it for a while, and watching it again was intensely powerful. I had never cried during the "water" scene, but I did this time. The scene in the dining room is magnificently filmed and exhausting to watch...to think Patty Duke and Anne Bancroft performed that scene every night on Broadway! Supposedly they wore multiple layers of padding. I don't know why they didn't create a new category for the Oscars that year, Best Double Performance in Leading Roles. They both richly deserved the Oscars they won, but I really couldn't choose between a leading role and a supporting role in that movie since Duke and Bancroft created such a beautiful and moving partnership. Having read a great deal about Helen Keller, including her own autobiography, I am still always amazed by her story and accomplishments. This movie is a brilliant testament to human strength.

Where do I begin? Shall I speak of Mrs Bancroft's performance,one of the finest you can watch on a screen?Shall I tell about Patty Duke's tour de force?Shall I praise the mind-boggling work of Arthur Penn,directing the long fight around the table?This movie is a miracle in itself.Behind her dark spectacles,the teacher hides buried terrors,that's why she's bound to understand her unusual pupil.She knows that the solution to her problems lies in herself,that the family is a prison .The parents do not see(or do not want to see) that they erect a wall between their daughter and the world outside by poisoning her with protection.That's why Annie seems brutal,hard on Helen.She could not have broken the wall if she had been a "nice" teacher.Among all Penn's great movies ,"miracle worker" is the only one that has an optimistic end.Since,other directors have tackled autism(children of a lesser God,rain man)but no one has surpassed this black and white gem.

An inspiring movie. I watch it now at the age of 48 and I remember why I idolized Anne Bancroft and tried to emulate her acting style when I was a theatre student. I still cry during the final scene at the water pump when she cries out - mother, father - she knows!!!! Thank God that Penn and Gibson made sure that she got this movie part. I still wish she would have gotten the the part of Gittel Mosca for the movie version of their broadway play "Two For The Seesaw" because I will never be able to see her performance. Patty Duke was magnificent. She was very convincing and there is never a moment when you don't think she is deaf, dumb and blind. There is no doubt that this pair deserved the Academy Award for their performances. Helen's story needed to be told and this film was a beautiful and poignant tribute to her life