The Loneliest Runner

Turns out it is and it isn't.

It's a good small simple 70s movie. It was produced by that boring Prairie show actor.

Overall a nice nugget of a film that explores bed wetting, self-esteem and parenting.

The sound track put me to sleep. That's good though because if you can put me to sleep then you are a good movie exceptional to DC movies.

When I saw this film I was both horrified and encouraged. I was horrified because, at the time, I was a teen bed wetter myself and sitting with the family watching this made me feel very embarrassed. No one said anything to me about it, but I was very self-conscious and uncomfortable. At the same time, I was very encouraged that, finally, I knew that I wasn't the only teen with that problem. My folks weren't as negative to me about my bed wetting as the mother depicted in the film, but they made me feel that I was an embarrassment to them as it was the "big family secret" that was always referred to as "Paul's problem." It took many years before I was able to build up a decent level of self-esteem, and this film helped me along the way. I hope parents today are more aware of how teen bed wetting can affect a kid's entire life; perhaps we need more films like this.

I first saw this movie as an immature college kid and was amused by the subject matter. I saw it again a few years later, this time as the father of young children. What a different perspective. Watching the manner in which the mother humiliated this poor boy, I vowed NEVER to embarrass my children, especially in front of their friends. My heart ached for the boy in this movie. A great movie for parents to watch - I wish I could run across it again sometime on the tube.

This is one of those movies I've never forgotten. It's been stuck in my head since I saw it a long time ago. The agony of a child being embarrassed by his mother for wetting his bed, when he so desperately wanted to stop, is a heart-breaker.

How many times have we, as parents or just people, criticized another person without thinking of how our criticism can hurt? Maybe it's something the person can control and maybe it's not. But our criticism can last and hurt for years, as has my memory of this movie.

I don't remember if the mother in this film took her child to a doctor. Even if she had, she wouldn't have gotten much help. Fortunately now, medical science can relieve the problems of bed-wetting in adolescents and adults with a simple nasal spray of the hormones lacking in the person, hormones which shut down the kidneys when sleeping.

then there's all likelihood that you remember seeing this movie as a kid. i was seven when i saw it on TV and it burned permanent images in my head of the sheet hanging outside of the windows and the humiliation the kid endured. through my life i've referred to it only to find that a large majority of people my age were also scarred by this movie, remember the same images and respond the same way when it's brought up: with a wide-eyed sense of excitement and horror.

a true generational flick.

only recently when one peer said, "hey, 'james at 15' played the kid." was i able to track down the name of it.

yay for the internet!